Rapper Nipsey Hussle was slated to meet with representatives from the Los Angeles Police Department less than 24 hours after he was shot to death outside his Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon (March 31). The news was revealed by LAPD Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff in a series of tweets paying homage to the 33 year-old MC, who died following the shooting that also injured two other unidentified victims.
“A weekend in Los Angeles with incidents of tragic violence… this needs to simply STOP,” Soboroff tweeted, adding, “.@NipseyHussle #RIP sir. Many of us will join together to stop what ever caused your, and so many other tragic unnecessary killings.”
In response to a tweet from Roc Nation expressing their grief over the loss, Soboroff revealed that his team was slated to meet with commuinty acitvist Hussle to discuss gang violence on Monday (Apr. 1).
“We (@LAPDChiefMoore and I) were meeting, at the request of @NipseyHussle with him and @rocnation tomorrow at 4pm to talk about ways he could help stop gang violence and help us with kids. I’m so very sad,” he wrote.
We (@LAPDChiefMoore and I ) were meeting , at the request of @NipseyHussle with him and @rocnation tomorrow at 4pm to talk about ways he could help stop gang violence and help us help kids. I’m so very sad https://t.co/rcGtvw9c6L
— Steve Soboroff (@SteveSoboroff) April 1, 2019
Late Sunday night, Atlantic Records paid tribute to the late artist (born Ermias Ashedom) as fans, friends and fellow artists paid homage to a hard-working rapper who always kept one eye on trying to uplift others.
“Words cannot express our sadness. Nipsey was not only one of the greatest artists we worked with but an amazing father and leader in his community,” a statement reads. “One of the kindest and brightest stars in the universe, he was inspiring to all. We will miss him, his music and everything he stood for. Our deepest sympathy, love and prayers go out to his family. May Nipsey Hussle Rest in Peace.”
The LAPD said during a press conference that the investigation is being handled as a homicide and that there is one male black suspect. The shooting came just weeks after Hussle revealed that he was planning on finishing a joint album with Meek Mill for the summertime.
“We’ve been cutting ideas and just getting in. We got a couple records that’s going to go off for the summer. It’s not hard at all we just got to lock in and get the records done,” the “Racks in the Middle” artist told REAL 92.3. “We working right now as we speak. We on album time right now. Next thing we going to put out musically is an album.”
Hussle had way more than music on his mind, though. The Grammy-nominated Victory Lap MC was active in his community, cutting the ribbon on a co-working space/STEM center, Vector90, in the Crenshaw district last March in an attemp to build a bridge between underrepresented workers and Silicon Valley. “I grew up in gang culture,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “We dealt with death, with murder. It was like living in a war zone, where people die on these blocks and everybody is a little bit immune to it. I guess they call it post-traumatic stress, when you have people that have been at war for such a long time. I think L.A. suffers from that because it’s not normal yet we embrace it like it is after a while.”
He extended his desire to help bring change and hope to the inner city with Marathon, a “smart store” that allowed visitors to enhance their in-store experience through an interactive app. The Times also reported that Hussle was shot at close rang by a young man, who then ran to a waiting getaway car and that, based on unnamed sources, the shooter is “probably associated with a gang.”
This article originally appeared on Billboard.
