Two days after Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed in front of his Marathon Clothing Store, LAPD Commissioner Steve Soboroff spoke at a press conference and talked about how the rapper, along with Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation, was supposed to meet with the department to help stop gang violence.
And during that same press conference, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti praised the “Victory Lap” writer and called him a “tireless advocate for this city,” which some would call accurate based on Hussle’s constant work to build up his South Los Angeles neighborhood.
But while the rapper was being honored, he was also being investigated by the LAPD and the Los Angeles city attorney’s office for gang activity, according to The New York Times. The probe began in March of this year before Hussle was killed and is still ongoing.
Hussle was a self-proclaimed member of the Rollin’ 60s Crips and also worked with former gang members, as well as ex-convicts, to help improve their lives.
Specifically, the LAPD were looking into Hussle’s Marathon Clothing Store, because they believed it was a hub for gang activity and other crimes. They were looking to prosecute the rapper as well and tried to get the landlords of the building where the store sits to kick him out.
That was until Hussle and his business partners bought the building for $2.5 million, and now those other investors are being investigated as well.
Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman, said police have been in contact with Hussle’s business partners “to mitigate some of those crime issues,” but he wouldn’t go into specifics.
Meanwhile, City Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents South Los Angeles, said he’d been trying to get information on the probe for quite some time and is determined to not let it stop any of the rapper’s plans.
“I think everybody in the community will do everything we can to make sure the ventures he started will continue,” said Harris-Dawson. “And this is a very confusing hiccup in this process.”
Hussle was shot and killed in front of the Marathon Clothing Store on March 31, which placed a greater focus on the investigation.
Eric Holder was quickly arrested for the shooting and charged with a slew of crimes, including one count of murder. He pleaded not guilty afterward is currently behind bars on $7 million bond.
At this time, there’s no word on what actually triggered the investigation on Hussle.
