L.A. to name intersection after Nipsey Hussle as family holds private memorial service
The Los Angeles City Council adjourned its regular meeting Friday in memory of Nipsey Hussle after approving a motion to rename the South L.A. intersection of Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard in honor of slain rapper Nipsey Hussle. The motion to rename the intersection was prompted by a Change.org petition that got nearly 500,000 signatures, CBS Los Angeles reports.
City Councilman Marqueece Harris Dawson, a friend of Hussle's, introduced the motion to rename the Crenshaw-Slauson intersection as "Ermias 'Nipsey Hussle' Asghedom Square."
Fans of the performer filled the chamber Friday and expressed their support for the motion, as members Hussle's family, including his father, Dawit Asghedom, looked on.
The intersection is the closest to The Marathon Clothing store, where the 33-year-old Grammy-nominated rapper was shot to death in the parking lot on March 31.
Hussle's family and friends gathered Friday for a private funeral on a day when the slain rapper was also honored by his hometown of Los Angeles.
Hussle was buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills in an afternoon service.
The sprawling cemetery in northern Los Angeles between Griffith Park and Burbank is, as the name would suggest, the final resting place of much Hollywood royalty, including Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Liberace and David Carradine.
The small ceremony stood in contrast to a giant celebration a day earlier of the 33-year-old Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom. About 20,000 people flocked to a public memorial for Hussle a day earlier at Staples Center.
Afterward, thousands more lined the streets as the recently anointed hometown hero, his casket draped in the flag of his father's native country, Eritrea in East Africa, embarked on a 25-mile tour of the city.
Eric R. Holder Jr., who has been charged with killing Hussle, has pleaded not guilty. Police have said Holder and Hussle had several interactions the day of the shooting and have described it as being the result of a personal dispute.
Hussle's family and dozens of fans were at the meeting, which also adjourned in his honor, before heading to the burial service.
For a decade, Hussle released much sought-after mixtapes that he sold out of the trunk of his car, helping him create a buzz and gain respect from rap purists and his peers.
Last year, Hussle hit new heights with "Victory Lap," his critically acclaimed major-label debut album on Atlantic Records that earned him a Grammy nomination.
On Thursday, in the first celebrity memorial at Staples Center since Michael Jackson's nearly a decade ago, some of people who knew Hussle best, from his actress-fiancée Lauren London, dear friend Snoop Dogg and mother shared personal stories about the rapper during a three-hour service.
When it was over, London revealed a fresh tattoo of Hussle on her forearm, writing in an Instagram post that "Real Love Never Dies" and that from now on "When you see me, you will always see him."
