Rapper Nipsey Hussle killed in shooting outside his L.A. store

LOS ANGELES — The Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed in a shooting outside his clothing store in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, multiple law enforcement sources said. Two other men were in serious condition, and a suspect remained at large.

Police sources said Hussle was shot multiple times at Marathon Clothing on Slauson Avenue in South Los Angeles at about 3:20 p.m. and that he was pronounced dead at a hospital. No other information was immediately available, but just a couple of hours before, Hussle, 33, whose real name was Ermias Ashgedom, had tweeted, “Having strong enemies is a blessing.”

A large crowd of people, many of them crying, gathered at the intersection as police and media helicopters whirred overhead.

One of them was Matthew Talley of Denver, the engineer and director known as Megatron.

“It ain’t just Los Angeles. He was an inspiration that was bigger than Los Angeles,” Talley said. “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 studio album, “Victory Lap” was nominated for Best Rap Album at this year’s Grammy Awards.

Hussle had long been associated with the Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips, one of Los Angeles’ largest street gangs, which he publicly acknowledged in a 2010 interview with Complex magazine.

In more recent years, however, Hussle had developed an interest in technology and community development, and he was part of a team of artists and entrepreneurs who developed Destination Crenshaw, an open-air museum devoted to honoring African-American artistic achievement.

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“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.

Hussle was also an investor in Vector 90, a co-working space in South Central Los Angeles, where young people can take classes in science, technology and mathematics. He called the center a “bridge between Silicon Valley and the inner city,” saying at last year’s Afrotech conference that he hoped to expand to other cities, like Atlanta, Washington and Baltimore.

I’ll remember him this way. Bright, genuine, forward thinking.

I’ll remember the beauty that he saw in our community. And the beauty that he was.

He loved us. He’s left that love with us. And it cannot die.

Rest in Power, King. You mattered. #FarewellNipsey pic.twitter.com/fiSvURrz3U

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) April 1, 2019

In an interview last year with Forbes, Hussle said that as a youth, he’d fallen prey to the “ignorance and self-destructiveness in the narrative that was pushed on us through music in our 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.”

Hussle and two co-owners opened Marathon Clothing in June 2017 as a “smartstore,” complete with a smartphone app on which fans could buy exclusive content and products.

“I wanted to open up a brick and mortar physical retail in this area and thought, ‘What’s the trajectory and likelihood of being successful as e-commerce grows?'” he said in an interview with Billboard at the time.

Hussle said his goal was to “create a theme park for the brand.”

“We haven’t seen that in hip-hop,” he said. “We haven’t seen someone create a real-world place where the brand lives and there’s products.”

He and the actor Lauren London were the parents of a 2½-year-old child; Hussle had other children from previous relationships, as well.

Issa Rae, the creator and star of the HBO series “Insecure,” said Hussle had inspired her “to invest and own in our communities.”

“He was a solid man who loved his woman, his family and his community,” she said Sunday. “This hurts.”

As news spread that Hussle had been shot, other performers and athletes, including LeBron James, 50 Cent and Steph Curry, quickly tweeted best wishes:

Thoughts and prayers for @NipseyHussle https://t.co/z00gcByHmE

— 50cent (@50cent) March 31, 2019

🙏🏾 @NipseyHussle‼️‼️‼️‼️

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 31, 2019

Prayers up for @NipseyHussle speedy recovery! 🙏🏾

— Reggie Bush (@ReggieBush) March 31, 2019