The Nipsey Hussle public memorial, which will be held at Los Angeles’ Staples Center tomorrow morning, will be livestreamed on BET starting at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. The live, commercial-free coveragewill be anchored by BET News’ Marc Lamont Hill who will be joined by entertainment journalist Gia Peppers.
Tickets for the ceremony, which were free, sold out within minutes of being made available yesterday.
The 33-year-old Hussle (legal name: Ermias Asghedom) was murdered on March 31 in front of Marathon Clothing, one of several businesses he owned in his native South Los Angeles. Police on Tuesday arrested Eric Holder and Thursday filed charges of murder and attempted murder against him; he is being held on $5 million bail. He appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday afternoon, where he was represented by attorney Chris Darden. Darden entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
While Hussle was a Grammy-nominated rapper and a long-established figure on the hip-hop scene — he released his first mixtape in 2005 — his musical influence is overshadowed by his work as an entrepreneur and businessman, and particularly his influence on his home neighborhoods in South Los Angeles. He owned many businesses in the area and was renowned for his kindness to the community, giving jobs to struggling residents, donating money and clothing to a local elementary school.