Writer: Taylor Johnson
Album: Nipsey Hussle- Crenshaw (2013)
I love hip hop. And I’m a child of the 90s. G Funk will always have a little bit of my heart and soul. Since Nate Dogg died, it hasn’t been the same. Rumblings of the “New Golden Era” of hip hop are stirring, and while I cannot fully agree, there are a ton of phenomenal lyricists and producers holding it down these days. Crooked I and Kendrick are two of my top alive right now. Just below them on my New West list, is one, Mr. Nipsey Hussle. Nipsey combines classic attack rap of his NWA predecessors with some of the laid back, juice n’ gin sippin G Funk forefathers (heavier on the gangster, than the funk). When most of the rap world was talking about Pusha T’s MNIMN on October 8th, Nipsey released his sixth mixtape, Crenshaw.
His Bullets Ain’t Got No Name three-part mixtape series in 2008 and 2009 truly put his name on the hip hop scene. Those three free pieces and he earned himself a place among XXL’s “Freshman Top Ten of 2010.” He followed it up with The Marathon and The Marathon Continues, all are among the best the west has produced of late. Check out Hussle in the House, Ridin Slow, They Roll, and Love? for a more complete Nipsey experience. In all honesty, this is one of my least favorite of his records. Two things to note, however:
A man who has historically stayed “blue’d up from the boot up” with implied and clear connections to the Crips decided to go all red on the label of Crenshaw. To some such color pallet choices are less significant. For those who are so closely connected to LA’s gangs, clearly this was a statement.
mixtapes are free. Artists get to take chances that would make their labels cringe, beats are sampled and reused with no repercussions, and many hip hop artists make a name for themselves through this trade. Nipsey sold Crenshaw for $100 apiece. Well, he did offer free downloads for the fans, but also sold hard copy discs for $100 online and at a pop-up shop in LA. Nipsey made $100,000 off Crenshaw’s sales less than 24 hours after its release. Jay-Z threw in some pocket change to buy 100 copies of the tape, but Nipsey’s people showed they are willing to pay (excessively) for the music he’s given away for free in the past. This concept is part of his Proud2Pay campaign. In an ever-evolving market for musicians, he’ll be using the funds of the mixtape will fund his first full-length album, Victory Lap. More important is what this mixtape represents, his killer five year run, and finding a way to display an entrepreneurial, authentic voice amongst an array of gangster-wannabees and homogeneous hip hop. The marathon continues.
Favorite Track: Summertime in the Cutlass — It’s something to vibe to.
