Nipsey Hussle’s legacy takes center stage at Grammy Awards
NEW YORK (AP) — Even before Nipsey Hussle laid down his first verse on “Higher,” DJ Khaled predicted he had a Grammy-nominated hit on his hands.
At Khaled’s home in Miami, the hip-hop stars had deep and personal conversations about topics outside of music — family life, street life, entrepreneurship, future goals and more — before recording the song. Hussle even told Khaled how his grandmother had 12 miscarriages before giving birth to his mother.
“Walking to the studio I was telling Nipsey, ‘Man, that stuff you were talking about, you should put that in a song one day.’ I was telling him, ‘When I hear songs from Jayz, Biggie, Pac and Nas, when they tell their stories about their life, not only do you believe it, you feel it,’” Khaled said. “It’s like street gospel.”
Moments later, Hussle did re-tell those stories in a song — that song — one of the last he recorded before his tragic death on March 31, 2019. Hussle was shot to death outside his Marathon clothing store in the South Los Angeles neighborhood where he is from; Eric Holder Jr. was charged with the slaying and is expected to face trial in the coming weeks.
“I knew it was special out the gate. Working with Nipsey Hussle was special. I told Nipsey that God willing, we will get nominated for a Grammy ... I spoke that into existence,” Khaled said. “We both felt the same. We knew making this record was Grammy-worthy.” Khaled was right. “Higher,” which also features John Legend, is nominated for best rap/ sung performance at Sunday’s show, which will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It comes a year after Hussle scored his first-ever Grammy nod for best rap album with his major-label debut, “Victory Lap.”
“It took 10 people to make that song happen over the course of four months,” said Steve “Steve-o” Carless, Hussle’s manager and business partner, said of “Higher.”
“We finally got it done. If that one wins, that will be a special one for me,” he said. I’d probably collapse on the ground for that one.”
But Hussle could win more than one trophy: His song “Racks in the Middle,” featuring Hit-boy and Roddy Ricch, was recorded a day after last year’s Grammys and is nominated for both best rap song and best rap performance.