via Wikimedia
Instead of giving away all of his creative rights to a major record label, Grammy-award nominated artist Nipsey Hussle stayed independent for most of his career, starting his own label, All Money In. He experienced major success by doing so!
Nipsey was a family man. Known by many to be a loving and devoted partner to his longtime girlfriend, actress Lauren London, he always put her and their kids first. Their blended family included Nipsey’s daughter, Lauren’s son, and their two-year-old son.
Nipsey recently opened Vector90, a coworking space and STEM center that intends to expand diversity in Silicon Valley while granting access to a branch of education rarely accessible to many inner-city kids.
Music often met business and activism for Nipsey. He also invested in a South Central strip mall by opening his Marathon Clothing store, named after several of his mixtapes.
Before his death, Nipsey was working on a documentary about Dr. Sebi, the Honduran herbalist who claimed to cure AIDS, diabetes, lupus, sickle cell, and herpes. Dr. Sebi was sued for his claims by the government - but he beat each case.
Born Ermias Davidson Asghedom to a Black mother and Eritrean father, Nipsey actively reconnected to his African roots. At 18 and 32, he and his brother Samuel made the important pilgrimage to their homeland with their father.
At the age of 33, the life of a man who fully embodied what being Black and empowered is was taken. In his wake, we can all take a page from Nipsey’s book and aspire to ride as hard for Black people - and Black uprising - as he did.