In the aftermath of Nipsey Hussle’s tragic murder, much of the music world’s attention has been focused on the hunt for—and subsequent capture of—the person who allegedly pulled the trigger. But it’s worth remembering why so many people care so deeply about Nipsey’s life and death, and what first drew many of us to him: his music. Nipsey Hussle progressed from an important local voice to a Grammy-nominated international star in a little over a decade. Below is a timeline of his music career’s biggest and most important moments.
December, 2005: First mixtape, ‘Slauson Boy Vol. 1’
August and December, 2008: ‘Bullets Ain’t Got No Name’
December 16, 2008: First single(s)
November, 2009: Drake collaboration
April, 2010: XXL Freshman
October, 2010: First Billboard appearance
December, 2010: Leaves Epic
December 21, 2010: ‘The Marathon’
February 25, 2012: Hot 100 chart success
June 26, 2012: MMG?
October 15, 2013: Proud2Pay
March 30, 2016: F*** Donald Trump
November, 2017: Partnership with Atlantic
February 16, 2018: ‘Victory Lap’ released
December 7, 2018: A Grammy nod
February 15, 2019: The final single
March 28, 2019: Video shoot
John Legend, Nipsey, and DJ Khaled spent what turned out to be the last Thursday of Nipsey’s life filming a video for what Legend called “a beautiful new song.” Not much is known about the track beyond its existence at this point, except that it is supposed to appear on Khaled’s next project, Father of Asahd. Khaled shared what appeared to be several photos from the set.