Nipsey Hussle

Nipsey Hussle was a noted American rapper from the ‘West Coast Hip Hop’ scene. Born in Crenshaw neighborhood of South Los Angeles, he was raised amidst an atmosphere of gun violence, drug hustling and police brutality and eventually became drawn towards it. At the age of 14, he left home to join the local ‘Rollin 60's Neighborhood Crips’ (a street gang based in Los Angeles), mainly because he felt it was important to carry on the “legacy” of his community. He made a U-turn when at the age of 19, his emigrant father took him to his homeland Eritrea, which was torn by war and poverty. He returned home to concentrate on his music career, releasing one mixtapes after another, sending positive messages through them. Concurrently, he started undertaking community work, opening several businesses to keep the youngsters away from violence. He also founded a record label and a flagship store as a symbol of economic self-sufficiency. He died at the age of 33, after being fatally shot in front of his store, possibly due to personal enmity.

Career

On returning home, Ermias Asghedom began working on his music and adopted Nipsey Hussle as his stage name. In December 2005, he released his first mixtape, ‘Slauson Boy Volume 1’, in which he tried to send a message to his community through his music.

The mixtape had moderate success and helped him not only to develop a small fan base, but also to attract the attention of music companies. Eventually, he was signed both to Epic Records and Cinematic Music Group.

In 2007, he debuted in films, appearing in a small role in ‘I Tried’, a semi-autobiographical film of the rap group ‘Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’. Concurrently, he continued working on his music.

In 2008, he released two more mixtapes, ‘Bullets Ain't Got No Name Vol. 1’ and ‘Bullets Ain't Got No Name Vol. 2’. They were followed by ‘Bullets Ain't Got No Name Vol. 3’, which he released in August 2009. The series was released under the label of Cinematic Music Group.

In 2010, he left Epic Records to establish his own music label, ‘All Money In, No Money Out’, as a symbol of Black entrepreneurship, releasing his fourth mixtape, ‘The Marathon’ through it on 21 December. Also in 2010, he starred as Ricky in his second film, ‘Caged Animal’.

‘The Marathon’, which peaked at 179 in the US Billboard 200, was followed by ‘The Marathon Continues’. Released in November 2011, it received high downloads on mixtape hosting sites. Nipsey Hussle also went on a tour to promote it and planned for a sequel, ‘The Victory Lap’.

Although he initially planned to release ‘Victory Lap’ in 2013, he later decided against it, instead releasing it as his debut studio album in 2018. Meanwhile in October 2013, he released his eighth mixtape, ‘Crenshaw’.

Continuing to record mixtapes, he released ‘Mailbox Money’ in 2014, ‘Slauson Boy Volume 2’ in 2016, ‘Famous Lies and Unpopular Truths’, in 2016 and ‘No Pressure’ in 2017.

In 2017, he also inaugurated the ‘Marathon Clothing’ store which he co-founded with Steve Carless, Karen Civil and his brother Samiel.