By Erin Williams – Staff Writer
On March 31 of 2019, Los Angeles lost more than just a local hero; he was a legend who had an untimely death at only age 33. Ermias Asghedom, better known as Nipsey Hussle, was the victim of a personal gang-related shooting within a few feet of his clothing store, The Marathon located on Slauson Ave in Los Angeles. According to TMZ, “Nipsey was pronounced dead 35 minutes after he had been shot.” TMZ also stated, “Nipsey was shot in plain view surveillance camera, and footage shows the shooter who cops believe to be Eric Holder opening fire 3 different times on Nipsey before kicking his body and fleeing the scene.” Not only was Nipsey Hussle a rapper, he was a songwriter, entrepreneur, and community activist. Some of his most popular songs include “Racks in the Middle”, “Last time that i checc’d”, and “Victory lap”. Nipsey was born and raised in Slauson, California and adopted his style from a former OG Snoop Dogg. He released his first mixtape in 2005 titled Slauson Boy Volume 1 which brought buzz to his name. Hussle illuminated the possibility of making it out of any circumstance by actively practicing the importance of preserving throughout adversity.He holds truth to his trademark, The Marathon continues, which gives the essence of what he stands for.He always made sure he included his Crenshaw district in everything he did and that is why people should him love worldwide.
Senior Sasha Floyd from Carson High School stated, “Nipsey Hussle was important because he did monumental things for his city. He tried to build it up in the most positive way, and he came from nothing,” she added, “he was not the type to get rich and leave his community behind; he actually wanted to help his city become something, and he helped build people up by offering jobs to ones that didn’t have one.”
Not only was he taken away from his fans, he was taken from his family as well, close friends, his wife Lauren London, his 10 year old daughter Emani Asghedom, and 2 year old son Kross Asghedom. Even though his body is no longer here, his family and the community will continue to carry on his legacy. Although the suspect, Eric Holder, was arrested, it still doesn’t justify how many lives he hurt. Many people were attracted to Nipsey because of his mindset and his spirit, and he was one of the most respected rappers and an influential pillar in Hip-Hop music.
Senior Jalynn Harris from CHS says “She feels very impacted because he was one of our own and the fact that he got shot in front of his own clothing store in his hood is very disrespectful” she continued to say “He was one of the ones that helped us black people and gave back to us so we definitely lost one of the important people that we needed to lead us, losing him feels like we lost one of our cousins, even if you didn’t know him personally it feels like you knew him”
On April 11 Nipsey Hussle’s celebration of life was held at the Staple Center. A lot of fans anticipated attending, and within 20 minutes, he sold out the whole Staple Center. His celebration definitely went down in history as evidenced by all of the fans that came to support him. Also, on April 11, the mayor of Carson recognized Ermias Asghedom for his outstanding contributions to the community; the 44th president, Barack Obama, also sent Nipsey and his family a personal letter recognizing his contributions to the community.
Although fans are devastated that this has happened, some fans feel that the community now has unity and peace and that people are motivated more than ever to strive to be an example like Nipsey Hussle was.
Comments