Business and music mogul Master P is calling out the outpouring of disingenuous adoration and support of the late rapper Nipsey Hussle.
Hussle was gunned down on March 31, 2019, outside of his business, The Marathon Clothing Store. Since the rapper’s death, countless murals honoring the neighborhood legend have popped up, fans have constructed numerous memorials and his industry peers have sung his praises.
But the outpouring of support is bittersweet and an example of how in hip-hop culture, “they don’t want to see somebody else make it until they gone,” the “Make ‘Em Say Ugh” emcee explains in an interview with HipHopDX. “You don’t want to tell somebody they great while they alive.”
The New Orleans native adds that not even the clout chasing associated with the “Hussle & Motivate” rapper’s posthumous success has been veiled. Case in point, Nip’s debut album “Victory Lap” was released a year before he was gunned down, however despite being nominated at the 2019 Grammys (for best rap album), the record’s sales and streams did not soar until after the rapper’s passing. The 33-year-old would rack up four more times — three times in 2020 and once in 2021 — and posthumously win two Grammys at the 62nd awards ceremony.
“I mean, it’s the same album. The same album that people love now. That’s the part that I don’t understand,” adds Master P. The rapper’s untimely death, like so many others who have passed, is a reminder that no one knows when their final moments of life will come.
“That’s why we got to celebrate us while we here. Stop it with the fake love,” says Master P more pointedly at artists using Nip’s name for their own gain. “It ain’t for me, but I know a lot of people that he did songs with that we couldn’t get approved or nobody would mess [with]. Now, if you say you got a Nipsey song, everybody want to be on it. It’s too late.”
He continues, ”but those people know, and I think that’s the most important thing. They know if they really would’ve been there for him, he wouldn’t have been in a position [to be killed].”
Nip is survived by his two children, his daughter Emani from a previous relationship, and son, Kross, whom he shared with longtime girlfriend Lauren London.
