It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon as I left the neighborhood I grew up in and I realized how much I missed my city and how much it has to offer. It had been a good day but, my energy was still off. As I followed my partner back home, driving up pacific coast highway back home, listening the Dom Kennedy, and surfing my hand through the wind.
She texted me, “Nipsey Hussle got shot.” As I watched the news, debating on driving back over the hill and scrolling through Instagram trying to find related news, my timeline was filled with photos of Hussle.
While I knew the late rapper, I learned so much more about him after his passing, including his $100 mixtape, Crenshaw, he sold in 2013. Although you could download the mixtape for free, Hussle also decided to sell the hardcopies for $100 and it was sold out in less than 24 hours. Hussle got the idea from a book, Contagious, by Berger; in the book he explains that a restaurant owner sold his cheesesteak for $100 and he thought to do the same thing. Hussle says that he wanted to start a conversation and give customers an experience.
“But my goal was not to sell out, it was to create conversation, I wanted to get people to get mad. I wanted people to say, ‘Why is this $100? I gotta listen to this because if it’s not the greatest album ever, this dude crazy’.” Hussle says in an interview with DJ Skee, “My model is F the middleman.”
That wasn’t the first time Hussle sold $100 hardcopies, he also did this with at least two other mixtapes. However, Hussle was more than a rapper, he was also an entrepreneur and community activist in Los Angeles. In 2017, Hussle opened his Marathon Clothing store on the corner of Crenshaw and Slauson, a reporter says, “What Hussle calls, a smartstore where customers can purchase merch and use an app to preview exclusive content.” Hussle wanted the store to have a Starbucks like vibe where customers can use their smartphone in the store, scan over an item and hear music or see a video of the brand. In addition, Hussle created his own record label, had plans with city officials on how to build the community, partnered with PUMA,
Today, fans use his taglines, “The Marathon Continues” and “All money in, no money out”. The intersection of Crenshaw and Slauson to “Nipsey Hussle Square.” Harlem proclaimed that June 1st is known as Nipsey Hussle appreciation day. The Marathon Clothing store had to shut down for a while in order to fulfill $10 million worth of orders. Since Hussle was a well-known Crip from Rollin’ 60s in Los Angeles, Crip members filed for trademark of “The Marathon Continues” tagline.
Social media will have people thinking that it is easy being an entrepreneur and that things just happen overnight (like selling a $100 mixtape), but it is just not that easy. So, how did Nipsey Hussle brand himself in a way that Los Angeles recognizes him as a legend and the world would forever hear his name? While Hussle was well known, many people still didn’t know who he was or what he did for the Los Angeles community until after his death. Hussle was able to pull together the relationship between culture and marketing. He was influential and has inspired many people, including myself.
Ten toes down.
References
Berger, J. (2013). Contagious: Why things catch on. Simon & Schuster Audio.
Coleman II, C. (2019). Crips members file for trademark of nipsey hussle’s “the marathon continues” slogan: Report. XXL Mag. Retrieved from https://www.xxlmag.com/news/2019/05/crips-trademark-nipsey-hussle/
Dodson, A. (2019). Nipsey hussle’s puma partnership was strong and authentic: He repped the iconic brand as an accomplishment for his city and its people. The Undefeated. Retrieved from https://theundefeated.com/features/nipsey-hussle-puma-partnership-was-strong-and-authentic/
[karaslamb]. (2013). Nipsey hussle explains the concept behind the $100 price tag on the ‘crenshaw’ mixtape. OkayPlayer. Retrieved from https://www.okayplayer.com/news/nipsey-hussle-explains-100-price-tag-crenshaw-mixtape-video.html
Lyle, A. (2017). Nipsey hussle explains his marathon clothing ‘smart’ store on Crenshaw: ‘The goal is to be an urban sanrio’. Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7840863/nipsey-hussle-marathon-clothing-smart-store
Mitchell, J. (2018). The art of being self-made: A conversation with nipsey hussle. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/julianmitchell/2018/03/01/the-art-of-being-self-made-a-conversation-with-nipsey-hussle/#7577379da07f
O’Kane, C. (2019). L.A. city council expected to rename intersection after the late rapper nipsey hussle. CBS News. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/la-city-council-to-rename-intersection-after-the-late-rapper-nipsey-hussle/
Robehmed, N. (2013). Rapper nipsey hussle and the $100 mixtape. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2013/11/06/rapper-nipsey-hussle-and-the-100-mixtape/#5310de814bc0
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