The girlfriend of murdered rapper Nipsey Hussle has spoken out publicly to pay tribute to the rapper for the first time since he was killed in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Actress Lauren London wrote a moving Instagram post, after it emerged that the gunman suspected of killing the rapper in a cold-blooded shooting had been arrested.
London and Nipsey had been in a relationship for around six years and have a child together—2-year-old Kross Asghedom, according to the BBC.
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They started dating after she tried to get hold of one of his early mixtapes that were distributed free digitally but cost $100 to buy a hard copy (Jay-Z famously bought a hundred of them, giving Nipsey his first big break).
The mixtape turbocharged a meteoric rise that culminated in his debut album being nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammys this year.
Since his death, tributes have poured in, including from NBA player Russell Westbrook, who dedicated a record-tying game in the NBA to Nipsey’s memory, describing the rapper as “somebody I looked up to, somebody that paved the way for a guy like myself growing up in the inner city.”
TMZ, meanwhile, reports that the only reason the singer was at his Marathon clothing store without his security team on Sunday was because he was trying to help out an old friend who had just got out of prison after a 20-year stretch.
TMZ says he was helping his friend with new clothes so he could “look good before meeting up with his own family and friends later in the day.”
The friend was also injured in the shooting, while a third person to be hurt was the friend’s nephew, who drove him to the store, TMZ says.
Police have arrested 29-year-old Eric Holder, and identified him as the suspected shooter.
