By Panama Jackson , Guest Columnist
Rest In Power - Neighborhood Nip
By Panama Jackson , Guest Columnist
Like everybody else , I was hit with and then devastated by the news that Grammy-nominated rapper , entrepreneur , wealth- and community-builder Nipsey Hussle , aka Neighborhood Nip , aka Ermias Asghedom , was gunned down in front of his own store yesterday in Los Angeles . At 33 years old , no matter what the circumstances , he was too young to die . He is a father of two , sharing a son with actress Lauren London , who , along with his family and close friends , I ’ m sure is absolutely going through it right about now .
I don ’ t know why deaths in the hip-hop community hit me especially hard . Maybe it ’ s because being a hiphop artist is the one artistic profession where , in some corners , what got you there is likely the same thing that could easily take you out . To tell the truth , and knock on the proverbial wood , given the life stories and the tales many rappers tell , we ’ re probably lucky more rappers haven ’ t been taken from the planet .
Rest In Power Neighborhood Nip Nipsey Hussle , Ermias Asghedom Daytona Beach , Florida April 2019019
Nipsey wasn ’ t perfect . I ’ m 39 , and the amount of growth I ’ ve personally experienced between 33 and 39 is tremendous . Part of that is my exposure and experiences with many people and also by learning from the people around me who I ’ ve had the pleasure to get to know . I ’ ve gained from them . Jay-Z at 26 when he dropped Reasonable Doubt versus Jay-Z who dropped 4:44 is an entirely different man . While he may have always had a hustler ’ s spirit , which enabled him to get where he is and obtain what he ’ s attained , what he ’ s learned along the way and how he views the world seem to be very different from 1996 .
Last year , Nipsey made a comment on Instagram under a picture of a group of black youth implying , amongst other things , that there was some gay agenda out there working against the black community . Basically , that images of blackness were violent , gay or fatherless , and in this picture was a group of young black men in tuxedos . I don ’ t know why that particular image stuck out to him in such a way to make him speak out in the fashion he did , but I do imagine and hope that anybody in his position , who was hoping to rebuild his community — one surely filled with the type of people he claimed the media was feeding us — would have realized that we ’ re all community , all looking for the same things he claimed to be hoping to bring to his community — freedom and opportunity . We ’ ll never know , so I get why there are people who aren ’ t happy that a black man was gunned down but aren ’ t shedding many tears for a person who otherwise didn ’ t want to acknowledge their existence . All of our faves are problematic .
By all other accounts , Nipsey was literally doing what he could to build up the local community that raised him with his clothing stores , his barbershop , his restaurant , his STEM innovation hub , Vector90 , and his presence there . Even his approach to ownership and economics is worthy of pride . Granted , selling limited edition mixtapes for $ 1,000 a pop seems insane until you reframe it and realize understanding your value and charging accordingly is how the rich get and stay rich . Plus , it actually worked ; he sold the vast majority of them . Nipsey approached life with a very trickle-up philosophy about community , ownership and empowerment , and he lived it .
Here was a man who appeared to love his community , loved his woman and family , and eschewed common tropes of being from the hood . Only a man comfortable with who he is could and would do that GQ story and pictures with Lauren London . It was a great spread , but there was a time when that kind of thing could kill a career , when manhood was viewed only in its most base ways . Ironic , I know , considering his comments on gay men . It ’ s why many of us pray for growth .
He imbued his music with those themes . Can ’ t lie , Nipsey ’ s music wasn ’ t all upliftment . It was , like many of the young hiphop artists from Los Angeles ( and everywhere really ) caught up in and involved in the street life , littered with references and allegiances to their sets . But that ’ s natural ; hip-hop , like politics , is local and sometimes the nation catches on . But even in song , Nipsey shared his philosophies on life and community , making him an artist who , while not a household name like others , was very well respected by all of his peers for his skill and his musical palette . Love him or hate him , he made good music that worked in your headphones or the whip .
I don ’ t know why he was gunned down . I hope and pray he wasn ’ t still trying to break ties that wouldn ’ t let him go and it ultimately cost him his life . I don ’ t want to read that story in the news . I also hope some idiot didn ’ t just wake up on Sunday clout chasing and decided he needed a body . Nothing , not one single circumstance would make it better or OK . He is a man who is lost to the ether , leaving potential in the wake and a future that seemed so bright permanently dimmed . What comes of what he started ? I only hope continued progress . What I do know is that hip-hop lost another artist , senselessly , and a change has to come . It gets exhausting to continue to have to talk about who these talented individuals could have become . It would be nice to be able to see some of these lives come to a natural , happy successful-on-their-terms conclusion . Until then . R . I . P ., Neighborhood Nip .
Program Success 15 April 2019