LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle has been killed outside his clothing store in Los Angeles, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
Two other men were in serious condition and a suspect remained at large at press time. Police said Hussle was shot multiple times at Marathon Clothing on Slauson Avenue in South Los Angeles at 3:20 p.m. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
No further information was immediately available about the shooting. A large crowd, many crying, gathered at the intersection.
“It ain’t just Los Angeles. He was an inspiration that was bigger than Los Angeles,” Matthew Talley of Denver told NBC News. “You see all these people out here? …
“He was really cool,” Talley said. “He was a dope individual every time I met him.”
Hussle’s debut album was nominated at this year’s Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album.
Although he had been long associated with the Crips street gang, he had developed an interest in technology and community development and was a part of a group that developed an open-air museum honoring African-American achievement called Destination Crenshaw.
“In our culture, there’s a narrative that says, ‘Follow the athletes, follow the entertainers,'” he told the Los Angeles Times last year. “And that’s cool, but there should be something that says, ‘Follow Elon Musk, follow [Mark] Zuckerberg.’
“I think that with me being influential as an artist and young and coming from the inner city, it makes sense for me to be one of the people that’s waving that flag,” he said.
In an interview with Forbes last year, Hussle said that in his youth he had fallen prey to the “ignorance and self-destructiveness” in his generation.
“I see how damaging that was, for myself included, and we’re all subject to the social pressure,” he said. “I wasn’t above it. Each of us are impacted by what’s going on around us. For me, understanding the platform I have and who it speaks to, it’s about being strategic. …
“I wanted to redefine the lifestyle and what we view as important,” he said. “When you hear ‘buy back the block’ as the narrative, that’s powerful. That’s a step towards redefining the expectation.”
