Nipsey Tha Great, Part 2: Don’t Let His Name Die in Vain
Updated: Jan 15, 2020
King Nip was murdered in cold blood. He had just taken a picture with a child. The assailant shot Ermias "Nipsey Hussle" Asghedom twice — ran away and came back — shot two more times — ran away and came back again shot him twice more, with the last shot being a head shot. Afterwards, he kicked the community activist in the head and ran away.
Excuse the imagery, but can you begin to comprehend how heartless and callous that was? And for what? Whatever the dispute was over, it wasn’t worth the life of a legend, or the life of anyone for that matter. Eric Holder, the man who killed Nipsey Hussle, was out of his mind.
Though a “minority,” I grew up in the most affluent county in the nation for my race. All of my African-American friends and I have been impacted by gun violence. All of them. We weren’t rich or poor, most of us grew up middle class, but we all have known someone shot and/or killed by gun violence. Can you fathom what that can do to a person’s psyche?
As a kid I thought I would die young. I used to think dying young was a badge of honor instead of a cruel recurring happenstance. I came to this conclusion after a few of my childhood idols were murdered at a young age. Also, in school, when learning about positive, renowned and prophetic African-American leaders many of their stories ended in assassination.
We must not let Nipsey Hussle and his predecessors die in vain. The root cause of gun violence usually comes from poverty. When you don’t have your basic needs met as a human you go into survival mode. When in that mindset, there is no such thing as sympathy, foresight, or love; the only thing that matters is surviving. Jealousy and envy come to those who are successful. Those in survival mode want everyone to feel their pain.
Holder hit his breaking point and acted out in a cowardly manner full of resentment. If every American started on the same playing field I think the killings would decrease significantly. No, this won’t bring world peace and stop all wrongdoing, but things would change.
Whatever the solution is we all owe it to Nipsey, our forefathers, kids and ourselves to figure it out. Though homicides have been normalized it’s not normal. Kids being murdered in school is not normal. Other countries have figured it out and we can too.
Everyone has their theories, from making it harder to own a gun to establishing a stipend for every American. It’s time to try something out or Nipsey’s death, along with so many other slain African American leaders, will be in vain.
The revered rapper/activist/entrepreneur dedicated his life to helping others and elevating mindsets. We must carry on the tradition and find a way to end or significantly reduce gun violence if we truly want to uphold his legacy.
“This world is so wicked and uncensored and numb, this finally made us feel something,”-Aenon Bowie said at Nipsey Hussle’s funeral. “And not just right now do I want people to feel something but forever and not once the Instagram feed changes, but to feel, because he caused a shift, a shift in the world.”
Check out Nipsey Tha Great, Part I: The Legend
LABEL TYPE DIFFERENT listed Hussle's Victory Lap as one of the best albums of 2018 in February.