NBC News is reporting tonight that Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle is dead, killed in a shooting outside a clothing store in Los Angeles. Born Ermias Ashgedom, the 33-year-old Hussle was a recent breakout into the mainstream rap scene, courtesy of his 2018 debut success, Victory Lap, after years of hustling in the mixtape scene.
The Grammy-nominated Victory Lap was one of our favorite albums of last year, presenting a road map to Hussle’s hard-won success after years spent on the grind. (It didn’t hurt that he’d also recently dropped one of the best anti-Trump songs of the post-2016 era, the infectious, frequently pirate-broadcast “Fuck Donald Trump.”)
Two other men are reportedly also in serious condition after the shooting. No suspect has been named.