Today marks the one year anniversary of the devastating passing of Nipsey Hussle. The rapper that represented the Crenshaw and Slauson district of South L.A. has impacted hip hop and black culture in many ways throughout his life and after death, period.
His entrepreneurial spirit and desire to build the community in which he hails from made him more than just another rap n***a.
As we remember Nipsey Hussle, real name Ermias Asghedom, we can’t forget the vision he had for himself, his family (including his bros) and people of color.
The Marathon Clothing Store
As it stands today, the Marathon Clothing store that was located on Slauson Avenue in Los Angeles has been closed down. Fans from all over still come to visit the legendary block to take photos by Nipsey’s murals, but the store itself is blocked off by a fence. However, fans still can purchase Marathon products online.
Vector90
Nipsey’s co-working space and cultural hub Vector90 is still in motion. A collaboration with business partner David Gross, the 4,700 square foot building provides aspiring and solidified creatives with a space to work on their blueprints and business plans. It also is a hub for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) resources and opportunities for inner-city youth.
Puma
Nipsey was officially made the ambassador of Puma in 2018. His longtime girlfriend Lauren London bravely continues his legacy as the new face of Puma. The actress did the ad campaign “Forever Stronger” in 2019. The spot featured London in areas of LA where she and Nipsey took their photos for their GQ cover “California Love”. Nispey’s sister, Samantha, wrote the poem that was recited by London in the spot. Later in the year, some of Nipsey’s associates would join the campaign in his honor.
In celebration of Nipsey’s accomplished life, here are some of Nipsey’s famous words about everything from life to business.
Consistency In The Vision
“The Marathon is about seeing long time, seeing a vision. Understanding that nothing worthwhile happens overnight. It’s just sticking to your script long enough to make something real happen. Laying a brick everyday, instead of trying to build a brick wall, just lay a brick everyday. Eventually, you look up you’re going to have a brick wall.”
Leaving Behind The Comfort Zone
“I never been one of those people that could be comfortable being careless. Some people, I notice the quality, that they don’t have the pressure on themselves. They just have a little bit of a comfort that I don’t have. I don’t feel comfortable, unless I know I went above and beyond with my preparation…I can’t walk around charismatic and happy. No, I got to make sure, you know, we’re setting up some type of wealth because we might have a little bag right now, but a lot of people have the bag right now and they ended up bad. We got a core business which is music. But, then it’s about building an enterprise around it.”
Using The Stats To Motivate Your Hustle
“I’m conscious that there’s an intentional pushback. We can unpack each one of those people that look like me. Yeah, I’m supposed to be in jail or dead. It’s a whole prison complex, you know what I’m saying. Then, you think about as an artist, there’s a business model that exists in the music industry to prevent you from having ownership, to prevent you from being a partner in the lion’s share of the profit. The value is created in content. So, when I think of us as hip hop artists, we create content. We don’t have a wide product line. You go to Disneyland, they got tons of products, ears, Disney, Mickey everything. That’s the vision behind the Marathon store.”
Picking Your Friends & Partner
“Whoever you surround yourself with, you around ten broke n****s you gonna be the eleventh one. You around people that have high standards for themselves, high integrity, high standards for their friends, they people, you know that’s going to rub off and you’re going to have that type of energy around you. So, if you with somebody and they’re somebody that has hot energy or a powerful person, you know that’s motivational for you to stay on top of your game. You know, somebody probably going to call you out and it’s going to be lopsided…I know my girl work. My girl bring home the check, you know what I mean. So, it’s like, what I look like falling off?”
Believing In Yourself
“The most important thing, number one, is you got to get rid of doubt. If you got doubt in what you’re doing it’s not gonna work, you know what I’m saying. The way to do that is you have to plan, ’cause if you got a plan it’s not like just a pipe dream. You have a step-by-step list of things to do to get to your goal. If you don’t have that, it’s very hard to have faith in what you’re doing. ‘Cause as soon as something pop up it’s going to look like the end all. But, if you have a game plan, everything you need to do, one thing pop up ‘well I still got to do this, this and that’, so this thing ain’t gonna stop me. Another thing pop up, ‘I accomplish these two things since my last obstacle, I only got three more things to do, let me keep pushing f**k it’. Pretty soon, you attained your goal and then you create another one. But, without a game plan, without a strong sense of faith in what you’re doing, it’s going to be real hard to accomplish anything…It’s a lot of obstacles out here. Family, baby mamas, the legal system, trouble with the law, you know your homeboys being involved in the crab in the bucket syndrome where you know you’re making moves and starting to make your way out and people try to attach themselves to you. It really becomes weight…extra weight. Sometimes, it’s like kamikaze. They blow themselves up trying to stop you. So, you know, you gotta have faith in what you’re doing and not take no for an answer. You’ll get it. It’ll be a long run, but you’ll get it.”
The Marathon continues, indeed. Rest in power, Nip.
