Nipsey Hussle: Death of a Dope Boy’s Dream

Every dope boy I’ve ever known said they had a plan. “I’ma get these packs off and then buy a barbershop.” You could replace barbershop with rib shack, carwash, or takeout spot depending on the day and the people in the conversation. Nipsey Hussle’s life was taken little more than a week ago now, and the impact of his death has resonated far greater than his jamming ass music.

I believe his death has resonated because his Dope Boy Dream came true. The dream came true and people felt that on a visceral level. However, the happily ever after was cut short. The streets still wouldn’t let him be great, and if Naybahood Nip can get clipped in his own hood in front of a business built with his own hands, then is the Dope Boy Dream really just pie in the sky? Hov said, “I know how this movie ends, but still I play, starring role in Hovito’s (Carlito’s) way.” We rooted for Nip and now it feels like, yet again just when one of us breaks out, the crabs in the barrel pull us back in..

It’s easy to downplay Dope Boy Dreams. They sound crazy outlandish sometimes. Oh so you gonna survive rivals and industrious police to sell enough dope to fund an enterprise? (Insert Martin Lawrence smirk). But like any fable told around weed cyphers or blunt rolling tables, there is truth in the legend. Master P did it; except his start up money was bequeathed to him by his grandfather. No shade. Jay, Dame, and Biggs did it. J Prince did it. So the Dope Boy Dream isn’t all just corner boy El Dorado fantasy..

Still, Nip’s dream was different. His version of the Dream wasn’t just about building a company to fund his and his family’s lives and escaping the maelstrom of street crime and gang violence. He was trying to build economic engines that would provide for entire communities, and judging by the name of his final album, I think he thought he was hella close to pulling it off. The Victory Lap album was Nip’s last offering to the world, and it is probably his best work. Listening to the album after his death and voraciously devouring interviews and articles about the man provided some insight into how Nip’s Dope Boy Dream manifested and persists.

Nipsey Hussle’s Album “Victory Lap” was released in 2018.

Victory Lap Track 11 – Grinding All My Life

Dope Boy Dreams have their genesis in the minds of young people often living in poverty and calculating the long odds of social ascension. Venture capitalists aren’t showing up to pitch meetings in churches, Boys and Girls Clubs, or traphouses. So the Dope Boy Dream is essentially a plan to raise capital. Nipsey‘s version was a family affair with the up and coming Hussle following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of his older brother “Black” Sam.

It was Black Sam who after a series of incarcerations, decided to lease a retail space in the same strip mall that the brothers had spent years hustling in front of. Crenshaw Boulevard and Slauson Ave, where the strip mall is located is in the heart of Nip’s neighborhood. They called their first attempt at business ownership Slauson Tees and it quickly became a neighborhood hotspot. The store attracted visitors and customers and Nip and company began to see the Dream grow legs and stand on its own. They began to see a way out of the constant grind of hustling and dodging county

Then Black Sam got booked, again, and the family lost the Slauson Tees store. However, when he came home, the brothers made it a point to purchase a different space in the same plaza. They had laid claim to the plaza and began leasing more bays. It was beginning to come full circle. It had been just a hangout, but it was now becoming an economic oasis in the middle of a dessert of broken dreams and poverty. In a documentary about the birth of the business, Nip said, “I can’t count how many fights I got into in this parking lot. Can’t count how many times we got shot at in this parking lot. It became our hangout, and so now to be back here, not as a customer or a nigga loitering, but as an owner is a beautiful thing. We wasn’t out here grinding for nothing.”

Victory Lap Track 5 – Dedication

It’s a well-known fact that most small-businesses in communities of color are not owned by people of color. Nip and his brothers decided leasing in the community wasn’t enough. They decided to buy the entire complex and lease bays and storefronts out to small businesses. They purposed to hire felons who had come home from prison with few options. Whether it be sweeping up, taking trash out or running the cash register, the goal was to provide a way, no matter how small.

Wait, I just realized that we’ve been talking about the Dope Boy Dream but not how NIp was tied to the dope game. Black Sam was in and out of county jail during the early years of the Dope Boy Dream. The brothers were hustlers in the truest since. Need a shirt? They got you. Need some new music? They got you. Need a couple ounces of weed or powder cocaine? They got that too.

For most entrepreneurs, failure equates to lost money and maybe a tarnished reputation, maybe. The consequences of failure for the Dope Boy Dream include lost freedom and a giant pause on whatever potential future was hanging on the horizon. Nip watched Black Sam move in and out of LA County jail and did a stint himself. Every time they went in, they lost the momentum they had built up. Every time Sam got out, they had to restart. Finally, Nip said there has to be a better way.

“We got the game from the OGs, but they gave us the game of  a different era. They kind of accidently mislead us. The police and courts created a thing called the Gang Enhancement. Say you get into a fight and break a dude’s nose? That’s assault with bodily harm, maybe a couple months max, but with the Gang Enhancement, they add about ten years to your sheet. So typical gangbanging shit, start putting the homies away for major time. It got to a point where we had to look at the OGs like hold up. We gotta rethink this,” Nip said in an interview with Hot 97.

In response, he doubled down on the hustle. The goal was to go legit and break the cycle of crime and jail. If you’re acquainted with Dope Boy Dreams, then by this point of the story you’re probably rooting for the antihero. Rap videos and pop culture would have you believe that all the ill gotten proceeds from a life of crime go to fuel rampant debauchery and misogynistic fantasies. The truth however, is that that dirty money pays mortgages, car notes, healthcare bills, and most everything else in life that requires monetary remuneration.

To see a Dope Boy go legit is to see a clean revenue stream built. A Dope Boy gone legit has beaten the system, and what person of color isn’t rooting for someone to pull a Tron and beat the game?

Victory Lap Track 6 – Blue Laces 2 

There’s another element to consider when pondering why the culture reacted to Nip’s death the way it did. Nip was a CRIP, and a well respected CRIP at that. To survive the crucible of LA gang culture and build a sustainable business is a herculean task. Nip was the only member of his family to claim CRIP and his affiliation with the street gang put much respect on his name.

It’s hard to talk about LA gang culture from the outside looking in. I, like most people I think, see gangs through the lenses of after school specials and cautionary tales preached to middle school assemblies. Yet, to hear Nip and others talk about these violent fraternities, is to hear a community in pain.

“When you’re outside and doing things to get money, it’s almost inevitable (getting involved in gang life). You end up with two choices; get with it or get the fuck out the way,” He said. The CRIPS began as a community empowerment organization aiming to protect neighborhood residents from overly militarized police and oppression. However, time and circumstance has morphed the CRIPs and Bloods and others into violent criminal syndicates.

I believe Nipsey’s respect in LA stems not from a history of violence and flashy crime. Rather, Nip’s respect comes from a community understanding the usually inevitable pitfalls of the life and the supreme unlikelihood of what he accomplished in business and music. He was an exemplar of what is possible and a radical outlier at the same damn time.

On Blue Laces Nip rapped,“Third generation, South Central , Gang bangers, and lived long enough to see it changing .”

That last bar is the one that has so many people messed up. He lived just long enough to see it changing. Just long enough to have his business thriving. Just long enough to create a classic album. Just long enough to be an inspiration.

Every time I think about it, all I can do is steal Florida Evans’s classic exclamation of grief. “Damn, Damn, Damn James!”

Victory Lap Track 13 – Loaded Bases

They’re going to hold Nipsey’s memorial service in the Staples Center. Memes are circulating that implore people to seek out and find the Nipsey’s at work in their own neighborhoods. The entire hip hop industry and community (minus Kodak Black) have rallied to support Hussle and his hustles. His aim was to put people in positions to succeed. He got taken out of the game but he left the bases loaded.

It’s eerie that his first major album was titled Victory Lap. It wasn’t a debut. It was a declaration. Nigga I made it! Niga we made it! It also made the point that putting an album out wasn’t the race. The race was surviving LA. The race was thriving in his own community as it revitalized around him. The race was to become a reputable business owner and contributor to the culture. This jamming ass album was just a cherry on top.

People of color relate to Nip’s story, and his passing hurt total strangers because his story is one told a million times. Nipsey was Carlito if Benny Blanco ain’t catch him slipping on the subway platform.

Christopher Mattox (@ChampionLyfe) is the host of Light Skinned Opinions, and has lots of words of the day. Find his podcast here: https://www.fivereasonssports.com/south-florida-podcasts/light-skinned-opinions/