[dramatic music] ♪♪ ♪♪
T.I.: You kinda have to go back
to the origins of hip hop, the purpose of hip hop,
and the home of hip hop, you know what I mean?
Hip hop was started in the ghetto
by people who didn't have anything,
and the purpose of it was to tell their stories
and to speak truth to power,
to galvanize the efforts of the community
and‐‐and to fulfill the need of the community
while inspiring and entertaining the community
all at the same time. ♪♪ ♪♪
And nobody‐‐I repeat, nobody‐‐
could teach us how to do what we're doing right now.
So we learned this shit by trial and error.
We went out there, bumped our heads,
learned our lessons,
eventually worked our way up to a place of success
to change the standard of living
for us and our families
for generations and for years to come.
[hip hop music]
♪♪ ♪♪
[wind whistling]
[car door slams]
[indistinct chatter]
‐ [speaking Spanish]
‐ What you miss about the States, man?
JORGE: I miss a lot about the States, bro:
sunshine, naked beach on Sundays I miss the most.
‐ [laughs] ‐ How about you?
‐ Family, my people, you feel me?
JORGE: I don't blame you. ‐ That's it, in that order.
[dramatic music]
The rise and fall of Haitian Jack,
when you say fall, it either means dead or dead broke.
I've been down here 12 years. I lived in mansions.
I had Maseratis, Porsches, Range Rovers,
still wearing a $160,000 watch.
That's not a fall, but it's a reality check.
It's not where I used to be either.
The thing about living in Dominican Republic,
I miss my family a whole lot.
I got a lot of people that I can't see when I wanna see‐‐
my little brother, my sisters, my daughters,
my son, my granddaughter‐‐
but I definitely want to be with my moms
for‐‐for her last golden years,
you know, what they call jubilee years.
As you get older, you start realizing
you can't be a 75‐year‐old stick‐up,
even though I've seen it done, though, you know what I mean?
If I knew now what I needed to know then,
I'd have a lot of property, man.
I'm getting ready to start that process now
which I should have started 20, 30 years ago.
You don't wanna be old and broke.
Believe me, it's not pretty.
Salud. ‐ My brother.
PIERRE: I don't glorify the streets.
You know, I made a lot of money,
but was it worth the‐‐the lives that were lost?
Is it worth all the other people that I lost
and the people who didn't make it?
I just had to apply the same hustle
that was in the street to this right here,
and I can help him get in the door,
but what I'm expecting for him to do
is, whatever I did for you,
you gotta transfer that energy down to the‐‐to the next.
‐ And plant that seed. ‐ You gotta plant that seed,
and then that's how we, you know what I'm saying,
empower other people and‐‐and keep it going,
you feel what I'm saying?
‐ When I run the street hard, my little girl got sick.
I'm telling the doctor, like,
"Bro, I can give you a million dollars right now,
like, if you just get my little girl right."
I had, like, three big old little duffels full of cash.
"I got a million dollars right here
if you think I'm jiving, you feel me?"
Like, he just told me straight‐up, like,
"It really ain't nothing I can do,"
so I had to bury my own little‐‐my own child
and‐‐and realize, like,
the money ain't‐‐ain't the problem, you feel me?
Like, when it's that, it's that.
‐ Shit, that would have broke most motherfuckers.
I know it would have broke me, you know what I'm saying? Like‐‐
‐ I used that pain for the drive.
From then on, soon as my kids were born,
I bought them a house and put it in they name,
and I might be the head person right now,
but what if I take a fall? ♪♪ ♪♪
REPORTER: An ambush shooting turning deadly,
and the victim is reportedly a famed rapper...
REPORTER: By the name of Pop Smoke,
shot here in his home in the Hollywood Hills.
REPORTER: Shot and killed was rapper King Von from Chicago.
REPORTER: Known as FBG Duck.
REPORTER: Up‐and‐coming Atlanta rapper Lil Marlo
died over the weekend. ♪♪ ♪♪
BIG U: Rest in peace, Marlo.
Man, he was an impressive youngster.
He just got killed.
‐ This is a sad situation that he didn't begin to live.
Know what I mean? We lived.
MALCOLM: The fact that the number one cause of death
for a young rapper is murder, it's a little bit deceptive
in that young Black men deal with that statistic anyway.
♪♪ ♪♪
DR. DRE: You know, you hear about somebody getting killed.
It's fucked up, but it's not unusual.
More and more people are starting to fucking die.
If you got a fucking OG
that can fucking clear the streets for you,
that definitely helps.
‐ The importance of a Big U, a Trick Trick, a Mugs,
uh, or any of us like that, life and death, just that simple.
BIG U: Pop Smoke was in LA,
but who was Pop Smoke with in LA,
you know what I mean? Like, he never embraced nobody.
He never affiliated with‐‐with me.
He never affiliated with Wack 100,
with Blu, with Wacko.
He never affiliated with Tone from the Jungles,
with Magic. It's a whole slew of people
that he could have affiliated with.
People don't understand that sometime
if I don't answer the phone,
it could be death for somebody else.
‐ Is it, um, like, a solid science? No.
You're never gonna be able to make that perfect.
You still gonna have your fucking knuckleheads.
BIG U: Everywhere is somebody like me
where you can't put a monetary value
on his touching hip hop. ♪♪ ♪♪
We on Hollywood Boulevard. ♪♪ ♪♪
Let me take y'all by where most people, um,
are thinking that I went viral.
When I went viral, uh, I had a altercation
with the security guards at the Supper Club up here.
[hip hop music] We was going in.
It's only 30, 40 minutes left in the club.
This dude high or something. PERSON: Your homeboy high.
BIG U: Yeah. They won't let him in.
But I'm like, "I'ma stay out here with him."
He just get off on the security guard
for no apparent reason! PERSON: Get off meaning?
‐ He just fired on the dude. ‐ Oh!
‐ Hey, get off the dude, go!
BIG U: All the security together,
it's me by myself.
PERSON: Big U, you straight, cuz?
‐ So I made the assessment. There's 15 of them.
You fixed to get your ass whooped.
but how the rules go,
I'm gonna get at who I'm mad at. I took flight.
‐ Ooh! ‐ Whoa!
‐ Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!
BIG U: So when I'm on the ground,
I'm wrestling with the one dude,
came and kicked me. He looking to [indistinct],
kicked me in the side of the face.
[dramatic music]
‐ Back up. ‐ Come on.
Hey, you [indistinct], over here.
‐ Back up. Back up, guys. Come on.
BIG U: So the blood's‐‐ I'm on my back,
wrestling with the blood filled up in my eyes,
so I couldn't see shit.
‐ Hey, guys, back up. Come on. What are you doing?
‐ I think I did pretty good,
me versus 15, you know what I'm saying?
Other niggas would have said, "Fuck it," then went back home
and went and got they homeboys and tell them,
"Come on, let's go."
That's the difference between Big U
and 90% of these motherfuckers.
♪♪ ♪♪
That night, probably about 200, 300 dudes
came to Hollywood,
and dudes from every set in LA really stood up
and was offended by what they had seen.
♪♪ ♪♪ My little homeys is Bloods.
There's Cuz, there's‐‐ from every set was upset.
[siren wailing]
There was a lot of violence against just clubs
and security against clubs, and people expected
four or five people to die. ♪♪ ♪♪
We got so many people dying over bullcrap,
I didn't really wanna add to that.
That's not the legacy I wanted to have.
♪♪ ♪♪
It was a misunderstanding, you know what I mean?
Went too far, so we ended up shutting Hollywood down.
We had to meet with the powers that be.
You know, we had, um, sat down
with the owners of the Supper Club.
They wrote me a check for over $200,000.
We used about $70,000, $80,000 to do a food giveaway, toys.
It was amazing.
REPORTER: The Supper Club's giving all these free toys
and food to the underprivileged, right?
And so I start talking to Big U,
the organizer of the event.
How come now Supper Club was so keen to be involved?
For me, being able to take something bad
that happened for me and turn it into a positive
instead of continuing to‐‐ continuing
to let it be a negative, that's what I'm all about.
DAIROLD: It's so many dynamics to Big U
and what he does with the kids
and development options and things like that.
I mean, I always tip my hat to bro.
PROBLEM: Because he went through
all the angles of gangbanging,
it's important for him as a man and as a Crip
to do it the right way before he go.
TRICK TRICK: Detroit has become a No Fly Zone,
so a certain majority of the artists
are not allowed here, right?
[laughter]
‐ This motherfucker done got me in so much trouble.
[laughter]
This man done got me in trouble, man.
JERMAINE: Yeah, I wanna hear this,
'cause I‐I heard about it.
I wanna hear about this‐‐ ‐ Trick Trick No Fly Zone?
‐ Yeah, I wanna hear about this.
‐ It was never at artists directly.
It was always with record labels.
Like, I chose to take on with you in the first‐‐first.
Y'all record labels don't see y'all people here.
I'm sending them home ass‐naked,
with no jewelry, no clothes, and I'm keeping they wallets.
I've had artists come to Detroit
and be mistreated by promoters,
and I've had to go and see people in my own city
and say, "Hey, come on, now."
"Hold on, Where are we winning here, guys?"
MONIQUE: He felt like other rappers and entertainers
would come here and disrespect
Detroit rappers and entertainers
by not giving them
the opportunity to be on the stage with them,
or they wanted to charge them to be on, you know, the show.
He made a stand, and yes, he looked like the troublemaker,
and that's how the No Fly Zone came to be.
‐ Black people coming from our community,
um, a lot of people aren't gonna take care of us.
We can't depend on the police.
We can't, you know, depend on people
to get us our money from promoters sometimes.
They have to know what the reputation is
or who they're dealing with, and they come correct.
‐ Oh, shit, Trick Trick. Trick Trick damn ass
tried to stop us from coming to goddamn Detroit.
You had to pay your dues to Trick Trick when you come,
when you step into the D. ‐ To check in.
Whenever I go to the D, I'm hitting up Trick Trick,
"Hey, Trick, I got a show in, uh, January the 26th.
What you doing, my nigga?
Come out and get down with me."
That's the check‐in.
It's a mutual respect amongst Gs.
‐ I knew the politics of this game,
and when I came to LA, first person I called was U.
BIG U: I could tell you what side of town to go in,
what side of town not to go into.
I could save you a lot of problems
that you may run into
with not knowing who you dealing with.
‐ You might have a show in that market,
but you're gonna go to the club that night.
There's gonna be some real dudes in that corner
that might say, you know,
"I don't give a fuck who they are.
We're gonna rob 'em."
So you have to know the right people
when you check in and go into these cities.
‐ It should work out for everybody, right?
Well, the record labels at first was like,
"Pfft, whatever." So they sent me a victim.
[dramatic music]
‐ What is going on with you in Detroit?
‐ Yo, we, uh, went out to Detroit, you know?
We had a gig to go to.
Someone has locked the gates to the venue.
‐ We have Rick Ross right outside here.
He's in fear of his life,
and that nigga is not performing here tonight,
and he may never come back to Detroit.
REPORTER: Over the weekend, rapper Rick Ross,
he was turned back from a performance in Detroit
by a local rapper and a gang of 100 thugs.
There's a rapper called Trick Trick.
He's instituted a No Fly Zone in Detroit.
Any performer that goes there must pay homage to him first,
and this sounds like an out‐of‐control
third world nation. ♪♪ ♪♪
MOUCHETTE: Rick Ross didn't get off that bus.
Now, my brother got lambasted in the media for doing that.
I praise my brother because he showed the world
that with Detroit's unity in the hip hop community,
nobody's gonna come and suck the blood of Detroit
and then just leave the city
and then play us like we're Twinkies [indistinct].
‐ Trick Trick has a lot of leadership energy
in him, you know.
I can't think of anyone else here
that could do that and people follow.
‐ For the No Fly Zone, Rick Ross thing,
I was actually there at Chene Park at that time,
and, um, what Trick Trick asked people to do
was do a peaceful protest,
so I don't know how it got to where it got on the Internet.
DJ AKADEMIKS: Rappers come to Detroit.
When they check in with Trick Trick,
Trick Trick's gonna give them the fee,
sort of like a commission for the hood.
If this is extortion that's going on,
then kudos to Rick Ross for not being taken a fool
even if it meant don't perform.
When you have to pay for "passes,"
you're being extorted. Is that hip hop?
ROYCE DA 5'9": Everything is about perspective.
If you look at the No Fly Zone
as something where rappers need to be afraid
and call Trick Trick when they come to Detroit
or they gonna get fucked up,
then it's‐‐that's what it's gonna be to you, you know?
If you look at it like, "Wow, he's taking steps,"
because we've been overlooked for years.
We're, like, a B or C market.
‐ Work with our artists, man, you know what I'm saying?
Show love. We trying to get this money
and put the whole city on the map.
DEB: Trick Trick was that guy that he held his city down.
That was some G codes.
Y'all wouldn't know nothing about that 'cause y'all live
in this little effed‐up world today.
That was some boss stuff shit that was going on back then.
PREVAIL: I don't even think people here
give him the full respect or the props he deserve.
Trick Trick is like our Nipsey Hussle.
PERSON: Nipsey, what's up?
How you been? ‐ What's up, man?
PERSON: What's up? ‐ Y'all quit playing.
POON DADDY: Nipsey's spirit was so strong.
even, like, as a young kid, he was the bright eye.
He was ready. "I got a plan, bro.
I got a plan, I'm telling you," and he kept saying that.
Plan A was always taking care of your own,
keeping the hood.
We would have conversations about Black Wall Street.
JAY: When Black folks started
the Black Wall Street in Tulsa,
when Black folks started rocking in Harlem,
those were targets of white communities.
There was racial violence.
They burned down Black Wall Street.
They literally arrested almost everybody in Harlem, right,
because it was bustling of Black entrepreneurship,
Black wealth.
Like, we've been working since we got here, right?
We've been working, and we've been thriving,
but every time Black folks have advanced,
there has been a visceral response from America
to say, "No, you cannot." [dramatic music]
NIPSEY: I mean, I got big plans,
you know, for the future. Like, I got my‐‐my feet
in the business world also.
BIG U: Nip invested in the community,
and I was the one teaching him, "Get stuff,
buy stuff in the neighborhood, and build that."
‐ Yeah. ‐ Yo, B.
BIG U: It's about our push.
It's about that brand. It's about Crenshaw.
It's about our community, you know what I mean?
KENNETH: It's always been a tight‐knit Black community
that's been socially, politically,
and financially conscious
that we have here in the Crenshaw District,
and Nipsey was definitely the embodiment of that
in every aspect.
REPORTER: Nipsey says businesses
are only part of the change.
For true change, he's starting with kids
at 54th Street Elementary, an area plagued by violence.
NIPSEY: Yeah, I think this is about offering
a new identity, you know? It's not weak to be strong.
It ain't weak to be‐‐ to make smart moves.
ICE‐T: I started to hear about what he was doing
in the community. I heard he bought the corner.
My play little brother Crush is a 60, so they telling me,
"Yo, Nipsey bought this, and whoopty‐whoop."
‐ You actually own half of this lot?
‐ Yeah, me and my‐‐my family.
DAIROLD: If you break down who do we as Black people
spend our money with,
you're not spending with a Black company.
You're not buying from Black people with your clothes.
You're not buying from Black people with your food
or anything else that we do. We're helping our own demise.
‐ We playing a long game.
We don't wanna‐‐the money to stop when we go.
We want it to be generational. STEVE: Nipsey never changed.
All he did was elevate and grow.
Was there bumps in his journey? Yes.
There's rumors Nipsey and Big U got into a fight.
I was overseas when I heard about that.
♪♪ ♪♪
BIG U: When I left the music industry,
me and Nipsey had a fallout. He had my equipment,
and I wanted to use my equipment.
He got mad because I got my equipment back.
So then that's when our conflict started.
I end up getting the equipment back and said,
"I'ma move it right here
"in my shop on 43rd and Crenshaw,
"and then everybody can get there all the time.
Nip, you can get to it when you want to." So he got mad.
‐ You ain't gonna get out of my way?
You in my way, bro. BIG U: He didn't like that.
He's supposedly made a diss song about me.
Well, I ain't no rapper. I'm a scrapper. ♪♪ ♪♪
So we end up having to come talk about that.
♪♪ ♪♪
Pull up to homey's, and Nip admitted his wrong,
but still it's some consequences to your wrong.
I came to pick him up that morning
so he could get his discipline,
and his brother got in the way,
talking about, "My brother not going nowhere."
♪♪ ♪♪
If I was his brother, I'd have did the same thing.
Like, "You're not going‐‐ you're not going nowhere
with these niggas."
I didn't‐‐I would have did the same shit. ♪♪ ♪♪
But I mean, you not from [indistinct], though,
and you not from the hood, so, you know,
you can't really speak on our business,
and really, that's really what happened.
Me and Nip talked that night. We went and chopped it up,
and it was never nothing after that.
STEVE: Nipsey was still associated
to who he was as a 60.
We're all men at the end of the day.
Whatever happened between them was men.
Nipsey was growing on his own, wanted to be a leader,
wanted to do things his own way.
DJ: We got you, though. ‐ Yeah, you know.
DJ: We got you. ‐ They nabbed me there,
you know what I'm saying?
DJ: Yeah. ‐ Yeah.
‐ Victory Lap, preorder right now. ♪♪ ♪♪
BIG U: When he did his deal with Atlantic,
he had called me, and I'm like,
"All right, man, congratulations."
He's like, "Unc, we gonna go celebrate,"
and I never got with him. [hip hop music]
You know, I'm already doing my own thing now.
I wasn't in music. ♪♪ ♪♪
Nipsey is the reason why I came back to music.
‐ Special, Special ENT from Brooklyn.
My bro Big U told me they was coming out here.
Yo, Nipsey, what's up? ALL: Oh! ‐ He like, "Let's go, Unc.
"I need you to come back and manage me.
We gonna do this. We gonna get this money."
And he was just refueling my‐‐my uh‐‐my energy
to come back and do music.
It goes to show that people can have problems
and then move past that.
‐ Yeah, man, top of the top. You see how we doing?
I ain't left yet, you know what I mean?
‐ And I'm eating breakfast.
‐ My shirt drunk, yeah, all that.
I've been working. Fuck it.
I ain't shaved, everything, man.
Victory Lap coming soon. ‐ He wasn't gonna shave anyway.
‐ I wasn't, but I was gonna change my shirt, though,
and I'm going to, you know what I'm saying?
But I working, fuck it.
‐ We would let y'all hear some music, but... ‐ It's coming.
‐ You gotta wait to pay for it. ‐ It's coming.
‐ Ain't no free shit no more. NIPSEY: Buy the album.
'Cause I gave y'all a free mixtape.
‐ And every time he dropped a project, he shouted me out.
RAPPER: ♪♪ Oh, y'all blasting ♪♪ ‐ "Oh, y'all Crips now.
I'm Big Draws. I'm J Prince now." I'm Big Draws.
ICE‐T: Thanks to social media, I was seeing his shit rise,
and truthfully, Nipsey Hussle had not broken nationally,
not like a Kendrick, you know what I'm saying?
He was known, but he was still underground.
He was due to have that 5 million record sales.
♪♪ ♪♪
PROBLEM: He was one of the ones that made it through,
like, being independent.
We was the ones that started, like, early, like, 2007, 2006.
We out putting up posters and shit,
selling mixtapes in the street.
Like, that era was us,
so I'm like, "Damn, them niggas
"just got nominated for Grammys.
"This nigga cracked New New.
It's going up. Like, it's really happening."
♪♪ ♪♪
PERSON: I'd like to call to the stage
one of the most loved
and respected rappers in the industry.
My friends, y'all give it up for Nipsey Hussle!
BIG U: We came up for the banquet
for Developing Options,
and I'm like, "Bro, I'ma honor you at the banquet."
Nip like, "I'ma be there.
I wouldn't miss it for the world."
So let's give this man a hand and clap a little for him.
[cheers and applause]
NIPSEY: Hey, first of all,
I appreciate that, and I love you, big bro.
'Cause I remember he like, you know,
"It's not gonna be one room I walk into
that my homeboys can't walk into with me,"
and I always respected
and‐‐and‐‐and looked up to him as a leader
and as somebody that was just a real man.
[cheers and applause]
And, uh, like I said, I love you, bro.
We gonna keep pushing, day one. Thank you all.
BIG U: That, I will always hold dear to my heart
because if you don't give a person thank‐you
or say thank you and I love you while they're here,
what does it really mean? [dramatic music]
ALL: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one! [people clamoring]
♪♪ ♪♪
THE GAME: Over here driving down Slauson, man,
driving down Slauson, 4:00 in the morning, man,
'cause I can't sleep behind what happened to Nip, man.
Why niggas do the homey like that, man?
At his own motherfucking stop,
on his‐‐in his own fucking hood, man.
He was trying to do good for niggas, man.
REPORTER: Breaking news now. Rapper Nipsey Hussle...
REPORTER: Nipsey Hussle...
REPORTER: Rapper Nipsey Hussle,
who was Grammy‐nominated...
REPORTER: Has been shot and killed in Los Angeles.
He was 33.
♪♪ ♪♪
‐ Keep the lights on, y'all.
Before we got on the stage, we got word that our brother,
our warrior, our soldier, Nipsey Hussle passed away.
PERSON: Boo. PERSON: No.
KENDRICK: Repeat after me. We love you, Nipsey!
ALL: We love you, Nipsey! ♪♪ ♪♪
‐ I think, uh, I'm disheartened,
disappointed, um, and disgusted. ♪♪ ♪♪
‐ Nipsey passing was fucked up.
Like, there's no other way to really say that.
It was just fucked up.
‐ When Nipsey passed, I was in my room.
‐ I was in Miami Beach at the Ultra Music Festival.
‐ I was having lunch. Um... I was crushed.
I was crushed at that time.
‐ When somebody tell me something like that‐‐
even with Jam Master Jay, I got the call for that‐‐
I don't believe they dead.
It's something like a superhero.
Like, I don't‐‐I don't believe these guys can die. ♪♪ ♪♪
‐ We all, you know, Black men striving for the same thing.
We trying to find a way out.
We coming from these inner cities
looking to find hope, and we found music.
The fact that you could reach that far and then die
in the same streets that you grew up on
almost is, like, ironic.
Like, you almost, like, never‐‐never left.
♪♪ ♪♪
BEAR CLAW: Nipsey's death,
to the Crenshaw community, was a tragedy.
TRICK TRICK: You know, I think about it,
how unfortunate it is that a young man
can be assassinated in his own community
where he's trying to build better and teach better
and taken down by one of his own,
one of his own people. We need him.
We need another one,
now, that's gonna talk about investing,
buying land, building up your community,
setting your children up, ownership, credit,
the importance of your presence in the community.
It's like, if you live in this house,
you gonna wash the dishes too, God damn it.
‐ When I see that, I'm like,
"Wow, he learned that from somebody."
You know what I'm saying, he got that from somebody,
and the world should take a look at Big U
'cause he got it from him. He got it from him.
[dramatic music] ♪♪ ♪♪
PERSON: How did you feel that day you got the news?
‐ That was my kid, bro.
I loved him like‐‐you know, I loved him like a son.
♪♪ ♪♪
His music and the fact that he was up for Grammys
and all them awards,
and then for him to die and you actually see it‐‐
we never seen Biggie die. We never seen Pac die.
We never seen, uh, none of the legends who died.
You always seen the aftermath or the carnage.
‐ I saw that kid kill Nipsey.
I saw the video, and my‐‐my take on it was,
"How fucking dare you?" you know what I'm saying?
Like, "You just took one of our prophets
like it was nothing."
♪♪ ♪♪
‐ Hip hop.
I love the platform that it's given me...
♪♪ ♪♪
But I hate the shit that's been taken away from me also.
♪♪ ♪♪
When Rah Rah was killed,
that just didn't sit good with Kayo at all.
Him and Rah Rah were so close.
Kayo, there was so many signs that I paid no attention to.
My son ain't gonna commit no damn suicide. ♪♪ ♪♪
Yup, December 29th, he did it.
Every time you look at this shit, you look at it,
and people glamorize it and make this shit look good.
That's bullshit.
It was not all glitters and gold. I lost two sons.
Two sons I lost, and that didn't feel good at all.
♪♪ ♪♪
BIMMY: If my pop was alive today, you know,
all‐‐all I can do is, you know, hug him,
tell him I love him. ♪♪ ♪♪
I think my pops'd be proud of me
'cause the one thing I didn't do, you know,
I didn't leave my children, you know what I'm saying?
He left his children. I didn't leave my children.
♪♪ ♪♪
It's very important to have a strong
Black figure in your life,
because he teaches you how to walk.
He teaches you how to ride a bike.
I learned how to ride a bike on my own.
I fell and I kept getting up,
falling, getting up, falling, you know what I mean?
So I didn't have that father to push me. ♪♪ ♪♪
When you grow up with fathers and mothers
and uncles and aunts like how we lived,
it's gonna test them kids. ♪♪ ♪♪
That bloodline is in them. ♪♪ ♪♪ ‐ Ah!
‐ That hurt? ‐ Yeah.
DEB: Ethan is my older son's son.
Sometimes I think about if there's curses on families.
♪♪ ♪♪
‐ Done. ‐ Fuck! Mm.
BIMMY: My nephew gets shot.
It's normal to me. I lived it.
DEB: You can't keep testing me like that.
What, am I supposed to stay here
to just keep watching people suffer,
people that I love, people that I have direct con‐‐
No. No.
♪♪ ♪♪
BIG U: Today we are having a vigil
for Nipsey Hussle at 3:00,
3:00 to 5:00 for all the different gangs in LA,
Eight‐Treys, Rollin' 60s,
Hoovers, East Coasters, um, Bounty Hunters,
and, uh, everybody of like mind to come together
that wanna come out and support.
When Nip passed, we was getting inundated with calls
of people wanting to come pay their respects
because it was so big, and prior to him dying,
we had already been sitting down
with different gangs about different stuff
'cause I run a gang intervention program in LA.
‐ Good to see you.
We want to initiate the walk the brothers gonna go through.
BIG U: They was trying to get it together,
but they was like,
"Nobody from these other gangs is gonna come to the 60s
unless you say it."
‐ Thank you, community. Thank you, Nip.
Thank you, Hannibal. ‐ Yes, sir.
‐ Thank you, Crenshaw community. ‐ Nip Hussle.
SNOOP DOGG: I wanna give a shout‐out to Big U,
to all of the gangbangers in Los Angeles.
Thank you, brothers, for coming together in peace and love
and representing Nip the right way.
‐ Doing it for the Hussle. ♪♪ ♪♪ ‐ OG.
BIG U: That was only less than a block walk
from the shopping center to the other shopping center,
but it was a‐‐ it was a billion‐mile walk
in my heart.
‐ Eight‐Treys and 60s is in the same area walking.
Why y'all didn't do that when he was here?
He was saying that too.
You don't know what we had till he was gone.
BIG U: I'm honored; I'm overwhelmed for‐‐for Nipsey,
for his family,
and, really, for this community.
I'm so happy.
I'm so overwhelmed by‐‐by all the brothers
that came out, you know what I mean?
‐ Yeah, definitely.
‐ We gonna make this big. We gonna make it last.
Gonna make it long. ♪♪ ♪♪
MALLY MALL: Because of social media,
because of the Internet now,
I feel like Nipsey's death was bigger than anybody's death,
uh, and the stats in the social media speak for itself.
Bigger than Tupac, bigger than Biggie's.
♪♪ ♪♪
[dramatic music]
REPORTER: The rap singer Tupac Shakur
was killed in a drive‐by shooting
over the weekend in Las Vegas. ♪♪ ♪♪
HAITIAN JACK: The Internet, to me,
is a cesspool of drama and lies.
People on the Internet feel like they know me
or they know Pac or they know the story.
When I look at their age and their comments,
they weren't even alive when Pac got killed.
You got people that was in the car saying,
"I'm with the shooter, I passed the shooter the gun,
and Jack wasn't in the car,"
but there's some idiots out there that's still saying,
"Man, I‐I believe Jack killed Pac,"
or, "That was Jack they was stomping out,"
when everyone know who they was stomping out
in Vegas wasn't Jack.
I mean, I've heard all the stories, bro,
you know what I'm saying, all the stories.
Only real niggas know it's bullshit,
but these clowns start talking about it
on the Internet, it can take life, you feel me?
It can take life.
TRICK TRICK: I don't even address the Internet shit, bro.
That's what I would say to you, like, really to keep it 100
because niggas can get behind these keyboards
and say and do the most asinine,
silly shit that they want to. What I don't do is,
I don't address none of the shit on the Internet.
‐ I see that, but the thing with me, right, is that
after a while, though,
the reason it's the way it is now, the Internet,
'cause nobody's being disciplined.
‐ It's hard to discipline.
You got a thousand motherfuckers
who create the narrative,
and they only create the narrative
because they can make money off of it.
‐ So somebody gonna have to pay the price for everybody
to know this shit is not gonna be tolerated.
Until a few people pay the price,
the nonsense is gonna continue 'cause‐‐
BIMMY: But you know what, Jack?
TRICK TRICK: Yeah, what they gonna say?
BIMMY: That ain't gonna happen. TRICK TRICK: Yeah.
BIMMY: Let me tell you something.
It's more‐‐it's more of them than us. ♪♪ ♪♪
PERSON: Big U is very fucking suspect.
PERSON: I myself believe that he has played a major role
in Nipsey's untimely death.
PERSON: I know a motherfucking hit when I see one.
PERSON: This shit is a straight hit,
and Big U was all in it.
PERSON: I thought that nigga Big U did it
because that's what it was,
'cause Nipsey was really the face of... [indistinct],
niggas really do be jealous,
and they really will kill you 'cause you're doing something.
♪♪ ♪♪
‐ I got a call from my son all the way in Reno:
"Mom, where's Dad?"
It's like, "He at home. What's wrong?"
"Do you know what they saying on social media?"
And I'm like, "No."
He was like, "They saying that Dad had something to do
with Nipsey being killed."
Then I got a 13‐year‐old at school,
and now I'm worried about her and what people are saying,
so that‐‐you know,
that kinda came in my house and messed up my family.
‐ The conspiracy theories got so crazy
where they put you as a conspirator of killing Nip.
BIG U: Which is the dumbest shit in the world,
you know what I'm saying?
REPORTER: Tonight, after an aggressive
all‐out manhunt,
authorities say they've captured
29‐year‐old Eric Holder,
the prime suspect in the murder
of rapper Nipsey Hussle. ‐ It's obvious that you and Nip
were on good terms when he died.
How did this conspiracy theory with you‐‐
‐ I don't know, man.
‐ How did it take a life like that?
BIG U: It's about selling numbers.
I'm not gonna explain to nobody else,
all these weirdos pop up out of nowhere
with different stories to sell this.
I don't go explaining myself to nobody. ♪♪ ♪♪
‐ The Internet itself, you're faceless.
You're making comments.
If you're a asshole, people love you, right?
When we talk about these codes,
it's behaving with honor,
with dignity, with accountability, right?
♪♪ ♪♪
Internet behavior is the opposite of that.
TRICK TRICK: It's not the code we live by.
You don't have no OGs.
‐ And if you have certain knowledge and codes
and things that you‐‐ you live by,
you supposed to pass that along, you know?
And somewhere along the line, it wasn't passed on. ♪♪ ♪♪
‐ Today in federal court, rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine
took to the stand against two members of his old gang.
REPORTER: Tekashi 6ix9ine has taken a plea deal
and has been helping the feds with their case.
‐ Cooperating, AKA snitching.
‐ We live by certain codes in the street.
Industry is the industry.
It doesn't hold the same value or the same morals
and principles that the street hold.
The kid, 6ix9ine, look at him.
He could front like he was the street,
but he's not the street, you know what I'm saying?
I been around the kid, by the way, too,
so he's not street.
‐ I guess he gotta do what he gotta do to save hisself,
but, uh, snitching ain't the way, partner.
50 CENT: ♪♪ You say you a gangsta ♪♪
♪♪ But you never pop nothin' ♪♪
♪♪ We say you a wanksta ♪♪
♪♪ And you need to stop frontin' ♪♪
TEKASHI: Y'all didn't go through what I went through,
and I still came home,
and I'm a legend at the age of 24 years old
because I came home, and a rat
is doing more numbers than you. I would be mad too. I would.
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
A real nigga wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
‐ And he tried to repaint it by saying he was a victim,
but clearly he was the ringleader,
and he was the one that was getting people
to do all this shit.
Suddenly he was facing time himself.
He went and told on everybody. This was his mentality.
CARDI B: You choose to be in a gang.
You choose to be in the streets.
So if you choose that,
you know that you might have a chance
of getting arrested,
and if you're doing something that you might have
a chance of getting arrested,
if you know that when you get arrested,
you're going to snitch, then you shouldn't fucking
do it in the motherfucking first place. PERSON: Oh, my God!
[crowd screaming]
50 CENT: ♪♪ The fuck happened to you ♪♪
BIG U: Guess what happens to 6ix9ine.
Seven years from now, he gonna still be 6ix9ine,
the kid who was disrespectful. The money is gone now.
The labels have moved on to other projects.
Guess what happens.
PERSON: People still gonna remember what he said.
‐ People gonna still remember. ‐ If you bump your head once
and don't learn from bumping your head...
‐ Mm‐hmm. ‐ The next time, your head's
gonna get decapitated completely. ‐ Whoa.
CHARLAMAGNE: He just has not learned his lesson.
‐ I would prefer not even to‐‐to‐‐to‐‐
to dignify a conversation about dude.
[dramatic music]
BIG U: What I see in hip hop now is different
than what I see in hip hop past.
Hip hop now is not about a great lyricist.
It's not about a performance. It's not about the look.
It's really about who can be the most shocking.
You got dudes out here running in the streets,
getting hit by cars. It's about hits and likes.
It's not even about music no more.
PRINCESS IVORI: And so anybody can come out
and present their art. The bad part is,
is that everybody can come out and be a rapper.
NICK: Internet and social media
definitely changed hip hop.
It made it all about the fast money.
It made it about the façade,
took a lot of the substance away.
‐ That's what's missing from the culture
is‐‐is more truth and more storytelling,
not gimmicks.
‐ So there's really no connection to the street.
It's really just about selling to the masses,
and it's being controlled by a whole nother people
that's not like us. It's something different.
♪♪ ♪♪
White people got it, and they running it.
They took hip hop, made it theirs.
The biggest‐selling product
that the United States of America has to this day
is our culture.
I like to say when Russell Simmons owned it,
it was different. ‐ It was universal.
‐ Now Russ don't got it no more, and it's crazy.
‐ MAGA '20, '20, '20, don't forget that.
[cheers and applause]
MALCOLM: Right now, America and hip hop
are in a state of flux, an agitation,
and a big shift is happening,
and it's either gonna shift real bad or real good.
It feels like there's a desire to acknowledge our struggle,
and hip hop is a huge part of demanding
that motherfuckers see what we dealing with.
‐ For 400 years, you had your knees on our necks,
a garden of evil with no seeds of respect.
[dramatic music]
Watching that man die slow left a hole.
He cried for his mama as the murder unfold.
Being Black in a America is like rolling a pair of dice,
but the stakes are way higher. You gambling with my life.
♪♪ ♪♪
TRICK TRICK: According to what I can see now with society now
and the world now...
[exhales sharply]
Take a deep breath.
REPORTER: The coronavirus has now killed
more than 300,000 people in the United States.
TRICK TRICK: Any day now, anything can happen
with anything in this world.
[gunshots]
♪♪ ♪♪
More killings are happening of these men.
‐ Black lives matter!
‐ Black lives have always mattered!
TRICK TRICK: It's sad that you even have to scream,
"Black lives matter."
‐ And then for a rebuttal to be created
that say all lives matter... Well, shit, like,
who the fuck getting knocked off out here?
♪♪ ♪♪ AL SHARPTON: An unarmed man
was subjected to a choke hold.
Mama!
SHARPTON: And the result is, he is no longer with us.
DONALD TRUMP: They're under this tremendous pressure,
and they‐‐they don't handle it well.
They call it choking, and it happens.
[sirens wailing]
TRICK TRICK: This world, look what it has come to.
Look what's going on. Look what the leadership‐‐
look at the examples that they set.
That can't be how you represent this place.
Look what the government is demonstrating.
Anybody that try to speak on something,
he is mowed down. You know, fuck we gonna do?
♪♪ ♪♪ Fuck we gonna do? ♪♪ ♪♪
‐ Now is the time to plot, plan, strategize,
organize, and mobilize.
‐ How do we change the system? By voting.
LEBRON JAMES: It's all about leadership,
and leadership starts at the top.
STACEY ABRAMS: For the first time in American history,
there are more Black and brown folks
who can actually change the outcome of elections.
REPORTER: Voters chose to vote against chaos.
ALL: Fuck Donald Trump! Fuck Donald Trump!
Fuck Donald Trump!
[waves crashing]
[dramatic music]
♪♪ ♪♪
KAHN: There's just some people people gravitate to.
They're a magnet.
When he makes a call out for something to happen,
there are people there that say,
"I'm riding with Trick."
TRICK TRICK: I will roll up on you,
reinitiate the No Fly Zone.
I am patrolling these streets daily, all day, every day.
You could turn any corner, east and west,
and they'll tell you, "I seen Uncle Trick.
I seen Uncle Trick."
Yeah, Uncle Trick is patrolling the street
'cause I'm not finna have it.
You ain't finna tear up my shit.
If you live in a neighborhood,
that's your community. You have a say‐so.
As people who want peace,
as people who are entitled to peace,
and as influencers, we have to be involved
with what's going on within our community.
NISSA: He got his own foundation,
Christian Anthony Mathis Foundation,
you know, help mothers and children with,
you know, bills, different things like that.
‐ In Detroit with Trick Trick, you know,
I saw him give back clothes to the‐‐to the homeless,
also feed the people within the community
literally by just putting groceries, uh,
bags in front of people's doors,
you know, and giving back. ‐ That's who Trick Trick is,
that guy.
ROYCE DA 5'9": Trick just got a certificate
from the United Nations yesterday.
He's literally in a picture
with diplomats from other countries.
He found out early on that he had leadership abilities,
and not only did he nurture that gift,
but he applied it in a way that, um,
it ended up being a good story instead of a bad one.
‐ Y'all getting this shit?
‐ What we gonna eat? I'm hungry. ‐ Come on in, please.
‐ I can't think on a empty stomach.
[laughter, chatter]
‐ I got, uh, my, uh,
United Nations Peace Ambassador shield,
so it's, like, uh, global,
go out of the country to do peace work, you know?
It's anti‐terrorism, anti‐war, anti‐human trafficking,
you know, shit we hate already, you know, anti‐poverty.
‐ Mm‐hmm. ‐ Right.
‐ You know, anti‐‐you know, these‐‐these kids out here
that it's fucked up that we have to keep
pulling up on all the time,
so that's‐‐what we do on a regular basis
is what constitutes a position
to hold such a prestigious honor.
‐ As a parent, when I look on the phone
and see my son standing in the midst of world dignitaries,
that's something I wish every parent could be proud of.
‐ Yeah. ‐ So the Peace Ambassador,
all I think of is, what's going on today with my big baby boy?
‐ Yeah. ‐ And we are so proud of him
as a son, a father, a grandfather.
‐ My man. ‐ He's amazing.
LESLYE: To me, he's at peace with himself,
being able to now go out into the community
and turn around the reputation that the people thought of him.
[indistinct chatter]
‐ Hello. Okay, can we get quiet?
Please can we get a little bit quiet?
PERSON: We live in a time in society
where it's important to connect with the people
that need our continued support the most, our youth.
BIG U: You know, I talk to kids right now today
on the verge of making those mistakes,
I just use my life and let them know,
like, you ain't gotta go down that road.
‐ People don't really care about if you lead them
until you feed them, and that's what Big U is doing,
and that's what all these leaders are doing in this room.
You can always look up to the Big Us and OGs,
but when you see that they care about you
and they really wanna help you get to that next level,
that's a paradigm shift, you know what I mean?
That's truly controlling our narrative and saying,
"Yo, you don't have to do the things that I did.
"You don't have to get locked up.
"I'm gonna make sure I take care of you.
"You can still be solid.
"You can still be, you know, from the hood and all of that,
but we gonna give you a different option."
Let me hear y'all say Developing Options.
ALL: Developing Options! BRANDY: ♪♪ LA ♪♪
JAMES FAUNTLEROY: ♪♪ Can't believe we found love ♪♪
♪♪ In the city of LA ♪♪
‐ You know, I came up with the idea of Developing Options
when I was in prison.
STACEY: He does gang intervention.
That's a part of Developing Options.
And he goes to meetings, and he meets with the mayor.
‐ Mr. Wack.
[applause]
WACK 100: One thing that got my attention,
maybe about seven or eight years ago,
I walked into Big U's office on 42nd and Crenshaw,
and there was a dude standing there that just did 20 years.
This dude was from Eight‐Trey Gangster,
archenemies of the Rollin' 60s,
and sitting down in front of Big U,
Big U was helping him fill out the application
so he can start doing the gang prevention in his section.
That meant something to me. ‐ I've been home 15 years now.
The gang violence in LA
is the lowest it's been since 1967.
‐ Wow. That's awesome.
‐ Know what I'm saying? Yeah. ‐ Yeah, that's awesome.
‐ Yeah. ‐ Yeah.
STACEY: His reputation of the past,
I don't think it's ever gonna go away,
but that kinda made him be a better person for today.
[dramatic music]
‐ You know another thing that was very fascinating,
that I had went to an event at the King Center.
When Dexter King came up to me and said,
"Don't ever stop doing what you do for us,"
I said, "You know me?" And he started laughing.
He said, "Who don't know you?"
WAKA: Like, being honored by Jesse Jackson,
that was incredible,
but it's crazy to see people honor you for things
that we didn't even know you get awards for.
‐ Jesse Jackson has honored me three times,
you know, in the work that I've done in the community,
the work I've done in the industry.
It's a man that was on my mom's wall
that I got to deal with.
WAKA: I watched my mother help single parents,
single home, abused children. She's feeding the homeless.
She was just, like, a‐‐ like, a fucking female Batman
for the community.
PRINCESS IVORI: So Debbie is a hustler.
She ain't trying to get over on nobody.
Debbie's main focus is always, "How can I help this person?
"How can I be the glue to help this person
achieve whatever goal or dream that they have?"
[indistinct chatter]
‐ Boom, boom, you should be just riding it.
‐ Right. ‐ In our pockets, in and out.
‐ Mm‐hmm. ‐ Then we slow down. Then...
My son, he's me all over in the making,
but he's more smarter with the music than me.
He actually put the beats together.
‐ [indistinct]. ‐ [singing indistinctly]
♪♪ ♪♪
‐ ♪♪ Yo, they only know my name now ♪♪
♪♪ 'Cause I'm the gunner in my gang now ♪♪
♪♪ Fishy niggas gonna hang now ♪♪
♪♪ I got these diamonds in my chain, wow ♪♪
♪♪ Sly niggas had never got a stain on me ♪♪
♪♪ No drought 'cause you know I keep the brain on me ♪♪
♪♪ Turnt up to the max ♪♪
♪♪ Got the pain on me ♪♪
♪♪ Came home genuine, I'm the same OG ♪♪
♪♪ ♪♪
BIMMY: You know, I had older guys,
like, Gs older than me help me,
so I feel as I'm supposed to do the same...
‐ Right. ‐ And keep it going,
you know what I mean, keep the cycle going.
CORY: When you speak about guys like Bimmy,
the truth is, they are hip hop.
There was no music platform for them to speak their voice.
Hip hop was created as a form of rhythmic poetry
for them to be expressive, for them to say what they felt.
[dramatic music] ♪♪ ♪♪
SNOOP DOGG: And I always brag on him.
When he first got out,
he wasn't like he is right now, with a suit on and all this,
leading meetings and being conversational.
That nigga real different, real different. ‐ Hang on.
SNOOP DOGG: The man that he became is rubbing off on me.
He's becoming a influence to me like my big brother.
That's what you're supposed to be.
Don't be my big brother and corrupt the community.
Uplift us and compliment me. ♪♪ ♪♪
BIG U: I wanna see successful Black boys.
I concentrate more on Black boys
because we are the most endangered species
on planet Earth.
We're the most looked over. We're the most hunted.
We're the most hated.
And I concentrate my effort there.
With all due respect to everybody else,
I wanna go help the ones who need the most help.
You taking a chance on me ten years ago
to be able to do a team in the Crenshaw League,
I wouldn't have been able to get everything off
that I've been able to do.
You brought football back to the hood.
You took a chance on a thug, man.
‐ Yeah, you did that, dog. ‐ You know what I mean?
‐ You did that. ‐ We ain't even finished.
We're not even finished. Y'all in college.
‐ School start Monday, so I ain't even had
to really face the world yet.
‐ Proud of y'all, though.
Y'all give me more energy to keep going
'cause I can say to the world that this is my class.
This is what I produced.
I'm fortunate enough to say that I've been instrumental
and helpful in getting hundreds of kids in and out of college.
‐ But you, you know, showing us how to
conduct ourselves in a business manner,
I chose to come and talk amongst people
whose dads are, you know, former senators
or former generals
just to enlighten them on the fact that,
you know, a young Black man from a rough background
can also make it here too.
‐ I have far more kids who are in college
and who are successful than I ever had this in prison
or on the streets just gangbanging. I can say that.
‐ He was supposed to be the worst gangbanger ever,
but look at him now. ♪♪ ♪♪
‐ Most high, we thank you for this space and this time.
We thank you for every mind and heart sitting at this table
who have the vision to create in our communities
the things that we need to be able to elevate ourselves,
our families, and our nation,
and it will be something that continues to grow
for all the children
to aspire to be greater than what they see today.
We thank you. In your name, we say ashe.
ALL: Ashe. ‐ That was beautiful, sister.
♪♪ ♪♪
PARLAE: The leadership in the hood,
people think that leader mean that you got the most money
or you got the most say‐so
or you tell somebody what to do.
That's not a leader.
A leader's a person who's willing to put themself
in the front in order to lead other people.
That's a leader.
‐ Those are the people in our communities
that are the unsung heroes. ‐ And who's doing that?
JAY: That is what's needed in our communities,
and a lot of times, we demonize the approach
and don't look into the value of them
being in those communities
'cause when you take those people out,
when you take those influences out,
chaos ensues.
‐ And then put the thumb up like that,
and then tilt your elbow like that.
There you go, neighbor. ‐ Oh, I love that. ♪♪ ♪♪
HAITIAN JACK: To be honest, I just woke up one day,
and they said I was a legend. I don't know who started it.
I don't know why it was said.
They just woke up and said, "Yo, Jack's a legend,"
and I go, "I thought you had to be dead to be a legend."
‐ We all have stories to tell.
That's the good thing about hip hop.
That's why it never dies,
'cause there's always a good story
right next door to you. ‐ Hip hop was healing to me.
I listen to they lyrics, and I listen to they struggle,
and I'll be like, "Damn, I came out of that."
I helped birth hip hop.
BIG U: I have saved lives. I have helped to make men.
It's not everybody who can say they came from where I came
and they're able to say that they helped other people.
I know God will let me in heaven on that.
NAS: ♪♪ They plan was to knock me out the top of the game ♪♪
♪♪ But I overstand they truth is all lame ♪♪
♪♪ I hold cannons that shoot balls of flame ♪♪
♪♪ Right in they fat mouth ♪♪
♪♪ Then I carve my name, Nas, too real ♪♪
♪♪ Nas, true king ♪♪
♪♪ It's however you feel, go ahead, you swing ♪♪
♪♪ Your arms too short to box with God ♪♪
♪♪ I don't kill soloists, only kill squads ♪♪
♪♪ Fame went to they head ♪♪
BIG U: We all did the streets.
The difference between me and Al Capone, Bugsy is,
I gave people they dreams.
NAS: ♪♪ I never asked to be top of rap's elite ♪♪
♪♪ Just a ghetto child trying to learn ♪♪
♪♪ The traps of the streets, but look at me now ♪♪
RODRIGUEZ: ♪♪ You're the man ♪♪
TRICK TRICK: Leaders ain't created.
They born. You is, or you ain't.
Understand leadership. It's important.
Watch who you following.
♪♪ ♪♪
NAS: ♪♪ Uh, uh ♪♪
♪♪ ♪♪
♪♪ Wait a sec, give me time to explain ♪♪
♪♪ Women and fast cars and diamond rings ♪♪
♪♪ Can poison a rap star ♪♪
♪♪ Was suicidal, high, smokin' so much lye ♪♪
♪♪ I saw a dead bird flying through a broken sky ♪♪
♪♪ Wish I could flap wings and fly away ♪♪
♪♪ To where Black kings in Ghana stay ♪♪
♪♪ So I can get old, my flesh rot away ♪♪
♪♪ But that'll be the day when it's peace ♪♪
♪♪ When my gat don't need to spray ♪♪
♪♪ When these streets are safe to play ♪♪
♪♪ .45 in my waist ♪♪
♪♪ Staring at my reflection in the mirror ♪♪
♪♪ Sitting still in the chair like Mike Concepcion ♪♪
♪♪ When everything around me got cloudy ♪♪
♪♪ The chair became a king's throne ♪♪
♪♪ My destiny found me ♪♪
♪♪ It was clear why the struggle was so painful ♪♪
♪♪ Metamorphosis, this is what I changed to ♪♪
♪♪ And, God, I'm so thankful. ♪♪
RODRIGUEZ: ♪♪ You're the man ♪♪
[dramatic music]
♪♪ ♪♪