Nipsey Hussle, the Los Angeles rapper who earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album earlier this year, was shot and killed in L.A. on Sunday, according to NBC. He was 33.
Hussle, whose real name is Ermias Asghedom, was one of three people shot outside of a clothing store he owned in L.A. on Sunday, NBC reports. Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department told NBC that the shooting occurred at approximately 3:20 p.m. in the 3400 block of Slauson Avenue. One man reportedly fled the crime scene in a car, according to TMZ.
Asghedom in 1985 and started releasing mixtapes in the mid-2000s. While many rap careers in the streaming era are based around viral hits and seemingly overnight success, Asghedom relied on a different model: He built a fanbase slowly but surely, and never sacrificed his connection with West Coast hip-hop in an attempt to reach a wide audience. “I was trying to make progress with every release,” the rapper told Rolling Stone earlier this year.
Asghedom was affiliated with Epic Records during the end of the 2000s, but a recent partnership with Atlantic Records proved more fruitful. Asghedom finally released his major-label debut album, fittingly titled Victory Lap, which reached Number Four on the Billboard 200. The LP went on to earn a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, putting Asghedom in the same category as million-sellers like Cardi B and Travis Scott.
“My producers, like Mike & Keys, have been on Grammy nominated albums prior to working on mine,” Asghedom told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “So when they would start that talk [about awards], I’d be like, ‘Chill out.’ That ain’t really what the spirit of the project was.”
“But,” he added, “people who love hip-hop, the art of storytellin’, the underdog, banging production, they gonna love this album.” And they did.
This story is developing
Prior to the shooting, Nipsey tweeted out that “Having strong enemies is a blessing.”
Having strong enemies is a blessing.
— THA GREAT (@NipseyHussle) March 31, 2019
Photo Nipsey took with a young fan, reveals that the victim, whose face is covered but is visibly seen bleeding from the head, is wearing the same clothing as the rapper, and is said to be Nipsey
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