Nipsey Hussle-Unity.

Street Legends & Heroes!

I woke up on April 1^st, 2019 to what I thought was the biggest April fool’s day prank ever. Instagram posts kept popping up in my feed with fake news about Nipsey Hussle being shot and killed at his store on Crenshaw, in Los Angeles, California. I immediately jumped online, and CBS was reporting it, TMZ already had footage, and my timeline was flooded with posts related to the shooting. I thought this can not be real, especially since 5^th Ward Weebie out of Louisiana was just playing his new Victory Lap album in a studio session we had the month before. When I realized it was true, I was really heartbroken. This was a good dude, doing great things for his community, and he was gone for nothing, no good reason at all, Just gone!

I mean, I had just really started listening to the new album, and it was super dope. I thought to myself, I have really been missing out. Nipsey was a genius, and he was preaching black power, black ownership, black wealth, and basically black everything, but just as soon as I had found him, he was gone (snap!) Just like that. I remember seeing pictures of him bringing his grandmother on a private jet. That was one of the most touching picture I ever saw him in. I felt like that was my grandmother, which made it that much more special. He could have had a bunch of money on the jet, we’ve seen that, or a flock of fly girls on the plane ready and willing to join the mile-high club, but he was different, he brought out the most valuable person in his family, the matriarch, his grandmother. Nipsey Hussle brought many people together during his time here on planet earth, and the same is even more so true in his absence. Los Angeles gangs came together in honor of Nipsey Hussle to do a unity walk, from a neighborhood corner store where Nipsey grew up, to his Marathon clothing store in Crenshaw. This was supposed to be in support of a gang truce, between the Bloods, and Crips, L.A.’s biggest gangs, but why did it take the death of this man to make these guys see, that we are killing ourselves at an alarming rate, and how long will the truce last?

The overall crime rate in Crenshaw alone is 66% higher than the national average. That means that you are 66% more likely to die on Crenshaw than anywhere else in the United States. There’s literally more of a chance of you dying than there is of you surviving. Think about that, and let that marinate. Black people have been killing each other for so long, we have all become numb to it. Why are young black men still being killed by the police with zero accountability, and absolutely no retribution? I have yet to hear a story of a gang member rolling up on a police officer who killed an unarmed black man or black woman, and was later acquitted or completely set free after a paid leave of absence. What in the hell happened to Sandra Bland? Who’s paying for her death? Tell me this! How the hell is Nipsey Hussle dead at the hands of a black man, but that damn George Zimmerman is still walking around free after murdering a child? Why is he still alive? Why have the gangs not taken him out? WHY? WHY? WHY? Now all of a sudden, the gangs are seeing the errors of their ways, and calling a truce, but how long will that last? It’s really a shame that it takes someone to die, before someone else will do something. Several gang leaders agreed to a peace treaty.

The week leading up to Nipsey Hussle’s death, 11 people were murdered in Los Angeles, California alone. Why couldn’t the truce had happened then. I don’t mean no disrespect, but was Nipsey’s life more important than the other 11 people that were killed? If so, why? To go even further, why do we always try to jump on the bandwagon?

President Barack Obama wrote a beautiful touching letter to Nipsey and his family, admitting that he had not heard his music before his daughters played it for him, and I’m sure his message was genuine and wholesome. However, so many people are acting like they loved Nipsey so much, and some are probably genuine, I’m sure many are but a lot of people are not. Did they spend $100 for the Crenshaw album? Ask them to name a song off of his first album, or better yet, just ask them the name of his first album, without looking it up on the internet. I would bet half the people who are posting his pictures now, never reposted one of his posts, or put one of his pictures on their page. Even in death people are still trying to take advantage of the situation. I’ve heard people went as far as to sell their tickets to his funeral for a profit. Not to mention absolutely stupid disrespectful comments made by Kodak Black, in reference to Lauren London, but radio personality, Big Boy really took care of that. To top that off, there was also a shooting in Watts, California, during Nipsey Hussle’s funeral procession. Four people were shot, and one person was shot to death. So much for the gang truce, and maybe the peace treaty is out the window, but I will congratulate those who are trying to maintain the peace. We really need the healing right now. Some are calling Nipsey the Tupac of our generation, and that’s cool, I just wish he could have heard that compliment in life. So often it is death that brings us back together, and helps us to overcome our differences, but we should honor our loved ones while they are here to receive that love. I’m sure Nipsey would have loved to have seen hordes of people who came out in peace for the candle light vigils. The mobs who lined the streets during the funeral procession all show love and unity, and it was an absolute spectacle. This was a homecoming fit for a King, which he was, complete with a magnificent royal send off. Still, please give me my flowers while I’m alive, so that I may enjoy their beauty while I’m here, and appreciate the joy they bring before I’m gone. The entire world feels this lost, and the void cannot be filled by any one thing. I pray that the senseless violence stops. I pray for our loved ones. I pray for our enemies. I pray for the somebodies. I pray for the nobodies, and I pray that we can all love one another in Unity. Nipsey died at the same age as Jesus, he was 33 years old. Through this tragedy, his life and legacy has brought so many people together from around the world. He was more than just a Street Legend, or a Soldier, he was a real King, and a true Hero. He will forever be immortalized as a man of the people. RIP, Rest In Paradise!!!