Nipsey Hussle Breaks Down Gang Culture + How Africa Changed Him

New York and on the new odd 97 have Ebro in the morning morning yeah for large Taos wrestling drink out what is this Jack it really shows me how bad a friend you are that you haven't seen this jacket because it's been a statement on my IG page for months what is this my Bobby the brain Heenan homage oh the one I'm mad about that jazz they did is better nip brains fresh jewelry fresh kicks fresh I mean fresh thank you sir take this victory lap thank you sir oh you're not too shabby yourself e bro listen I wanna get right to it um first of all um this is the first album of yours that I've lived with right being 100 cent honest I've heard obviously heard your stuff before but I can hear your music maturation on this album just not just your words right the actual music via the music behind it real quick before we get into some other deep things that I want to unpack what you talked about that process for yourself with the music I went I was really intentional with the production on listener like I built we built the studio with the producers that gave me my best records off for my last couple mixtapes which was 1500 and a group by the name of Mike and Keith and we was just real intentional or what we wanted to sound like we built the studio from scratch we was like you know I think death-row bad boy I benefited from being in the same building they created the synergy of having dads in one room dry in the other room you know super fly in the other room and by making music under the same roof even motel you know about having a songwriters in this room be creating his feel it created the opportunity for sound because everybody was individuals but they creative contributions bled into the other rooms camaraderie yeah and competitive you know you know friendly competitive sessions where you hear what the other producers doing even watching like fade to black you said I had just blaze in this room they had Pharrell they had everybody know was kind of a competitive thing so we wanted to you know create in the vein of and then also just I wanted it to feel like when you go get your new car you know when you when you come from hustling or grinding or just being in the process and you go get your penthouse so you go get your new car whatever your goal is your material goal you want to have a soundtrack that sound like the progress where you sure you're not snoop we're going with you not me this off-camera it's the second time yeah before you got here anyway yo we sure do not everybody obvious you know nah that's my folks man um you know I'm a skinny [ __ ] I said [ __ ] let me say cuz a lot you know people and I was obviously influenced by Snoop that was I grew up you know you didn't have to buy some new albums and I let you go outside and hear everything no even though he did it was ubiquitous that [ __ ] was everywhere so the videos we always influenced by you know I'm saying but no no relation so I'm sorry but I said to nip so I was saying that to me one of the things I love when you take a trip to LA you always hear Nipsey on the radio right always you hit a problem a lot like there are these artists nipsey being the king of it who you always hear in LA and who people know in New York but we haven't heard enough of in New York and I feel that this album is really that body of work to hang your hat on and be like this is who Nipsey Hussle is you may have heard his voice here you've seen him here but wouldn't you agree this body of work is that complete piece like did you know that by putting all these pieces together getting the features that you did the way the whole album set up was it meant to be that sort of entree that was the goal I took a while also you know I've been in the game for a while on a mixtape circuit so I took a while delivering my debut album because I felt just like what you said I wanted to make it a music moment I've had you know he talked about the hundred dollar album we talked about when I first came in the game I'm just getting the introduction in my name being on it's 100 all album was arrogant anytime I was like obviously from a marketing standpoint what job how'd it work out financially though it was one of my best moves truthfully financially because even outside of the LA did what it was was the day before Crenshaw dropped digitally and on iTunes and on the mixtape sites we did a pop-up shop in LA and we like twelve o'clock midnight we delivered the hard copies for hundred dollars so if he was really a fan and you can wait till 8 a.m. when it came out you can't see the pop-up shop and bought it for hundred so we sold a thousand units that night but then when I went on tour we did pop-up shops have any styles in Brooklyn we did it in Chicago we did every every tour stop we did a pop-up shop and it was like hustlers coming in pulling out 10th I like give me five of them nip I salute the move and you know every city we went to we saw multiple hundred-dollar units how did you know that it would be there had to be something in you know I was like nah this is what I'm gonna do well it was a few things I I mean it's a crazy way to get connected but you know I saw video games right and you know how like Halo will come out or some and it'll have three packages it'll be the one for $59.99 and you want for $99.99 that come with the poster in the seat and in this one for like 149 I got the whole gun and all of the extra stuff that main product is the regular one $59.99 or whatever that regular price is but then you got a part of the base that will they so engaged with that brand that they're they want to just support at the highest level so I figured like as musicians we got parts of our fanbase that's that engaged that they want to be proud to pay to which was determined they want a fully support so it's just on us to define how you do that we ain't set the business model Steve Jobs the Apple said 99 cents a song and we follow suit and then Best Buy I said $12.99 or 15 we set the business model ever so we're not gonna take our products outside of those spaces because that's where all the people are trying to shop but if we say for the fans that's gonna take the director from me and you really want to support here's where you do it at mr. price point and I was it was really and I know for sure if it's gonna work but I knew that I'll do I'll do mine or my normal numbers on iTunes that I always do on you know the traditional outlet so it is just it just helped and at worst I get a little backlash and our best I'll make a lot more money he bought like two or three ray we bought there was a hundred dollars so he bought a hundred of them he sent sent though oh wow I thought I read two or three copies yes so once the people got wind of that I think you know Hove is so influential that people start zooming into the campaign and being less critical of it you know me it was do you have any your I could tell for as cool of dude as you are you're a rap nerd you you know this game really well for sure and you're aware of perception do you get that fear when you put out mixtapes and you like I said every records on mix show in LA and people know you in LA do you start to get before you drop this album be like man I don't want to become a dude who everyone knows and sees around right but doesn't have enough you want to make that classic material did you start feeling like like any of that pressure what just being honest I was I was always you know doing it at a handicap I never said that publicly because I want to feel like I was making no excuses but I've always known that if I get a moment to really be creative and sit in a studio and you know create with the resources with reducers with you know like I bought a whole I bought a whole studio to do this out I was I never mix none of my music and I saying is to diminish my last releases I'm just speaking to the point of being concerned with you know reaching a plateau on a mixtape space or reaching the ceiling you know I knew that if I was able to go and record on the most high quality vocal chain and get the most high-quality production and be able to really stop tending to my other businesses for survival and knowing that I got to create you know means to not have to rely on no deal I was independent the whole time and so I had to I had to I have other hustles that I did also if I could just situate those to where they'd be on autopilot I could really focus on music and really flex and show what I could do musically because I feel like as an artist I really display my talents yet that my what my potential is as an artist you know which is a little bit in the direction what you say like people know the name nipsey and they they know like he from LA you know he got a um he has respect in his City you know he's made a couple moves but far as musically I haven't really been able to flex like that so this album was an example of me going in that direction and I still got a lot of space to grow in space to really just demonstrate what I'm capable of you know it's been a little flashes I've shown up on verses and on features but to be able to make a concentrated music moment that's what I'm focused on right now I want to go farther into um the community and and how you represent your city and other things that you worked on and what you represent I posted I saw something that you had put up or we're talking about I think it was on big boy show in LA about a program that you're starting right um and 790 what say it again it's called vector 90 vector 90s and I reposted the video singing um it was about something with technology and business in your neighborhood yeah and that'll hopefully open up a dialogue I want to have with you just about who you are as a person that maybe people don't know but what is this so vector 90 it opened up the day before my album release okay so it's a 5,000 square foot it's two levels the top level is called vector 90 the bottom level is called too big to fail and the top level is a cowork space for any inner-city entrepreneurs so kind of like we works where you can go rent an office space it's a shared space desk you have fun you know and it's also as soon as you've created because while you have to at the coffee table you might run into somebody that does something that you don't do build relationships so we kind of drew from that model but we based it in my neighborhood you know I mean which is like South Central LA the Crenshaw district and the one of the requirements is that you come from this part of the LA in order to actually rent the space we're not discriminating against other people with other places from other places but you're gonna have priority if you come from the area and so to start there's 8 entrepreneurs that rented out the space and each office is you know they they home base for their business so um it's basically inner-city cowork space and in the bottom half is a science technology engineering and math center which is basically the skill set you need to go into Silicon Valley you know it was our jobs of tomorrow talk yeah that's your favorite subject that's amazing no you know so the baby's ready next year definitely you know it just it even when we did the grand opening all the artwork on the walls were facts about technology and about these companies and how the demographics are in Facebook and Google and Twitter and it's like the highest one has 8% African American people you know that's I think Facebook every other company one two percent yes you know I'm saying and this is majority of like you said the jobs are gonna in the future even right now it's gonna get more and more intense so you know the goal is to create a bridge between the inner cities and Silicon Valley and especially it's important I like because that's the our way you know that's that's our flight Silicon Valley from Los Angeles and there's there's minimal representation you know especially when you see the lack of support in the local like public school systems in those particular neighborhoods so you're giving these kids opportunity that they probably weren't able to get anywhere else and I also saw because listen uh I saw that you jumped on super early with a whole cryptocurrency wave because I know like recently I know you downloaded the whole Bitcoin app and everybody but you made no money right at least I'm above zero okay you were upon it super early before everybody else you know it's crazy complex wrote an article about me in like 2013 and called me one of the top ten underachieving rappers and I was so offended by that that I spoke out and I said something and Karen said well had a good relationship with Marc Ecko and that's you know my business partner my homegirl she like nip you can just bast the whole company you know it's other people I was just one editor but I was just offended because you know I don't care I ain't consider myself an underachieving rapper I consider myself overachieving you know Street [ __ ] to be just completely honest you know my group of individuals you know I was the most successful out of everybody you know I mean so I was just offended by that for real but we had to talk with Marc Ecko and Marc Ecko you know it was like brother the magazine has its own opinion I give the magazine its autonomy I don't I don't get in between that but we just had a real convo and halfway through the convo he was like I started talking about my idea for my marathon stores and I was like I wanna credit retail network I want to have ten stores in America I want to be able to drop my albums to my own stores charge whatever I want you know like Apple got 100 percent vertical integration they they controlled aesthetic at a store operating system the product the whole [ __ ] so he was like um he kind of [ __ ] on my idea like [ __ ] [ __ ] brick-and-mortar think about e-commerce and by the way check out Bitcoin and I was like oh 13 so from near 13 I didn't I didn't invest back then I just started doing my research I was a little late to invest also but I was aware of and I just was watching it and did my you know my due diligence based on what he told me and like Oh 13 yes um it's interesting to hear you talk to because um you know I was telling them that you know and you know obviously Kendrick Black Panther movie soundtrack another Kendrick worked if you listen to victory lap from Nipsey Hussle you'll hear him talk about Africa being an African king you talk about slave ships you know obviously you have your affiliations from your neighborhood and the way you were raised right but I find it very interesting that there's certain Street dudes in hip-hop that want to talk about culture and the importance of family mmm where does that come from for you um well you know we talked about it off camera my dad was born in Africa in a country car to reach her and he spent the first 20 years of his life over there you know I mean so I was born and raised in there like you know I didn't I didn't I wasn't able to go back and really understand that side of my culture until I was 18 myself but a lot of who I am I understood more once I went over there and just who I thought I was naturally in parts of my personality and what I was just interested in you know it's connected to my my dad side you know it's so I got to meet my grandmother I got to meet my cousins and everything and I reach me and for the audience I know cuz uh Laura I think was you asked the other day where's it reach every tree is in Ethiopia it was a small territory there was a civil war now it's it's own separate country and we could talk about a whole other yeah that's a little cool conversation but it returns Ethiopians pretty much the same it's the same song came it's like it's like New York you got all the borough's everybody a New Yorker it's different nuances tribes you know I'm saying but pretty much you're in New York you know I mean so in in that part is East Africa's called the Horn of Africa Ethiopia Eritrea the political divide is not doesn't trickle down to the people everybody still feel like they they want people and they you know everybody has pride in a in a in a country because it was a war fought and also if you want to do research on Ethiopians one of the only African countries that never be conquered by white people what in colonized everyone Colin yeah hundred percent yeah so still to this day so that's a whole other combat zone and only part of Africa I was so it's like you somebody's just surprised to be from that part of Africa desert there's a big pride and even Jamaicans in Rastafarians if that's the way you say Rastafari they they identify with the the culture of Ethiopian region just based on the fact it was never colonized but that's a whole nother convo you know they got experts that we gotta be real careful about cuz they check us on our facts but now you know one thing I noticed when I went over there that's really different than our culture here in America is and it sounds it doesn't sound too deep but it really is was how everything is based around food right so imagine every day from 12 noon to 3 p.m. the whole city shut down and everybody go home and eat so like we at work right now we'll stop we're doing at noon and you'll go home to your kids and your wife you'll go home to your husband and your kids you're gonna be a wife your kids your boyfriend your girlfriend whatever we ain't married and we'll eat with our family the schools are let out at 12 o'clock to 3 p.m. every day only thing opening the city from that time is restaurants and I took me a while to understand while I was important I'm just thinking okay this is the custom how it go but I realized during that time you talk to your family every day how's your day going Oh school I got into it at school you know or everything going good but you check in every day with your family it's kind of like a mid day reset you know what I mean and you sit around the table and eat and I realize we don't do that we don't eat it as a family that much holidays we do out here but I realized damn that's that's where the bond takes place over the food breaking bread with your family you know and even I'm sorry I just being in a place where you know these customs have been going on for thousands of years us is black people in America this is new even other races in America it's only been what four hundred five hundred years how long American establish yeah so this is a relatively new culture we are participating in and to know that the customs that of the land that you in are thousands and thousands of years old does something off so you you you you kind of feel like there's been a trial in there so whatever ended up sticking around this must be something back to this you know yeah um it's interesting to talk about that obviously with the the movie being out were you um surprised as having that connection to Africa how much you saw the passion behind the movie Black Panther or was that something you expected I didn't know what to expect I didn't know that the was a unique moment you know in Hollywood and film and art so I just went to go watch I didn't really watch the previews I'm not really up on a black panther story like that as far as the Marvel side and I was like you know I was like I know I was blown away for real when I watched it and I said this yesterday you know the most powerful line in the movie is when Michael B Jordan chose not to be saved and he's like man what so you could you could lock me up he like just buried me in the ocean you know I mean when my ancestors because they knew that death is better than bondage that was heavy to me you know it really did hit you that part I was like walls really that was powerful you know so in just a hole I did so many layers to that movie here mommy and not in aesthetic at all but just in dynamic it remind me to get out where you can watch it on the surface and just see what's going on on the surface but it's a lot of much of its a lot of its layers to that movie broke even Michael B Jordan character in Vermont it like did you see yourself of course that's you I mean that's you that's why it affected me like that because I'm like damn you know whoever wrote this and I obviously we know who wrote it but I'm like this dude man you know he spoke to some real [ __ ] because my dad is from Africa but I was raised in South Central LA and you know I was turned cold B to be honest I adapted to the culture I didn't naturally that's not who I am naturally the culture of gangbanging in LA that's not none of us grow up as kids we come from nurturing but there's a lack of that in a coldness you get from going outside and having to survive you get a survival mode so when I sing the character I don't know I forgot his name Michael B Jordan character doe come on Dirk you know my arrack kill monkey yeah and I've seen a story when I start getting into what happened and why he turned like that and even his his lines and how how passionate he was about I remember the lines saying like he's like yeah I'm I know the I know the game of my oppressors or something he said I'm tomorrow presses game and then the other door was like nah man you you you took it in you using it against your own people using the same game that they use on you against your own people that's so rude I didn't you know that's what gangbang that's what gangbanging is and I you know I had a convo I was crazy I was sitting next to Michael Eric Dyson on the on the airplane on a random on the way to New York just this time and van there goes any sleep I'm just kidding I'm sorry Mike I'm just kidding I'm just kidding he was cool I was the one talking some lingo about him but he's got some knowledge now for show and so I was just telling him and I'm gonna be honest and speak blunt I'm like you know what man as a gang banger right when you go on a mission you might when you're looking for your old so-called enemy you driving through a different hood down the street you know it's an invisible line you crossed this street now you in another hood and you hunt and when you're looking you gonna pass up the dude that's dressed square right you're gonna pass up a do from a different race when you see somebody that's dressed like you dress and got to walk like you got and got the body language like you you gonna say there you go getting and that's deep who you got saying when you ready to unpack that that's crazy you know I'm saying you looking for yourself just on the other side of town and you gonna hop out in attacking and then try to down him in a real way and being caught up in gang banging culture you don't think that deep you just think of these things can't doing shot the hood we bout to go back through there and return the favor but as you really mature as I'm maturing and you know became exposed to other opportunities and embraced them had to be honest with myself I start being honest and thinking about it like damn you know just the selection process the way that you select who your target is gonna be that's something to think about how much how much did being able to go back to Africa and connect with something that is I'm sure mind-blowing beyond who you are today meeting your grandparents and seeing other individuals that how much did that help you get that awakening it was it was profound going over there it was it made a huge impact I was different it's me before I went in this me I thought came back and I came back I was 19 when I came back so I was still knee-deep in what was going on there late when I came back but I had a different you know you got those two voices this one we became a lot louder because I couldn't fake like I wasn't exposed to the way things could be you know I'm saying and you know I think it led to me making decisions that brought me into music and brought me into being you know whatever the word is I don't want to say positive that's not the most you know aware more aware you know I'm saying it more conscious of my decisions and the impact on my decisions and also that I couldn't just embrace the the narrative of you know just how did she go and that's what it is I could I wasn't reality to me no more sorry in keeping with that something Ebro brings up a lot is that the origins of la gangs you know there there is more of a connection to Black Panthers and to other things that are positive [ __ ] stuff for community progression in progress so with that being said you and the space that you're in right now is there any level of you that aspires to be part of turning gang culture back to something related to that if you listen to the record on my album with Kendrick if you listen education dedication he said I'm at the premier politicking with nip topping and Snoop damn Park watching how far we came from dedication he talked about a convo me snoop top-dog him hey at the two-part premiere in LA and I won't go in the for detail about that because I was far for of us to talk about if we do but that was one of the subjects was you know top of a blood he from body on is he from the Nickerson garden projects snow from Long Beach he from rolling 20 [ __ ] Kendrick from Compton he grew up in the inner pyro neighborhood I'm from the rollin 60s so top and snoop a night air you know the politics was so tense that no matter how powerful they were it was things I was just both they Pig yeah you couldn't really get into them type of things but then now me and Kendrick we from a different air and so the convo was like you know we me a Kendrick was just listening at first but then on it was like you know is it time right now to address that is is because it's a different air for sure you know I'm saying we we saw what happened with death row we saw what happened when gangbanging spills into music and when when Street politics make their way into it's a power positions you get you know the perfect storm for destruction so our generation you see me and yg how we politic you know I mean you see how the all of us represent our tribes but we can coexist in the music space and if that could happen in music well and I think one I think the one piece of it even if you use the if we use the African parallel becomes a conversation around redirected energy and resources right because all of these conflicts even going back to the black p stones and the Crips and Black Panthers and black nationalism became a resource conversation around black men not being able to get jobs so then when you have people who can't provide for their families and are frustrated emotional broken and then you give a certain group some guns and you give another group something that they can sell and get some money or you got to do is watch them go at each other because they're gonna kill their neighbors and we all know that most of the violence that happens in anywhere it happens with your neighbor right it whether that's white on white crime black on black crime it happens with the person next door to you because there's a certain comfort you see yourself in them y'all live on the same block so when you mad at yourself and you matter just your existence you're equally mad at the person who's it's like being in a bad relationship right right who you lashing out on the most your closest ones to the closest ones to you right well Anton if sees point earlier about when you're going to hunt for someone you and you see you're literally looking for yourself on a subconscious level then you you don't think that's what you're looking for but that's the metric to use in square if you see someone who's a square you instantly rule the meadow pass yeah you ain't you ain't you ain't a man you think I survived I was square and even somehow I want to bring up totes at that point you make it's anybody y'all heard of a this dude ain't Maslow he made a thing called the Pyramid of human needs right and so I've seen that but I know who made it okay so at the base of human needs is our physiological needs food clothing and shelter we don't want to be wet we don't want to be hot we don't want to be cold we want that's not the base comfort to comfort you know just being able to be fed you know the basic survival and there's other needs that come above that but if you can't address these the bay everything's off all that others should don't count when it comes to resources you know I'm saying this where you get a different person once you get past this first level that's why that that's the fundamental misunderstanding with people on the right who when you're talking about black lives matter they want to talk about black on black crime instead right that's the fundamental misunderstanding is they don't understand that those bottom needs aren't being met so everything's out the window 100% and you can't it's a level of you know your the way you perceive the world is is is limited based on the needs that you have being met if your needs if you're based needs being met look at look at the trajectory of the artists in a day they narrative as they become more successful they start addressing things different you know I mean you start to see it might have been the most hardcore artists at the beginning of the career but as you address these needs the mess has changed in a lot of cases and that's just in this perspective of hip-hop you know I mean but um I think that just to your point of gang banging and the Black Panther connection you know a lack of resource we in survival mode in a survival mode is rather you than me and it's not personal and we all kind of over stand it that's why we don't it's become you [ __ ] die that's how that [ __ ] go not because we like it or we we we you embrace that because we over stand I understand your point of view brother I get it I know you're going to decide [ __ ] I'm going through it ain't personal but you gonna kill me if I don't get to you first yeah in in about some about some chili you gonna go to any extent to feeding babies I'll get it as well as I am homie so may the best man win and it's you know but that's the survival perspective you know I'm saying so I just think it's interesting for understanding you know that we clear that you can't necessarily come to too many conclusions about a person's moral foundation because their survival mode you know so without I don't want to get into you know cuz we havin such a great conversation I don't want to get into naming names but on that note how do you feel when you see the recklessness around gang culture I mean again that's sensitive right it cannot touch you because I ain't a hater and that's right you know I'm like man to each his own right but right it's right wrong is wrong and I grew up like even if you my best homie we're gonna ride together in public but if I do some [ __ ] that's not right when we get back to the hood you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna holla at me about that bro don't get us in the red commie don't do that that's wrong I'm with you my bro in public we going we gonna hug it out when we get back to where we going homie don't do that you know I'm saying you gonna get his hurt don't win it but that's not how we get down so that's how I grew up nobody's bigger than the program not none of us and so it's rules to everything I think that it's a it's a sincere way to do things and then it's the other way so I believe in something that serious is gangbanging where life and death is involved with people got decades of death like we Brock can't count me how many of my homeboys I bury and went to funerals I saying it's on no badge of honor [ __ ] I'm just saying that's how serious the thing has become that we get so offended when people play with it I like people New York people down south people it ain't just region-specific it's just like it's almost spitting on people grave you know I'm saying too lay with that culture so I understand gang culture is global now I don't really agree with it I'm like maybe careful don't open that kind of wine for real but I understand that you know that's how things spread do you think that people who have have co-opted or adopted however they were acclimated into this lifestyle right cuz I feel personally that some people co-opted it because they think it looks cool I agree I feel like there are people who have just adopted it because they trying to get some honor and they willing to risk it all just to get it back I feel like there's certain young people out here getting extorted facts um and getting put in a the blender and then there's people obviously that you know go do time or you know grow up in a neighborhood and that's just what it is and they don't really have a choice other than to survive you know how do you feel do you feel like people are becoming more open to this conversation about how they've been taken advantage of as young people to be put down a path that might end in death because of a system that basically the Prison Pipeline you know the buying and selling of illegal guns and drugs you know that is a that's a part of our economy right like that is a part of the American economy the black market of guns drugs the prison nice line the pleasant industry and all of these kids is flagging on the gram and acting like it's cool you're promoting something that is literally traded on Wall Street at the death at the hands of death for black and brand kids so I got three answers to that right right so number one they're the good part about gang culture if they if you could even say that without being attacked you know I'm saying is that in a genuine sense of it when the people that got it honest and became a part of it honest right the world said we was wrong but to set embrace you fool you us you know and that's the dusty allure of gangbang and in the gang is that you might have been broke your mama might have been on drugs you might have not had you know the material success but the gang don't judge you wanna had the gang judging on your heart you know I'm saying if you if you if you got heart we're gonna brace you and we love you and that's the only requirement and so a lot of young people I thought I had to offer you know I mean I didn't have no none of the qualities that made the world value you you know I mean but the gang was was pure in the sense that we were straight you strictly off the heart that's it and it's considered violence cuz we're gonna make you fight to show your heart but if you got if you show your heart we're gonna brace you and you're gonna you on a rise in the hierarchy and we're gonna you're gonna be somebody for better for worse that's the Lord way young kid on the flip side to answer I said I got three answers the other one is like we grew up my generation grew up when technology became ubiquitous I wasn't like before I was cameras all over the place I was in their life before they had cell phones that connected to all the towers you know I mean and then that's things started happening but the culture was we was taught to gang by older dudes that they gangbang when he wasn't cameras everywhere and it wasn't no technology so they gave us a message in an inner in a book of rules that they was able to live by but they didn't had technology working against them so they misled us unintentionally because when we start doing with take with all [ __ ] they did to become reputable gang members you know ain't no way you're gonna get away with it bro ain't no way your phone is connected to the tower and your big homie couldn't tell you nothing about that because there wasn't no cell phones when there was out here going on missus so when you you didn't get caught with the gun and you made it back to the hood but the police put up on you the next day and got yourself on out your pocket and you went to jail for life because that's the phone I was in the area of the murder when it took place that's how you got caught that's how you went down and who was gonna give you that game you had to learn from experience so what happened was our generations are looking at the message we was getting like wait a minute bro I know your intentions was good but that [ __ ] don't work the technology going woofers and that's what happened we was victims at a hole that we could we are that [ __ ] ended street crime in our life for real and it's ending it so I was one of the people I told my homies we got it we gotta embrace technology in a different way because they're using it against us I seen that I remember we was at the Arco gas station or crinoline Slauson and some [ __ ] happen I had a blood one of my homies from bounty hunters with me and I was gonna pull into the gas station and I seen about thirty five of my homies out there and I kept pushing because I didn't want to disrespect the the night by bringing a blood into the into the hood with all what nothing will happen to him as they feel like that intention time you felt like you know having a personal line or making my homies feel like I was disrespecting her whatever so I just kept pushing honking horn cabbie pushing a shooting took place that night you know a big fight took place and a week later I mean my grandma telling me was you at the gas station that night no no I think I was not too guessing all right I was at the block club police say they got everything on tape oh yeah a week later the whole hood got ready in 15 16 people ended up getting real time 55 years with a lb on that [ __ ] and I was my eye opener I'm like they got it it's over they weren't just the technology ended this [ __ ] because I was regularly going by and I will happen every night many a shootout the gas station out of he not added some time added to but every night and I just said that to say the second thing we got trained from a generation that didn't have the same elements working against him even the laws was different I got a thing called a gang enhancement meaning let's say he brought you a gang member I don't gangbang you know you and Rosenberg see me pal y'all jumped me regular gang see y'all y'all fight me y'all break my nose all right that's a fight now the fight hole may be 16 months to three years max depending on y'all criminal history but you got the hood tattooed on you he don't he won't get his three years you got rolling 60s tattooed on your body I actually do you know saying swear that you know that nah but now when you go to court they're gonna sell you giving you three years for the for the actual crime but your gang enhanced me host 30 because it was called what they call great body horn because now they saying you've done this for the benefit of a hood that has a history of murder killing bank robbery so you doing this to benefit this hood so now your crimes gonna get you three your gang enhancement just cuz your tattoo I'll get you 30 he got three years you got 33 years that's how they started whooping people's called a gang enhancement and it's it's unbelievable a cards that can get you life if you got it if you from a gang the gang enhancement on carjacking is life you text in my car and a lot of people got fell victim to that in origin right now the new law so that's the second part of the house in the third part I kind of lost track of where we was going but it was a long subject I come back to it when I think about it but you know it's tricky but at the end of the day this generation calls for a different protocol you know I'm saying it's like when also - I think you have you know there's generational things that we all adopt that are not good for our health right I talk a lot about it on the radio our eating habits as black and brown people oftentimes Spanish people they'll talk about yo but we have rights every night it's killing you bro well but grandma are gonna make it every night the rice tell grandma the rice is different right now than it used to be it's different food technology has changed and unless we change the way we're eating and feeding our bodies we're gonna die at a faster rate because we are in denial of the world around us that's taking advantage of our bodies and until we stop being in denial about that right in one way shape or form and change then it's just going to continue to be a cycle of frustration an emotional downturn for our families and our loved ones because we're not able to climb out of these caskets and holes that have already been predetermined because somebody's gonna make money on it you know I mean and I think that's where I was trying to you know look man I know it's deep it's generational it's it's family but the fact that you're able to have open dialogue like this and be as successful as you are independently being an independent thinker I think helps people looking at this um maybe think about things differently I'm saying and some people to be strong enough to be independent maybe independent thinkers and many others will not but I think if the dialog is out there and hopefully this conversation goes far enough you know cuz it really you know as somebody that grew up in a neighborhood that had gangs that I was just never involved in because of who my dad was and I didn't have to be a part of that world and people kept me away from that and encouraged me to do other things um you know just I remember when I first showed up in New York and I was in Harlem and I saw [ __ ] spray-painted on the wall in Harlem yeah I broke my heart like I teared up yeah like Harlem that's like the home of black people are you saying that gangs went that far right and not because of the original intention of creating a community organization that band together to protect itself from the oppressor and police and be an attack but what it became because it became like many things in America based on capitalism money and exploitation you know I'm saying and to see it go that far it was it was it was traumatic for me and then to see where it is now you know where it just seems without purpose and just flagrant and oftentimes disrespectful right and and not as organized as it was intended it feels like somebody needs to have a conference or real talk about real and stuff in right yeah I'm saying before we lose another generation Chris then we get into opioids and a whole generation lost on lean and opioids and a whole of and by the way that's in progress yeah that's in motion just what you spoke on just the opiate epidemic and but then again we got hip-hop yeah I'm excited I mean to cut you short I remember we all have baggy clothes on and I remember having a tattoo on your face Mitch you was a level folk prison resident it was not you couldn't walk around the street with no tattoo on your face that was like bro with you going crazy on me what what changed that the narrative the rap music people start wearing that clothes a little slimmer you know it became you know fashionable and rap music and we saw the whole culture shift their dad our dad a question your sexuality nothing against homosexual people that's not what I'm saying we come from a hip-hop culture we're in the 90s they will call you a certain thing if your clothes was tight right or wrong yes absolutely now if you wear baggy clothes you look nothing you look nuts bro you look at you it's what happened the messages in hip-hop influenced the world you know so this is the power of hip-hop you know when hip-hop said in the end the intended power and the intended power intended power when we say we done with the lame putting the Cubs down I've been seeing that trend I see an impact you know I mean it's it's good slowing down I see the impact I seen mozzie dump his cup out and see monster dump his cup out I used to sit on sip I don't smoke weed no mo you feel me I ain't on a anti we campaign I'm just saying my personal preference I want to be sober you know I mean I've been high you know I don't like being drunk I'd rather be sober and focused right so when the message don't answer the music and the people that so-called cool or influential say we ain't insecure and saying we ain't drinking no lean we ain't [ __ ] with them pharmaceuticals because we number one is gonna kill this number two it's actually somebody agenda it an impact the world the same way when the fashion changed if we say we ain't set tripping you know everybody bang they tried but we not set tripping I believe it impact you know I mean the the globe the way when people start wearing their clothes to fit and when people start putting a record labels on a face or whatever they put you know they tattoos it became - 15 year old kids in my neighborhood they face tattoo and their mama has no problem with it that's that's no that ain't that a breakfast we were talking about that that change was you know it is and you know and 42 when I'm 60 there will be somebody working on Wall Street with a high-level job with a face tattoo believe that they don't know and it's gonna be a grab your mind around and everybody's be like what he's but he's amazing at his job I mean this guy's incredible and whether we agree a knob just saying the influence of the narrative of rap music so as bad as things same we had all-time high we rap and we got the you know lucky with jay-z's message it has become you know what I'm saying look at Rick yeah it's definitely not all bad now it's not all bad I just you know I I with somebody that is affiliated like yourself and open about it that doesn't you know here in New York City you know um either a those individuals and coming by this program too frequently because they know I'm a challenge them right or B we just you know I'm not I don't move in those circles and you are somebody who is not only intelligent but somebody who's lived a life that can share something very real and it's not a fraud right so I thought it was important that we address certain topics in this conversation because I think with the especially with this album for you the ways we received the critical acclaim the people that you have on it from Kendrick to puff to you know I mean obviously yg and and the things that you're doing in business and technology and being an independent artist it's very important for people to see this dialogue 100 percent um because I feel like in the next decade the things that you're doing you know we're gonna see the fruits of how it impacted young people right like I don't think that all the time when things happen people are able to look that far out until you know like we've been I've seen the impact of you know just being in media of so many different things hell little Wayne's music stylings that people was like yeah why is he mumbling right has turned into the genre effect I'm saying and there's been negative effects of Lil Wayne's behavior too from the little sip in the lien and you know these other things promethazine talking music that stuff permeated as well yeah I'm saying so but also his ability to put on other artists and make great music and contributed you mean so it comes to a positives and negatives but I think we if we're being honest as a culture and we want hip-hop to continue to have the intended purpose we got to have honest dialogue yg gets credit for it but listen let me tell you what was said on this show every since we say everyday [ __ ] Donald if I was allowed to say with my other jobs as the anthem of my life as well right right ha 10 he is on the place but I will say though you know as much as it is [ __ ] Donald Trump it is also an awakening I'm sure you're seeing of sorts and and and an opportunity to have more real conversation about you know who leadership should could be and what we have power to do I agree with that I must say one thing to the silver lining that I'm seeing is like it's a it's an air of honesty now when we gotta say about Trump the [ __ ] honest but I feel ya and you know that's making everybody follow him be honest so we'll find out exactly who we see who it's got it really clear and I'm mad at that part of it man be who you are you know I'm saying to cop you're a racist piece of [ __ ] just let us know let us know bro we go from there right and then it's also bringing another other side of it to the to the forefront also we're people that might have been quiet and I had no you know and I again this was yg idea to say [ __ ] Donald Trump you know I mean and I know why he personally but the perception of yg that might have done might have shocked a lot of people that he took a political stance I know that's not I'm shocked me but you know look what the disrespect that the President did brought out of yg you know I mean to the public he's like that's important that we say [ __ ] Donald Trump and I'm like II I'm with that let's do it that was his concept you know I mean somebody that the perception people might just say why Jesus represent one thing again that's not me saying it but the perception of Y Z if you don't know him from the from the records maybe they just went on the radio you might assume that that's outside of his consciousness but look what the situation brought out of Gesu you know me so I think it is a no there I don't think there's a me to movement without Donald Trump right this hold me - times up thing although it's partially partially related to Trump it's not really directly I mean Harvey Weinstein is not Donald Trump but I don't think it happens without Donald Trump in place that people have this aware that's acute awareness of what's wrong you know that that pendulum swing of women that next day or what was an inauguration day or whatever election day it was election day Wednesday when people women woke up that day they've no know they fell under attack they fell under attack and that and that changed a lot right Nipsey Hussle ladies and gentlemen pick up victory lap yeah Greta

Channel: HOT 97

Views: 2,091,198

Rating: 4.8980117 out of 5

Keywords: hot97, hot97app, music, video, hip hop, rap, r&b, hip-hop, New York, NY, US, United States, HOT97.com, nipsey hussle, gangs, ebro in the morning, ebro, rosenberg, laura stylez

Id: XEgPVv_9_W8

Length: 52min 8sec (3128 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 22 2018