Jose A. Del Real and Walter Thompson-Hernández

The memorial was billed as a “celebration of life” and began at 11 a.m. local time, an hour later than scheduled. The arena holds 21,000 people and was also the venue for Michael Jackson’s public memorial in 2009.

The service began with a live band playing “Right Hand 2 God,” one of Hussle’s songs. His voice boomed across the arena, and thousands of fans sprang to their feet to sing along, the bass from the speakers shaking the ground, giving the event the feel of a concert.

“This is a celebration. The marathon continues,” DJ Battlecat shouted over the loudspeaker.

The coffin, adorned with white and violet flowers, sat center stage. Three large photographs of Hussle were projected overhead on oversized television panels, rendered in hues of pink and blue. A thick wall of flowers, a piano and a harp on stage softened the atmosphere in the cavernous sports arena.

Angelique Smith, Hussle’s mother, stood up to the microphone dressed entirely in white, with a tulle veil covering part of her face. She spoke at length of her own spiritual beliefs, calling on Hussle’s ancestors to “lead him on his journey.”

“I know that we are divine creatures, we are all divinity within,” she said. “We don’t look to the sky for a God, God is within. I have perfect peace. I am happy, I am complete. I am strong, and if I can feel this way, so can you.”

With the help of Hussle’s father, Dawit Asghedom, Smith named several ancestors by name and led mourners in a call and response.

“We ask those ancestors to guide him in safe transit to his final resting place,” she said. “We are also asking for these ancestors to greet him.”

She spoke of a deep spiritual connection to her son, using his given name of Ermias. “He’s intelligent. He’s radiant. He’s a superhero,” she said.

As she spoke of her family’s troubles, she pleaded for hope.

“I want to tell you that we come from royalty and regality,” she said to loud applause. “I want to tell you that we are very loving and kind and spiritual race of people.” She added, “Our engine is on fire now. We’re burning but we’re not destroyed.”

In one especially poignant moment, Hussle’s partner Lauren London took the stage in a white dress and big black sunglasses, along with the rapper’s sister, Samantha, and their children. Kameron Carter, London’s son from a previous relationship with Lil Wayne, told of a dream he had a few days after Hussle’s death. “I was in paradise and I was playing in the ocean water when Ermias popped up right behind me,” he told the crowd. “I turned around and I yelled his name and I gave him a hug.”

The child continued, “I realized that Ermias told me what heaven was like — he told me it was paradise.”

When Hussle’s eldest child, Emani, turned her back to the crowd and opted not to speak, her younger brother, Kross, grabbed for the microphone. “Say, ‘I love you, Daddy,’” the family urged.

In a tribute, rapper Snoop Dogg said that he and Hussle were drawn to each other like magnets. He said that other up-and-coming artists often promise that “I’ll make you a million dollars.” Not Hussle; he knew his talent was about more than money: “He was a visionary.”

“Nipsey’s line was, ‘Hey homey, listen to my music, just give it a listen,’” Snoop Dogg recounted. “I didn’t grow up with Nip, in the neighborhood, but I watched him grow up in front of me.”

He praised Hussle for the unifying role he played in a culture sometimes marred by gang violence. “We’re going to respect another man from another neighborhood when he comes from where we come from,” Snoop Dogg said. “You are a peace advocate, Nip. That’s what you are.”

Before performing at the funeral, musician Stevie Wonder called for stronger gun regulations. People nodded along in the audience as he spoke.

“It is a heartbreak to again lose a member of our family. It is a heartbreak because it’s so unnecessary,” he said. “It is so painful to know that we don’t have enough people taking a position that says: Listen, we must have stronger gun laws.”

“It is unacceptable,” he added, in what was the most overtly political speech during the memorial. “It is almost like the world is becoming blind. I pray that we will grow and that the leaders who have responsibility to perpetuate life will do it by making sure that the laws will make it very hard for people to have guns and take their frustrations out to kill life.”

After his remarks he performed the song “Tears in Heaven.”

Before the service began, “Victory Lap,” the title track from Hussle’s Grammy-nominated album, played on loop as people sang along. The bound, glossy booklet handed out at the beginning of the service featured messages from Hussle’s family, hip-hop luminaries, public figures with ties to South Los Angeles and other prominent African Americans in the arts.

Former President Barack Obama sent a letter praising Hussle, which Karen Civil, a hip-hop media personality, read at the service. Obama said that he had heard Hussle’s music through his daughters.

“While most people look at the Crenshaw neighborhood where he grew up and see only gangs, bullets and despair, Nipsey saw potential,” the former president wrote. “He saw hope. He saw a community that even through its flaws taught him to always keep going.”

Many of the people in attendance waved Eritrean flags in the air while yelling, “We miss you, Nipsey.”

As the service drew to a close, a DJ played several songs from Hussle’s album, including “Hussle &amp; Motivate.” Attendees danced and rapped along, some chanting Hussle’s name as they left the arena toward the procession, which will run through South Los Angeles.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/us/nipsey-hussle-memorial.html" id="5b142eed-4344-3274-a433-4faad984873a">The New York Times</a>.

Nipsey Hussle's Memorial: Los Angeles Comes Together to Mourn

LOS ANGELES — The Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles was packed Thursday with thousands of mourners for the funeral of Nipsey Hussle, the Grammy-nominated rapper who was shot and killed in South Los Angeles, the same neighborhood where he grew up and was seen as a hero.

A procession was set to follow the two-hour memorial, where it was to snake through Watts, Inglewood and South Los Angeles, passing by the Marathon Clothing store that Hussle owned and where he was killed March 31.

A procession is set to follow the two-hour memorial, where it will snake through Watts, Inglewood and South Los Angeles, passing by the Marathon Clothing store that Hussle owned and where he was killed March 31.

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Jose A. Del Real and Walter Thompson-Hernández

Articles written by the author

Nipsey Hussle's Memorial: Los Angeles Comes Together to Mourn

Nipsey Hussle's Memorial: Los Angeles Comes Together to Mourn

Nipsey Hussle's Memorial: Los Angeles Comes Together to Mourn

Nipsey Hussle's Memorial: Los Angeles Comes Together to Mourn