"HOW LONG WILL THEY MOURN ME?"

By: Lael Bernard

May 6, 2019

Sunday March 31, 2019. The murder of Nipsey Hussle. I think it was childish. There really should be no reason where you dislike a person so much like they actually want you to die. This isn’t about what I think though, it's about what happened and what’s going to happen because of it. Life can be reproduce easily , but a person’s presence can’t. Killing someone because you have an issue with them doesn’t resolve anything. All you have is another dead body and more people angry with you, especially if it's someone famous. Nipsey had a family, fans, and was trying to do good in his community. Killing him only caused hurt. Taking someone’s life causes a different hurt than anything else. I wasn’t even a Nipsey fan and it’s sad that his death was what brought him to my attention. Since I try not to be a disrespectful person, I sent my condolences .Nipsey did a lot in his community and in the music industry. His death affected so many. I will fully stand by his fans in their time of grief. I choose the title “How Long Will They Mourn Me?” as tribute to two fallen Hip-Hop legends (Tupac and Nate Dogg) and because it poses a good question. How long will we mourn Nipsey?

Nipsey’s death will definitely affect his community in Crenshaw, since he was trying to empower and better it. But, will it affect the future of the music industry? I interviewed DJ Drama, a long time friend of Nipsey’s, to ask him about how he felt about the whole situation.

Drama: First off, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with listening to him now. I know a lot of people but Nipsey was one of the people I considered a friend. It hurt. He was a really good guy. I’ve known him for over a decade. No one had anything bad to say about him. I want to continue to keep his name alive. I worked with him on a couple of projects. My partnership with him will keep me in the loop of keeping his name alive. For this generation...every generation has its martyrs. Like I remember when Pac died.

A lot of people don’t want to compare them.

Drama: It’s comparable though.

People say it was different then but it’s not. You can’t differentiate them. We lost a lot. We need that to stop in our community.

What does it mean to “give flowers?”

Drama: We need to give more praise and be more vocal while people are alive. Each one teach one. It’s important everyday to think about it and be self aware of the people around you who you feel are important.

What artist should we appreciate more?

It’s important who you think - who do you all love? Post about your favorite artist or person in the community or your family. Whoever is around you and makes you feel important.

I also spoke with a number of staff here at HSES about his death would affect the music industry and many of them said the same thing, it wouldn’t. I asked the staff versus the students since they’ve been around longer than the students and they’ve been around when similar things happened. “The industry isn’t about the artist it's about the money.” When someone dies in the music industry it seems like everyone is devastated for a few days , but new content is still released, concerts are still being held, and everything goes the way it was before. Art imitates life and life moves on very fast.