A tribute to fallen rapper Hussle
The gathering was called Drop the Beat, but it started with a moment of silence. Amid the celebration of 1990s-era rap music and literature at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, former radio show host Greg Mack — the music director who was instrumental in making KDAYLos Angeles the first 24hour rap station in 1983 — paid tribute to fallen rapper Nipsey Hussle.
“I thought it important that we mention a friend of all of ours,” Mack said.
“Nipsey was an example of what all people in the entertainment business should be. What I mean is when you reach a certain level in your career, you forget where you came from. And not only did he not forget, he was a role model in how to give back, so much that he gave his life.”
The panel included poet, essayist and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib, who wrote “Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest”; Will Ashon, the founder of Big Dada — an imprint of Ninja Tune records — and author of “Chamber Music: Wu-Tang and America (in 36 Pieces)”; and Gerrick D. Kennedy, L.A. Times music writer and author of “Parental Discretion is Advised: The Rise of N.W.A and the Dawn of Gangsta Rap.” As they spoke about their work, the question of Hussle’s impact on the hip-hop and Los Angeles community continued to surface during the packed discussion at USC.
“I think the legacy is going to be the work that he did in the community and how he was working to make South L.A. better,” said Kennedy. “It’s one thing that makes his death particularly cruel just because of how much he was invested in his neighborhood.”
Hussle’s community efforts, such as hiring felons, financially supporting struggling black businesses and donating to children in the area, were evident up and down South L.A.’s Crenshaw District.
“It was wonderful to see how Hussle rebuilt a new imagination for the place that he loved and lived,” Abdurraqib said. But he also added that he hopes that the rapper will also be remembered for the vehicle that afforded him the opportunity to make change: music.
“[What’s] detached from [many] of these tributes is the fact that the dude could rap,” he said. “Nipsey Hussle was a very good rapper who honed his craft, and the work shows up in the projects. He’s one of those rappers who very palpably got better with every project.”