According to multiple outlets including TMZ and CNN, South Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle has been murdered at the age of 33. He was reportedly shot during an attack at his store in Hyde Park on Slauson Ave near Crenshaw Blvd. He is survived by two children and his partner and mother of at least one of his children, Laura London.
The shooting appears to be gang related, as Nipsey Hussle was allegedly a member of the Crips gang. Police state that he was shot by a black male in his 20s, who approached the rapper on foot before firing multiple shots. He fled in a nearby vehicle that police say was driven by a female. Two other people were shot at the store, though it appears that Hussle is the only fatality.
Nipsey Hussle released his first proper studio album Victory Lap last year after over a decade of releasing mixtapes and other projects. He earned a Grammy nomination for that album for Best Rap Album (ultimately losing to Cardi B).
TMZ published a (since deleted) video from an Instagram Live session hosted by artist Cinco, in which a young man jumps into the feed with his own video and claims he shot Hussle in front of his daughter. It’s not clear if the man in the video is actually the shooter identified by police. In the video, Cinco skeptically asks the other man if he is really admitting to everyone on Instagram Live that he shot Nipsey Hussle, to which the young man confirms he did and says he doesn’t care, there were multiple witnesses and the police are already after him. While he claims to be responsible for the murder, we cannot confirm that the man in the video is in fact the shooter.
Understandably, the hip hop community was shaken by the sudden and violent death of one of their peers. Here are a few of the reactions on social media:
Lupe Fiasco
Vince Staples
Open Mike Eagle
El-P
Chance the Rapper
A$AP Rocky
Pharrell Williams
Drake
UPDATE (4/2): According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the primary suspect in Nipsey Hussle’s fatal shooting has been identified as Eric Holder, a 29-year-old from Los Angeles. CNN reports that later in the day, he was arrested. CNN also reports that the two men knew each other and that the shooting is the result of a personal dispute.
LAPD police chief Michel Moore wouldn’t go into detail about the root of the feud, so as to not potentially jeopardize future prosecution, but stated that in a surveillance video, Holder can be seen approaching the rapper and two other men several times before firing multiple shots at them. While Nipsey Hussle and Holder were believed to be affiliated with local street gangs, this dispute doesn’t appear to be gang-related.
At a vigil the day after the shooting became violent when someone with a gun approached the gathering at the strip mall where Nipsey Hussle’s store is located. The armed man caused vigil-goers to flee, which Los Angeles police spokeswoman Meghan Aguilar described as “absolutely chaotic, mass panic.”
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