The son of an immigrant picked himself up by the bootstraps and made something of himself. He opened businesses. He employed the formerly incarcerated. He gave back to his community. He taught underprivileged the principles of capitalism in an accessible manner. Nipsey was by no means perfect, but he should be lauded for his achievements in the face of tremendous odds.
24
I heard an interview with Tracy Morgan in which he said when you make enough money to get out of the ghetto; you leave in the middle of the night, change your phone number and don't leave a forwarding address.
7
In the United States, violence is very much apart of the fabric of this nation. To reduce Rap music as the root cause of what's happening in the black community is dumb and simplistic. Majority of the films and TV shows created in the United States celebrate and promote senseless violence 24/7.
In a nation who's citizens have accepted the slaughter of children, as a necessary evil to so guns owners can purchase high capacity weapons... save me the selective hypocritical indignation in the comments section. The United States is the most violent nation in the Western World; welcome to the greatest nation on earth.
This article assumes a lot and reduces this story to narrative for which we don't have all the facts. The senseless killing of Hussle could've had nothing to do with the music he created. Until motive has been established, the author is making an assumption
The killing of small black business owners, community organizers, black boys and men who reject criminal life, the randomness of innocents victims of all ages is all too common in the African-American commpunity. Call it what you want, crabs in a barrel, jealousy, or misery wants company. There are black boys/men in the African American community stuck in a mind-set of defeatism, negativity, toxic masculinity, and violence for violence sake.
12
This article is missing a huge fact. Nipsey owns all of his masters. That's why though it seems like even though Nipsey was a middle-class rapper who didn't have a huge mainstream following, he was able to take home a lot more money from sales of his music.
When he put out a mixtape for $100, sure he only sold 1000 copies when it was released (including 100 to Jay-Z), but that 1000 copies translated to $100,000 instantly.
11
all of the successful people i know who grew up in neighborhoods blighted by crime and poverty left and never looked back. i had never heard of nipsey hussle. after his untimely death, i read about his message to his community that everyone should strive to produce the next science/technology pioneer as much as the next ball player. i applaud that message and hope someone else will carry the torch.
8
The man made his very substantial living glorifying violence as the solution to all manner of problems. Of course he didn’t deserve to die and I mourn for his family, and I understand that life is complicated, but in my opinion it’s not complicated enough to celebrate the fabulous wonderfulness of a purveyor of such cultural poison.
11
@Ken Krigstein He used his experiences coming from an environment that neither you or I could properly comprehend to create music and make himself successful. He then used that success to give back to his community by opening businesses, investing in programs for youth and was scheduled to meet with the chief of police before he was killed to discuss tackling gang violence and improving relations with the police and the community. He understood where he came from and was using his wealth and status to address those issues. That is something indeed worth celebrating.
24
@Ken Krigstein His art was created within an environment with violence and therefore has inextricable ties to that reality. Blaming him for that means you certainly haven't taken a hard enough look at his work and circumstances to be criticizing it.
12
@Ken Krigstein
I can tell by your comment that you failed to do through research into the life of this positively influential man or his life to even somewhat understand where he came from, what he stood for, or the direction in which he was trying to lead, not just his community, but the black & brown community in it's entirety. Never speak of what you don't know or have any understanding of. I know for sure you're on the outside looking in & will never understand.
6
The 380 max was built without redundant or triple redundant instruments (angle of attack sensor)…I’ve never built or designed an airplane (Not even the paper kind),but that right there sounds like a real stupid omission by such a respected aircraft company. I’m just watching a program (Smithsonian chnl.) on an Airbus A300 air disaster where an inexperienced copilot inadvertently triggered a “Go around“ switch that stalled the plane when they were trying to land it; both pilots couldn’t fight the automatic system, that did NOT disengage by tactile manual input.
How ironic how this rapper Nipsey Hussle wanted to pay it forward to the community which he came from yet his own community turned on him and as result, paid with his life.
Violence like this should hopefully open the minds of individuals in the community to work together and not against each other.
Sad period.
12
He was shot by one individual not by his "own community", his community didn't turn on him they loved him.
6
I live in Los Angeles but had never heard of Nipsy Hustle until after his murder and it making the headlines here each day. I dislike the musical sound of rap and am unacquainted with with the lifestyle and genre, but he sounded like a nice man who unfortunately may have been its victim.
5
This article unnecessarily complicates the rap dilema. If you have a culture that normalizes violence, never even mentions non-violent ways to resolve disputes, then its adherents will shoot each other.
22
@Esteban S. how do you attribute Nip's murder to rap music or the genre's culture without knowing why he was killed? You say rap's "adherents will shoot each other" -- how do we know the alleged murderer was an adherent or even knew that Nip was a rapper?
Unfounded assumptions complicate things, not this article.
15
Listen to more rap and stop painting with a broad brush. The three industry leaders (Kendrick, Drake and J. Cole) all call for non-violence.
11
The article’s premise is Nip was in danger because he was a rapper in his home neighborhood.
1
ICE_T in his rapping days directly and vividly addressed this issue in his song Escape from the Killing Fields 20 years ago
6
Sad all the way around.
6
My heart goes out to his family and community. The photos by Alex Welsh have captured his memorial beautifully.
10
He died in a violent dispute. What has the violent behavior of the person who shot him have to do with his community or his music?
I lived in the Crenshaw years ago -- it was a neighborhood with struggles and poverty but also a great deal of friendliness and filled with people living ordinary lives. Even if violence is more prevalent there than in affluent communities, does that mean we should ignore that 99% of the folks living there are not violent?
17
The murder has also been linked to his role in producing a documentary about Dr. Sebi.. of course this is really out there but I have been seeing a lot of talk on the internet about it
6
If you're not from the urban community/culture, I honestly don't expect for you to understand how deep rooted the issues at heart are. Who controls the music industry? What is/are their objective/s? Most main stream musicians are controlled puppets at the bottom on the totem pole with no control of productivity. Nipsy understood that concept early in his career and that's exactly why, until just very recently, he was an independent artist. Nipsy managed to stay independent, yet make connection with some of the biggest & influential names is the industry solely off of his authenticity. He owned all masters to his music which gave him total power & control of his art. He was definitely beyond his years in his understanding of not just the music industry, but life in general! Many, many tears for this tragic loss.
25
I know this is really out there.. but there has been a lot of speculation on the internet forums about a conspiracy. I don't buy it but lots of internet people are saying that his role in producing the Dr. Sebi documentary got him killed because he was gonna expose some natural healing secrets and Dr. Sebi himself was killed in mysterious circumstances. I don't believe it but just thought it was interesting
2
@Ryan: Then why spread it? And if you don't think it's true, how is it interesting? You are part of the problem. You get your news from "lots of internet people"?
1
The Black rich, and even the Black middle class, have options. It is the majority of decent Black working class and poor who are stuck in high crime areas that are the greatest victims. Aside from an occasional article in Neediest Cases, or a passing mention in the crime blotter, their deaths in the multitudes go largely ignored by African-American and mainstream media alike.
16
Yes this is sad, but to me the whole rap and hip hop industry is a blatant call to black youth to be violent thugs . It’s not art if it incites violence . It’s propaganda for gangs to kill other gang members . The rap and hip hop industry love this , it sells more records
33
@Dennis I'm sorry but that sounds ignorant. "it's not art if it incites violence"? Characterizing a whole music genre as a blatant call for violence is completely overlooking hip hop, because it's inspirational and speaks to the soul of many people. I can give you endless rap songs that don't call for violence and in fact call for love.
27
@Dennis Funny enough, a recent study actually found that pop lyrics actually are more violent than rap lyrics on average: https://psmag.com/news/pop-music-lyrics-are-as-violent-as-those-in-hip-hop
14
@Dennis this is the type of comment that comes from people who do not actively listen to Rap music. You think because you listen to one song and it has some sentance enhancers that it makes it violent, but Rap music has more depth than that.
11
The few comments that are here reflect a lack of familiarity with, understanding of and even some empathy for people living in dangerous neighborhoods. This is atypical of Times comments, imo; it also is reflective of the relative privilege of the commenters:
"...something to do with the value judgements of the art...",
"...What kind of a community..."
"...when you glorify violence..."
Artists often, represent aspects of their community in their art/ art reflects aspects of the communities from which it springs. It is a privilege to live in communities where classical, country, pop seem reflect familiar realities; good for you. But there are others whose lives and realities are reflected in this artist's work. It is not wrong to have been born there nor to try to live there; it is laudable that Nipsy tried to improve his community; it is, however, wrong to conflate his art with sources of the problems of violence and/ or to imply that the substance of his art somehow diminishes his death or the community issues surrounding it.
81
@John I understand the "understanding" you're trying to have but the media/music industry plays a huge part in what's glorified and glamorized and goes global. There are PLENTY of artists (in all aspects of artistry) who come from poverty/struggle and don't strictly reflect their everyday lives of poverty and struggle. The media/music industry carefully choose who'll get the contracts and what image they're putting out. Don't think it's strictly by "talent" that certain type of artists are "chosen." There's a reason Cardi B has been chosen by the media/music industry. Do you really believe there's a shortage of other female rap artists who actually put out positive, self-love, female empowering raps that also keep it real? This is much bigger than the artists and their communities. This is an attempt to normalize dysfunction and make it seem as if art is not supposed to also uplift and inspire change.
1
Let's not paint a picture of an artist that was comfortable not being within 'hip hop' music's 1% in order to make him look noble in his death. The story of how he grinded to where he was is enough from an inspirational standpoint. Every artist needs a vehicle besides their music in order to get to that level because the music simply is not enough for them to be taken seriously by high powered investors who can elevate their status and cash flow.
Jay-Z used small stake ownership and partnerships. Drake is an actor and has branched his activities out further from his music. Nipsey's hustle towards the same end happened to be land redevelopment activities in his neighborhood and home town. While the ideas were modest, if successful any real estate developer will continue to pursue more grandiose opportunities that will eventually boost them into that 1% class. Success brings more investors, more cash flow, partnerships, and better opportunities to span one's influence beyond the borders of their norm.
The guy had a family with a Hollywood actress and plenty of wealthy and influential colegues in the entertainment industry...believe me, he was well on his way upwards and definitely not settling for 'middle class' status.
15
An observation from reading the newspapers over the decades — rappers’ deaths are murder by third party gun shot, rockers’ deaths are by accidental self-inflicted drug overdose. Similarly in the general population, blacks are more inclined to that of murder over suicide, compared to whites where the opposite is true, suicide dominates over murder. This is stretching things a bit as accidental suicide isn’t the same as premeditated suicide. But the point is that the music industry artists and general population behaviors parallel each other. Why and what can be done elude policy makers.
5
From soul music to rap and hip hop. What a tragic fall was there!
10
It’s amazing that Hillbilly Elegy can be praised for highlighting cultural problems in Appalachia as the cause of poverty but it is forbidden to say there is any cultural problem in South Los Angeles.
27
@Shamrock
Hillbilly Elegy is a middle class condemnation of the lower classes that is masquerading as ethnography.
6
I was never particularly into Nipsey’s music, but his verse on YG’s FDT was fantastic. Still my favorite anti-Trump song.
2
I was drawn to this piece not because I was following the story of Hussle’s death, but because I was genuinely curious about the set-up in the NYT Morning Briefing. I’m woefully ignorant about how people in his segment of the industry make money. He didn’t achieve the wealth he (apparently) had, modest by famous rapper standards but enviable for most Americans, selling a few CDs out of his trunk. Perhaps the editor removed details, but there’s no connection given between finding success on “free” streaming services, and amassing personal wealth. How does that work? What do those numbers look like, for Hussle and others?
24
The one obvious cause for this killing is completely missing in this article: guns. While It is tragic that this 33-year-old rapper was senselessly shot and killed, is also important to point out that every single day 100 people are killed by guns in this country— a rate that is 25 times higher than any other developed country in the world. The gun violence epidemic in this country will never be solved if it is completely ignored in articles like this.
75
Classical and country artists did not come from a long lineage of residential segregation and concentrated poverty - a consequence of government sanctioned redlining and blatant racism - and their neighborhoods and music reflect that.
50
@Theresa Turner
The killer's gun didn't pick itself up and shoot the rapper. Another human being did that. Deflecting blame from a volitional human being to an inanimate object isn't helpful. Guns don't have motives or agency.
17
@Hanna
Thank you.
2
"[H]e rarely strayed from the blocks where he came up as a member of the Rollin’ 60s Crips gang"
Ah, there it is. I was wondering why classical and country and mainstream pop musicians are not afraid to live in their own neighborhoods. Something to do with the value judgements of the art, I'm thinking.
37
"But that same accessibility and dedication to their communities can also make them reachable targets"
What community it is that if you live there you are a reachable target?
30
It’s a community of concentrated poverty - a result of government sanctioned redlining and blatant racism - where people are still struggling with the effects of living in a place that was never invested in. In that context, jealousy is a real threat to people like Nipsey Hustle, who gained the love and respect of his community by being a home grown source of community development when there was none in the first place. Maybe if the government did its job and took efforts to right its wrongs and properly invest in communities like the Crenshaw, the conditions that gave rise to your comment wouldn’t be an issue in the first place. That of course, requires political will from voters like you who don’t live there.
75
@Hanna,
I lived in communities of concentrated poverty, but there never was a desire to kill your rich neighbor because of jealousy. And here we're talking about an ever-present desire to kill because of that as about something normal and natural?
23
Nothing about the politics that killed Nipsey Hustle is normal or natural.
8
His community involvement and commitment is certainly an interesting side of his life. However, I spent some time listening to his catalog yesterday. I’m an old suburban guy, not his audience, but man, he’s talking about a lot of cold blooded murder and violence. Seems like his life ended like a scene in his songs. When you glorify violence and hatred for money and fame consequences shouldn’t be a surprise. We need to stop glorifying gangsters, the same as white supremacists.
120
@Michael Katz
"Cold blooded murder and violence" sell records and get eyeballs. Game of Thrones, for example, shows someone choking on their own blood almost every episode. Think about The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Goodfellas, and others. Gangster rap prides itself not only on some element of authenticity but on giving the listener the associated personal drama. Just as we see the twisted bad-guy protagonists like Tony Soprano or Walter White begin to crumble underneath the weight of their conscience, good gangster rap tells both sides.
40
You apparently didn’t have a close enough listen to his music which of course reflects life on the streets in the community where he was raised, but it is a real representation of it. It speaks to politics of survival and success that you and I would never understand. What is glorified in his music are the messages of self determination in the face of adversity, a powerful love and dedication to his community and a commitment to giving back (as an investor not through meaningless charity), of divine presence manifest through his art, of sacrifice, of humanity.
38
It seems like every other type of artist is allowed to produce complicated works of fiction, but for rappers, it’s assumed that what they produce is straightforward and autobiographical.
41