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Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about

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Speaker 1: Nipsey Hustle are insane. He was murdered at an early age.

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Speaker 1: His funeral inspired tears from celebrities, politicians, and neighbors. As

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Speaker 1: a young teenager, he joined LA's notorious roll in sixties

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Speaker 1: Cripps Street gang, and as an adult, he worked to

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Speaker 1: bring peace and opportunity to the same neighborhood that the

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Speaker 1: Crips ruled. He was jumped into that gang as a

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Speaker 1: fourteen year old, and he relied on the Crips to

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Speaker 1: survive on the streets of LA's south central Crenshawn neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: Nipsey would eventually shift his focus from the street to music,

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Speaker 1: but first, in order to sign his first record deal,

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Speaker 1: he'd have to turn himself into the law. After a

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Speaker 1: short stint on the run. But it was worse it

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Speaker 1: because Nipsey Hustle would go on to make great music.

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Speaker 1: And that music you heard at the top of the

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Speaker 1: show that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop

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Speaker 1: from my mellotron called Melo koye Va MK two. I

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Speaker 1: played you that loop because I can't afford the rights

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Speaker 1: to Seven Rings by Arianna Grande and why would I

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Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of modern Rogers and Hammerstein

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Speaker 1: inspired cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the

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Speaker 1: number one song in America on March thirty first, twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: And that was the day Nipsey Hustle exchanged words with

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Speaker 1: a fellow gangbanger. It was senselessly gunned down smack dab

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Speaker 1: in the middle of the community he loved and it

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Speaker 1: loved him. Back on this episode Crenshaw Crips community and

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Speaker 1: Nipsey Hustle. I'm Jake Brennan and this is disgrace lamb.

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Speaker 1: Now let's just see what this sounds like.

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Speaker 2: Blade backwards.

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Speaker 1: Three playing clothes LAPD detectives were on the scene, trying

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Speaker 1: to blend in. Of course, everyone knew who they were.

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Speaker 1: But if you weren't from South Central, and if you

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Speaker 1: weren't overrun by grief, and if you were to squint hard,

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Speaker 1: you might be able to be duped into thinking they

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Speaker 1: were just a small crew of fellow gangbangers or at

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Speaker 1: least affiliated, if not rolling sixties crips, then maybe some

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Speaker 1: members from up North or elsewhere, maybe the MGC crew

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Speaker 1: or the Valley Hoods. But no these dudes were obviously

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Speaker 1: not street. They were too clean cut, no tats, no chains,

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Speaker 1: and all of them were too uniformly in shape, bulking

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Speaker 1: biceps visible from under their long sleeve flannels and sweatshirts.

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Speaker 1: And one dude even at his champion tucked into his

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Speaker 1: jeans dead giveaway pigs. To those in attendance at the

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Speaker 1: funeral for slain wrapper Nipsey Hustle, it was no surprise

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Speaker 1: Nipsey rolled with gangbangers from wayback. Despite his current standing

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Speaker 1: in the community of south central LA, specifically the Crenshaw

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Speaker 1: district as an entrepreneur and activist, Nipsey, to some still

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Speaker 1: had some heat on his name. He was once or

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Speaker 1: still was, depending on who you asked, a member of

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Speaker 1: the role in sixties crips, and that's what the plain

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Speaker 1: clothes cops were interested in. They weren't buying the makeover,

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Speaker 1: but thousands of others were. From mourners wearing Crenshaw shirts

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Speaker 1: straight from Nipsey's Marathon clothing store in the neighborhood, to

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Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder Snoop Dogg and more. Nipsey Hustle's last gig

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Speaker 1: was half somber sendoff, half farewell concert. The crowd was

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Speaker 1: so huge the funeral had to be held at La

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Speaker 1: Staples Center, which made it easy for five zero to

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Speaker 1: blend in with the masses. Nipsey's casket held the floor,

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Speaker 1: surrounded by flowers and musical instruments, says Stevie. Wonder performed

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Speaker 1: Tears in heaven Snoop remembered how when he met Nipsey

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Speaker 1: that he didn't pitch him on making a million dollars

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Speaker 1: like other rappers on the Make were prone to do

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Speaker 1: when they met Snoop. Nipsey just said give it a listen.

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Speaker 1: After Snoop spoke to the crowd, DJ Battlecap played Nipsey

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Speaker 1: Hustle's tracks at full blast and declared the day a

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Speaker 1: celebration of life.

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Speaker 3: Fans of Grammy nominated Rapper and Connity out to this.

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Speaker 1: Nipsey Husse our every state of shock today.

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Speaker 3: They won overnight. Grayson Hustle, I was flying the street,

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Speaker 3: could say divide to Rapper and Nipsey Huff.

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Speaker 1: It's a truffle right here, man all. I want to

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Speaker 1: thank y'all for allowing meet the opportunity to speaking today.

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Speaker 1: So we were wanted to be able to be here

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Speaker 1: and show love on behalf of my friend, my brother,

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Speaker 1: A great man, a great leader, great father, a great

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Speaker 1: teacher and a great friend. A superstars Lebron Jackson seventy three.

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Speaker 1: This is sad. I warn't passed away. It's just that

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Speaker 1: man no real recognize I know what he is, I

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Speaker 1: know what he was. I'm a learning like this. This

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Speaker 1: man got a letter from Morocc Obama Man. Nipsey Hustle's

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Speaker 1: death shook his community to its core, and the size

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Speaker 1: of the outpouring of grief was proof. Tribute letters from

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Speaker 1: Kendrick Lamar and Barack Obama accompanied jay Z's printed remembrance

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Speaker 1: in the funeral program, and after the show at the

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Speaker 1: Staples Center, the hearst loaded with Nipsey Hustle's coffin made

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Speaker 1: a twenty five mile winding journey through South Los Angele,

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Speaker 1: hitting all the major landmarks, from the street where Nipsey

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Speaker 1: grew up to the clothing store that had stood as

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Speaker 1: an act of good faith that Nipsey was an artist

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Speaker 1: who was going to continue to give back to the

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Speaker 1: community that shaped him. Hundreds more mourners lined the funeral

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Speaker 1: parade route in a show of community respect that respect

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Speaker 1: for the young hip hop artist was hard fought, and Crenshaw,

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Speaker 1: the neighborhood he was from, knew it and loved him

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Speaker 1: for it and for all he did for the community.

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Speaker 1: But investing back into his Crenshaw neighborhood came only after

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Speaker 1: success was in hand, and that almost never happened. Two

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Speaker 1: thousand and nine, Nipsey's work had been out on the

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Speaker 1: street for a while. He'd been running with the crips

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Speaker 1: since he was fifteen years old and had one foot

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Speaker 1: in the rap game at the same time, putting verses

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Speaker 1: down on various tapes, pressing up posters and pasting them

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Speaker 1: up all over the hood, making sure his name rang

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Speaker 1: out not just as a treacherous thug, but also as

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Speaker 1: something else, an MC skilled with something to say. Tension

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Speaker 1: between the pressures of gang life and the potential of

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Speaker 1: a career as a musician came to a head, and

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Speaker 1: potential won out. Nipsey sold his cars, bought's studio gear,

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Speaker 1: invested in himself, decided to go all in, or as

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Speaker 1: all in as he could, and then the raid happened.

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Speaker 1: Gang shit Lapd had been watching him. They busted into

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Speaker 1: the apartment he and his brother were staying at. Nipsey

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Speaker 1: escaped to rest, but his brother wasn't so lucky. He

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Speaker 1: went to jail. Nipsey lambed at high tailed to to Jamaica.

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Speaker 1: His name rang out even louder on the streets. As

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Speaker 1: a result, Epic Records came calling, and they wanted in

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Speaker 1: on that real street shit, authentic hard, the kind that

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Speaker 1: went back by the talent and skills Nipsey had sold records.

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Speaker 1: Nipsey made it back stateside and signed his first record deal.

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Speaker 1: Epic saw the potential in Nipsey and they collaborated on

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Speaker 1: two mixtapes with him, a series titled Bullets Ain't Got

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Speaker 1: No Name, which was critically praised but didn't sell the

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Speaker 1: numbers Epic hoped for. Still, Nipsey knew his time would come,

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Speaker 1: and thanks to his label's confidence in him and financial backing,

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Speaker 1: he continued working on a full length release, South Central

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Speaker 1: State of Mind. But with label support came compromises. Epic's

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Speaker 1: moneymen would own Nipsey's masters, Nipsey had to sign away

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Speaker 1: rights to his work. For an artist as smartest Nipsey hustle,

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Speaker 1: for an artist with the type of long term vision

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Speaker 1: he had, those kinds of standard industry terms didn't sit right.

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Speaker 1: When Epic Records hit the skids in twenty eighteen and

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Speaker 1: was bought out by Capitol Records, Nipsey's instincts convinced him

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Speaker 1: to bail. Nipsey had that antenna, the kind most wannab

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Speaker 1: artists would kill for, the kind some artists take for granted,

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Speaker 1: the kind that could find inspiration for a game changing

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Speaker 1: marketing plan by looking at a Philly cheese steak. That's right,

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Speaker 1: the cheese steak made and sold by the Philadelphia restaurant

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Speaker 1: or supposedly had Kobe Beef in it, but still was

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Speaker 1: it worth one hundred dollars price tag? One hundred dollars

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Speaker 1: cheese steak sandwich? Oprah thought so. She rolled into Barclay

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Speaker 1: Prime and ponied up for one, and then started giving

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Speaker 1: them away, hyping restaurant tourist Stephen Starr in the process.

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Speaker 1: David Letterman invited Star on a show. Rich dudes with

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Speaker 1: angry attitudes toward local sports teams flocked the Barclay Prime

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Speaker 1: and plopped down their MX cards to try this one

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars sandwich. When the hype caught up to nipsey hustle,

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Speaker 1: he got an idea Major labels want to hold money

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Speaker 1: over his head while dictating the terms and owning the

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Speaker 1: music he creates. Screw that, screw making an album at all.

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Speaker 1: Make another mixtape but only press the limited run of

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Speaker 1: a thousand copies, then make like the Cheese Steak Guy

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Speaker 1: and put an insane price tag on his creation to

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Speaker 1: create height. Voila one hundred dollars mixtape. It worked. The

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Speaker 1: mixtape sold out in less than a day. Jay Z

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Speaker 1: got in touch and purchased a one hundred of them firm,

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Speaker 1: so ten thousand dollars from the CEO the ROC and

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Speaker 1: beyond the ten racks for Nipsey. The hype was on.

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Speaker 1: People had to hear that mixtape, and they did and

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Speaker 1: on it. His potential as an MC was evident. Now

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Speaker 1: fully in control with his own record label, All Money In,

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Speaker 1: Nipsey began releasing a new series of mixtapes, The Marathon.

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Speaker 1: Featured artists included MGMT, showing Nipsey's crossover appeal and potential

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Speaker 1: to break into new markets. Soon he was trading features

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Speaker 1: with every other rapper in town, working with Jadakis, yg

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Speaker 1: Rick Ross, and an endless list of the latest hottest

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Speaker 1: mcs and producers. A whirlwind was growing around Nipsey Hustle

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Speaker 1: a hurricane of recognition in buzz. He was well known

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Speaker 1: and well liked and powerful music industry circles, even as

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Speaker 1: he had maintained his independence and created control. Fittingly, he

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Speaker 1: titled his first independent full length album, Victory, and not

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Speaker 1: only did it finally break Nipsey onto the Billboard charts,

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Speaker 1: but it would go on to be nominated for Best

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Speaker 1: Rap Album at the twenty eighteen Grammys. He lost to

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Speaker 1: Cardi B, but the recognition brought Nipsey Hustle's talent to

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Speaker 1: an even wider audience than ever before. If anybody knew

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Speaker 1: how to reap this whirlwind to harness all of its

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Speaker 1: unbridled potential, it was nip It was as if he

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Speaker 1: knew that he only had a limited amount of time left. Sirens,

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Speaker 1: mourners screaming, running, trampling over their neighbors, bones broke into panic,

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Speaker 1: shouts of shots fired, and two women with the bullet

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Speaker 1: wounds to back it up. Police trying to police getting

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Speaker 1: nowhere fast On the scene of Nipsey Hustle's memorial vigil

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Speaker 1: outside his Marathon clothing shop, the same spot that he

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Speaker 1: had been gunned down on on the corner of Crenshaw

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Speaker 1: and Slosson. The fight was unavoidable. Why and what the

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Speaker 1: fuck for? This was Nipsey's visual. He'd been dead for

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Speaker 1: a day. His community was torn up and in desperate

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Speaker 1: need of a release. And that's what the vigil was for,

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Speaker 1: the potential to come together to commune, not the potential

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Speaker 1: for violence. The crowd was somber, vote of candles covering

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Speaker 1: the parking lot in front of Marathon Clothing, about four

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Speaker 1: hundred in attendance, spilling out under the sidewalk and into

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Speaker 1: the street. LAPD was in attendance, Uniform cops announcing their

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Speaker 1: presence with authority on mass playing clothes. Cops moving through

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Speaker 1: the crowd, calmly, stealthily, eyes on everyone, eyes on waistbands,

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Speaker 1: clocking for that familiar bulge. They missed it. Dude pulled

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Speaker 1: this piece, had to prove that he was somebody just

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Speaker 1: like the fallen rap star, not just another bum from

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Speaker 1: the neighborhood. And the piece proved it, or so he believed,

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Speaker 1: little man that he was. Someone in the crowd told

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Speaker 1: them to put that shit away. Words angry words were exchanged,

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Speaker 1: and the situation went from innocuous to potentially deadly in

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Speaker 1: mere seconds, those in the immediate vicinity of the gunman,

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Speaker 1: the little man, the man with the suffering ego, turned

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Speaker 1: and walked away, back from marathon clothing and the votive candles,

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Speaker 1: and the speech is about community and reinvesting and making

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Speaker 1: a difference, and out toward the street, away from what

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Speaker 1: was about to be set off. And the first few

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Speaker 1: who moved out did so quietly, nonchalant, but with unmistakable urgency,

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Speaker 1: bumping shoulders, with those in the crowd behind them wondering

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Speaker 1: what the quick exit was for. Someone said the word gun.

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Speaker 1: Others in the crowd began to exit. Questions started flying,

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Speaker 1: What the fuck was going on? Where's everyone going? The

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Speaker 1: gunman and the big man next to him, their words

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Speaker 1: grew louder. The beef was now fully out in the

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Speaker 1: open with the piece, and the little man waved it

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Speaker 1: and all those around him and the crowd saw it.

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Speaker 1: Someone yelled it out, gun, and all hell broke loose. Instantly,

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Speaker 1: everyone in the immediate vicinity of the gun and began

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Speaker 1: to run, sprinting, knocking over those in their way, with

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Speaker 1: total disregard, screams. The cops had no idea what was

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Speaker 1: going on. The crowd moved en mass in every direction,

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Speaker 1: scattering away from the central site of the visil as

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Speaker 1: fast as they could. It was a stampede mass panning,

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Speaker 1: the sound of glass shattering, sirens screaming, get over its

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Speaker 1: hovering first responders hustling the injured off on stretchers. Cops

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Speaker 1: descended to quote the riot, and their efforts were welcomed

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Speaker 1: with flying rocks, bottles, et cetera, ambulances, fire trucks. A

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Speaker 1: blue wall of uniform cops took position along the side

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Speaker 1: of the street, guarding a nearby gas station and convenience

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Speaker 1: store from potential looters. Eventually, the crowd dispersed and authorities

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Speaker 1: got the situation under control, but not before two people

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Speaker 1: were stabbed in nineteen h hospitalized before the night was over.

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Speaker 1: More news Lapd broke it. There was a man Hontan

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Speaker 1: for Nipsey, Hustle's killer man. What the hell was taking

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Speaker 1: him so long? She wanted to know. She could see

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Speaker 1: Nipsey standing in front of his store of marathon clothing

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Speaker 1: and wanted a picture with the star. It was her idea.

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Speaker 1: So how the hell does she end up waiting in

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Speaker 1: the car while her boyfriend was out there talking to Nipsey.

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Speaker 1: She could hear what they were saying, sort of. Nipsey

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Speaker 1: didn't look too pleased. Her boyfriend looked confused. Man, you

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Speaker 1: know they got some paper on you. Paper as in

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Speaker 1: legal documents confirming one's status as a CI a criminal informant,

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Speaker 1: or his Nipsey in the streets he grew up on

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Speaker 1: would interpret it a snitch. Nipsey was warning her man

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Speaker 1: or it was the courts had paper with her boyfriend's

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Speaker 1: name on it, claiming he was indeed working for the cops. Fuck.

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Speaker 1: She saw it right away, the look, the look in

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Speaker 1: her boyfriend's eyes, anger, fear, menace. Nipsey waves him off.

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Speaker 1: He stormed away, straight back toward her and her Chevy Cruise.

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Speaker 1: He jumped in drive. What I want my picture with Nipsey?

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Speaker 1: What happened? Drive? Bitch? She had no idea how fast

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Speaker 1: she was driving. The whole thing seemed to be happening

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Speaker 1: in slow motion and epic creep down the alley toward

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Speaker 1: the street, the movement of her car and everything happening

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Speaker 1: inside of it, the anger radiating off of her man,

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Speaker 1: the mood dark mean, a feeling of not knowing what

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Speaker 1: was happening next of being set into motion by an

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Speaker 1: unseen force. It was like one of those dreams where

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Speaker 1: your physical movements are weighed down beyond your control, where

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Speaker 1: it seems impossible to move in the direction you want

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Speaker 1: to move, but something compels you. Slowly, darkly, she turned

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Speaker 1: right on the west, creep, rolling with a deep heaviness.

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Speaker 1: He sat next to her, staring out the window at

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Speaker 1: everything and nothing. All at once, he was gone. He

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Speaker 1: pulled the piece. She was shocked, a black semi automatic.

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Speaker 1: He yanked back the slide and waved the gun to

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Speaker 1: the right, indicating that she was to turn right on

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Speaker 1: a crunshow. She did. They creeped slow behind an old

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Speaker 1: Monte Carlo. He pulled out a second gun. A revolver

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Speaker 1: told her to make the right on the west fifty eighth,

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Speaker 1: and she did, and she knew it. The man next

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Speaker 1: to him, like the points of the bullets in his gun,

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Speaker 1: His heart was hollow. They caught the first right into

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Speaker 1: the alley and wheeled the car up slow toward their

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Speaker 1: previous parking spot, aside the strip mall that housed Nipsey

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Speaker 1: Hustle's marathon clothing. When they got close, she stopped, He

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Speaker 1: bounced out of the car and stormed the parking lot

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Speaker 1: straight up to Nipsey Hustle. Both guns blazing, he broke

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Speaker 1: off over a dozen shots. Dipsey caught ten of them,

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Speaker 1: one to the abdomen that ripped through his gut and

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00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,280
Speaker 1: severed his spine, another to the head. Nipsey looked up

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Speaker 1: at a shooter. He got me where his last words.

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Speaker 1: Two others in the parking lot, along with Nipsey were

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Speaker 1: also shot. The gunman bolted back to the car, dove

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Speaker 1: into the passenger seat, and was in the wind gone.

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Speaker 1: Nipsey and his wounded friends were rushed to the hospital,

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Speaker 1: where Nipsey Hustle was almost immediately pronounced dead. Days after

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00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,520
Speaker 1: his vigil had gotten violent. The LAPD put the shooter's

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00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:44,560
Speaker 1: name out on the street and the man hunt was

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Speaker 1: on his girl. The reluctant driver of his getaway car,

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Speaker 1: a Nipsey Hustle fan, gave him up. The shooter was

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Speaker 1: arrested days later. His future is currently as of the

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00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,760
Speaker 1: recording of this podcast, with the courts and Nipsey Hustle

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Speaker 1: and all the potential he had as an artist and

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00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:13,800
Speaker 1: an activist is gone. Oh God, now were the parking

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Speaker 1: lot of Marathon Clothing was swarming with Nipsey fans and

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Speaker 1: proud members of the Hyde Park community. The excited crowd

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00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,840
Speaker 1: was a hopeful mirror for the grieving crowds that would follow,

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Speaker 1: a stark contrast to the violence that would erupt in

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Speaker 1: the same location just two years later, when Nipsey would

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00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,959
Speaker 1: be killed and his visual would be disrupted, all in

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Speaker 1: the span of a couple of days. But today was

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00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:41,840
Speaker 1: nothing but potential. June seventeenth, twenty seventeen, it was Marathon

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00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,840
Speaker 1: Clothing's grand opening. Nipsey's name out in the streets, rang

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Speaker 1: out as an entrepreneur, benefactor, and community activist. When he

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Speaker 1: was nineteen, he had taken a trip with his father

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Speaker 1: back to Eritrea, where his dad was from. He spent

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Speaker 1: three months in the tiny East African country that had

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00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,960
Speaker 1: fought hard for independing. What he experienced there changed him.

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00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 1: He saw other people with dark skin like his, running

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Speaker 1: things and helping their community. He returned to Crenshaw with

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Speaker 1: a long term marketing and community building plan that he

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00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:15,879
Speaker 1: referred to as the Marathon, and Marathon Clothing was a

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Speaker 1: whole new level in that race. It was the home

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00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: stretch beaming with pride and backed by local radio DJ

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00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,840
Speaker 1: Big Boy, nip wielded a pair of oversized scissors and

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Speaker 1: cut the ceremonial ribbon. It was a ritual that's been

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Speaker 1: performed over and over by small business owners and upstanding

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Speaker 1: members of the local Chamber of Commerce all across America.

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Speaker 1: This time on the corner of Crenshaw and Slosson, it

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Speaker 1: felt different. Chamber of Commerce types didn't come around these

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Speaker 1: parts too often. And then the doors swung open and

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00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,840
Speaker 1: the assembled hip hop heads walked into a sleek, state

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Speaker 1: of the arts smart store. In addition to all the

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Speaker 1: merch with Nipsey's brands and mixtape titles on them that

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00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,560
Speaker 1: lined the shells, all money in and Crenshaw logos on shirts,

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Speaker 1: hoodie sweats. Customer service reps with iPads met with the

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Speaker 1: first customers and explained the smart part of the store

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Speaker 1: to them. Download the store's app, order items, receive exclusive

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Speaker 1: new Nipsey tracks with your purchases. Next gen retail Here

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Speaker 1: in the Hood. Nipsey, as always, was an innovator, a

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00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,359
Speaker 1: marketing mad scientist with one eye towards the future. He

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00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,800
Speaker 1: had first met the app designer who partnered with him

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Speaker 1: on the store while stopping at a local Starbucks with

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Speaker 1: his daughter to buy our a unicorn frape. It was fate,

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00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,479
Speaker 1: or at least homegrown good luck. Nipsey and his coder

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Speaker 1: shared a belief that there's opportunity everywhere as long as

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Speaker 1: you have your eyes open. In a year's time, Nipsey

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00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,440
Speaker 1: would partner up with another local entrepreneur, a real estate developer,

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Speaker 1: and buy the entire building which Marathon Clothing was located.

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Speaker 1: Because it wasn't just the hustle the nippet going for him,

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Speaker 1: it was his sense of his roots. He knew where

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Speaker 1: he came from, knew the darkest, hardest parts of home.

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Speaker 1: He knew his neighborhood was full of kids with just

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00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 1: as much potential as he had. If he could let

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Speaker 1: one of those kids feel the same sense of possibility

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00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,120
Speaker 1: he felt when he was thirteen when he first heard

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Speaker 1: Machavelli by Tupac. The album came out about two months

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Speaker 1: after Pocket died, and thirteen year old Nipsey ate it up.

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Speaker 1: Soon he was into all things Death, Row, dre Snoop,

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Speaker 1: Dog Pod, Warren G. Then it was Outcast, Jay, Biggie

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Speaker 1: nos Juvenile. He got pro tools on his computer and

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00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,280
Speaker 1: taught himself to use it. It was a way out,

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Speaker 1: for sure, but not that he'd never want to leave.

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Speaker 1: He'd stay and help lift up the kids left behind

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Speaker 1: by an economy that preferred easier investments, kids navigating between

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Speaker 1: gang violence, kids who looked up to Nipsey. Now countless

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00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,880
Speaker 1: rappers leveraged that kind of background to escape American ghettos

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Speaker 1: and then cut boasting tracks about their new penthouses and

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00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,399
Speaker 1: blaing in bank accounts while they rub elbows with the

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Speaker 1: illuminati and maybe maybe slapped their name on a nonprofit

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Speaker 1: or an activist organization to give back. But n left.

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Speaker 1: Nipsey was south Central to his core, total Crenshaw. He

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Speaker 1: didn't leave and come back like a conquering hero. He

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00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,159
Speaker 1: stayed and became a hometown hero and arguably even harder

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Speaker 1: titled to earn. It was just like Snoop would say,

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Speaker 1: standing before Nipsey's casket at the Staples Center two years later.

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Speaker 1: Wanna BMC's were always slipping Snoop mixtapes and promising to

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Speaker 1: make him a million dollars, But all Nipsey said was

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Speaker 1: just give it a listen. His work spoke for itself.

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Speaker 1: On the morning of the store opening, Nipsey was the

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Speaker 1: master of all he surveyed, as all the folks from

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00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: the neighborhood were downloading his app and discovering something new.

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Speaker 1: For Nipsey, this felt like a culmination of years of

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00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:51,119
Speaker 1: hard work, and that work did speak for itself. Before

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00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,960
Speaker 1: the store or marathon, the fashion label had already become

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00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 1: the hottest brand in town, Crenshaw t shirts visible in

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00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:01,280
Speaker 1: every park and basketball court. The day after his death,

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00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: Nipsey had been scheduled to attend a meeting he had

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00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,840
Speaker 1: arranged with the LAPD and jay Z's Rock Nation to

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00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,920
Speaker 1: develop new ways to limit gang violence in South Central.

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Speaker 1: On the other side of Hyde Park, he had launched

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Speaker 1: a coworking space, product incubator, and community development hub called

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00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:21,639
Speaker 1: Vector ninety, true to his tech savvy, homegrown identity, and

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00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,680
Speaker 1: on the other side of Slawson from Marathon Clothing. At

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00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,400
Speaker 1: his old elementary school on fifty ninth Street, Nipsey donated

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00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,399
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars to refinish the basketball courts, the same

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Speaker 1: courts where the kids in his Crenshaw shirts now played,

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Speaker 1: the same courts that he had played on back when

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Speaker 1: he was just a youngin and the Crip's crew, the

393
00:24:40,960 --> 00:25:07,840
Speaker 1: role in the sixties came calling. Nipsey was holding cord

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00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: outside marathon clothing, leaning against his brand new black Jaguar

395
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 1: F type. The Jag, much like his six hundred bends,

396
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,360
Speaker 1: was a clear indication of how far he come, how

397
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 1: hard he'd hustled to get here. With his feet firmly

398
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 1: planted on the escalator of success, he was still in

399
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: the hood, but that was by choice. He was reinvesting,

400
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 1: and he wasn't going anywhere, even though his come up

401
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: was in full effect. But right now he was chilling,

402
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: enjoying the easy southern California springtime sunshine, talking shit with

403
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,399
Speaker 1: some neighborhood regulars out on Slosson. Nipsey couldn't help but

404
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 1: notice the slow rolling sixty seven Barracuda chopped low. Its

405
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,080
Speaker 1: engine growled, menacing like a hungry big game cat. No

406
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: doubt it, Slant six had been replaced by a big block.

407
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 1: The car was mean, and so were its inhabitants inside

408
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 1: sixties part of his old crew, they nodded as they passed.

409
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: Nipsey nodded back and thought back to his time with

410
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 1: one of Crenshaw's strongest, most notorious gangs the roll in

411
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: sixties crips, Joining up didn't seem like much of a choice.

412
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,200
Speaker 1: By the time he was fourteen, he was on his own,

413
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 1: out of his mom's house and living with his grandmother,

414
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:30,920
Speaker 1: but essentially left to fend for himself, and in late

415
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,960
Speaker 1: nineties Crenshaw, that meant fending off beatdowns in nearly every

416
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: corner of your reality, high school football games, the malls, wherever,

417
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 1: but by far the worst were Crenshaw's alleys, a concrete

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00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 1: maze of fear and violence. Removed from the main streets.

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00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,879
Speaker 1: The alleys offered privacy where treacherous thugs would attack for

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00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 1: whatever reason they wanted. Walled in by the backsides of

421
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,440
Speaker 1: the neighborhood's strip malls and apartments, the alleys were beat

422
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: down central. Worse than that were the shooters through the

423
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,399
Speaker 1: fuck knew why, for fond for whatever. Screwing through the

424
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: neighborhood under a BMX bike while being unaffiliated with a

425
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:11,000
Speaker 1: gang was enough to get a shot. At the same time,

426
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: as a youth, Nipsey was obsessed with music, looking for

427
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: any opportunity to make him and the harshness of his

428
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: surroundings and lack of opportunity combined with the cold reality

429
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,160
Speaker 1: of simply needing to make money to survive as a child,

430
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: caused him to join up. It was joined, die or move.

431
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: Those were the choices For a fourteen year old. The

432
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,800
Speaker 1: decision was easy, crew up, join, But first there would

433
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,680
Speaker 1: be the initiation. Like nearly every modern member before him,

434
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 1: Nipsey needed to be jumped into the gang in one

435
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,360
Speaker 1: of the alleys, of course, nowhere to run, no where

436
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 1: to hide, treacherous, the circle formed around him, three older

437
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,639
Speaker 1: teenage members pulled in tight, and then from behind the

438
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,919
Speaker 1: first punch a wild below cocked from way back hard

439
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,640
Speaker 1: to the side of the head. Then an unimaginable flurry

440
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 1: of fists from the three member square circle to the face,

441
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 1: the back of the head, the chest, the gut, the back,

442
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: all over again and again and again. And there is

443
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,440
Speaker 1: no set time for jumpins. Sure as some gangs hold

444
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 1: fast to the sixty second rule, some less, some more.

445
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:22,680
Speaker 1: Sometimes you get a real means son of a bitch

446
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 1: who really wants to put it on you, and you

447
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 1: fight till you fall, and then the real beating starts.

448
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: But most times the fight lasts until you prove yourself,

449
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,359
Speaker 1: prove your metal, your steel, Prove how real of the

450
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,200
Speaker 1: motherfucker you can be when shit gets tough, how well

451
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 1: you can hang in the face of extreme violence, how

452
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 1: far you can go to rep the gang, Show that

453
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 1: you can stand on your own so others will stand

454
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: behind you. When the hurricane of violence passed, he stumbled

455
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 1: out of the alley, out toward the street, through the

456
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: paths on the back, through the words of welcoming and encouragement.

457
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 1: He'd survived, and he'd survive worse. Now he was certain

458
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: the sun was putting itself down for the night. Crenshaw

459
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,680
Speaker 1: was settling, The streets were emptying. Civilians were heading home

460
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 1: for the evening, holding up there into the bargain, making

461
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: room for the gang bangers to do their thing. Cars

462
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 1: pulled into driveways, porch lights were turned on, helicopters hummed

463
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 1: up above, and the streets, relatively speaking, were peaceful. Nipsey

464
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 1: sat on Crenshaw's curve collected himself. He belonged not just

465
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 1: to a gang, but to this neighborhood. It was home,

466
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 1: and now finally he was protected in his home. He

467
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,360
Speaker 1: was moved to rhyme, if not out loud in his head.

468
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,080
Speaker 1: Maybe now now that he was with someone. Now things

469
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: would be different. Maybe now he can make some money,

470
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,280
Speaker 1: get some gear and get some rhymes down on tape.

471
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 1: Maybe now he can make a name for himself, get

472
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 1: on that rap game, hustle. Nipsey picked his head up,

473
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 1: looked down the street at some young bloods ten eleven,

474
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 1: just a few years younger than him. They were running

475
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 1: away from where he was sitting, likely home for the night,

476
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: off the streets, hopefully like him, toward their future. And

477
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 1: Nipsey looked around him. It was beautiful, Crenshaw. It had

478
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:22,720
Speaker 1: so much potential, just like those kids, just like him,

479
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: but potential that for Nipsey Hustle would never be fully realized.

480
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 1: And that is a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in This

481
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 1: is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is

482
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:53,160
Speaker 1: produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode

483
00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 1: can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod

484
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: dot com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member,

485
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 1: thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it,

486
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 1: and if not, you can become a member right now

487
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: by going to disgracelampod dot com Slash membership members.

488
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 2: Can listen to every episode of disgracelanm Ad free, Plus

489
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,320
Speaker 2: you'll get one brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly

490
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491
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492
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493
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 1: The show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter.

494
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 2: And Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot

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Speaker 1: He then Man