[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]os Angeles hip hop and South L.A. is turning to the airwaves to mourn the loss of rapper and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle. Since Sunday evening, the city’s hip hop stations have been breaking from normal rotations of mainstream hits to pay tribute to a local hero — the Crenshaw neighborhood’s “Nip.”
At 92.3-FM, while Dre Sinatra struggled to find more radio-friendly Nipsey edits to play, co-hosts opened the airwaves to grieving friends and family, creating a moving public eulogy service in celebration of the man’s music, his activism, his investment his love for the Hyde Park/Crenshaw district where he grew up and never left.
“He was really doing something amazing for the streets, him being an example, and for him to not be here no more is just crazy,” Dre said over the air, fighting back tears. “I just want to say something to the listeners; you’re helping us get thru this right now. We might be helping y’all, but I hope you understand, y’all are helping us.”
Nipsey established multiple businesses at a strip mall where he once sold his own mixtapes in, and established a truly ambitious shared workspace called Vector 90, which Nipsey built to serve South Central tech entrepreneurs, and to help local kids gain the necessary STEM skills denied to them by historically underfunded and segregated schools. Nipsey was also heavily involved in helping fund the beloved World on Wheels roller rink in Mid-City, a landmark social and cultural space in black Los Angeles.
On the night of Hussle’s death, L.A. rapper The Game posted an emotional video on his Instagram account. “Driving down Slauson at 4 am because of what happened to Nip,” he can be heard saying. “Shit’s crazy, man, I can’t even fucking sleep. I’m disgusted by this shit.”