Ermias “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom was fatally shot and killed on March 31 but the impact continues to hit some students of Venice High.

Hussle was an entrepreneur helping the community. He helped individuals by giving them jobs at businesses he owned, a Fatburger restaurant and a seafood market located in the shopping center of Slauson and Crenshaw. He even partnered with Puma to redecorate the basketball courts at 59th Street elementary school. He also owned Vector90, a co-working space and STEM center. His music praised where he came from, despite all the violence, he loved focusing on the streets of Slauson and Crenshaw.  

“To me Nipsey Hussle was someone not only I, but LA looked up to. He was a role model to me,” said junior Melanie Canjura. “Hearing stories about him and his family from my aunt would tell me how much of a good guy he was. He was always asking how everything went with me and my siblings, it warmed my heart to hear stories about Ermias Asghedom.”

Hussle had the power and motivation to create change on the streets of Slauson and Crenshaw. He became well known but that didn’t stop Nipsey from being involved in his community and remaining in the streets of his youth.

“We lost our motivation, our inspiration, our innovator and our king,” said Canjura.

Hussle was a huge inspiration to people from Crenshaw District, including many artists. This loss continues to have an impact, especially to the ones who grew up around him and in the same streets as him.

Senior Ashton Ortega claimed, “People who didn’t live here just assumed another celebrity died, big deal get over it. No, he wasn’t another celebrity, he was a Slauson boy who made it big and didn’t forget the roots. So if you ask me how his death affected me, seeing everyone together (people of different color, different looks, different gender) made me realize that maybe god’s plan for him was to start the marathon and we are the ones who will continue it.”

He had such an extreme impact on the community that the intersection of Slauson and Crenshaw will be named “Ermias ‘Nipsey Hussle’ Asghedom Square.”

Hussle attended Hamilton High School for about a year and was on the basketball team. Hussle got inspiration for his name from stage performer, actor and comedian Nipsey Russell. He was also involved in the Rolling 60s, a street gang from Los Angeles. Growing up he sold his mixtapes from the back of his car in the same shopping center where his store, The Marathon Clothing is on Slauson and Crenshaw. In 2018, Hussle received a Grammy nomination for his debut album, Victory Lap.

Teaching assistant Mr. Lamont Holland, who lived in the area for more than 15 years also shared his feelings about the loss of Hussle.  

“It impacted me deeply because I went to the store often to get my t-shirts and socks from there and I would see him occasionally driving down Slauson,” said Holland. “It’s just a tragedy because he had just gotten his foot in the door and just did his studio album. He had broke through.”