Rick Ross has honored the late Nipsey Hussle on his birthday, saluting the slain rapper as ahead of his time and peers.
On Thursday (August 15), what would’ve been Nipsey’s 39th birthday, the MMG mogul took a moment to pay tribute to his late collaborator who was tragically killed in March 2019.
“Today my boy Nipsey Hussle would have been 39 years old. The marathon continues,” Rozay said in a video posted on his Instagram Stories.
“Salute to Blacc Sam, the whole TMC family, the squad,” he continued, shouting out Nipsey’s brother and business partner. “It’s not many people who woulda held that empire up and made sure it elevated the way it has.
“I’m sure Nip, he’s smiling. He was a legend, he was way advanced, way too advanced for lame n-ggas, slow n-ggas. That boy was on some other shit, 10 years ago. So you know what it is, man.”
Ross signed off by encouring his followers to stream Nipsey’s 2010 mixtape The Marathon in his memory.
Rick Ross and Nipsey Hussle’s relationship was one of mutual respect and admiration, not to mention plenty of musical collaborations.
The Biggest Bawse first joined Crenshaw’s finest on 2012’s “Proud of That,” which led to a number of other songs together including “The Weather,” “A Hunnid a Show,” “Fountain of Youth,” “Rich N-gga Lifestyle” and “Mark My Words.”
Rozay even tried to lure Nipsey to his Mayback Music Group imprint in 2013 following the release of the West Coast rapper’s $100 Crenshaw mixtape.
“Me and Rick Ross sat down and talked and he made it clear that he can make the deal that I need,” Neighborhood Nip told Complex. “And I told him that I don’t need money; I need a partnership, I need a marketing machine and I need international distribution for my product.
“Ross fought tooth and nail to make that happen for me. I respect him and salute him for that, but then we ran into the corporate structure of these companies. And again, it offended me, because here you have one of the most powerful, respected n-ggas in the game about to make a power move that’s going to incite the culture and they want us to be the ones that compromise.
He added: “They should be the ones to compromise for the culture so this thing can happen. We’re not supposed to compromise and that’s what they said. They said, ‘Just be happy with the fame. You’re gonna be the biggest n-gga out of the West,’ and all this other shit. Sell that to a ho, my n-gga. I’m a man.”
