Among the many remarkable things that legendary rapper Nipsey Hussle accomplished in his illustrious life, he had scheduled a meeting on Capitol Hill to advocate for black businesses.
Unfortunately, his meeting never materialized because Nipsey was gunned down in front of his Marathon Clothing store on March 31 in South Los Angeles. Reputed gang member Eric Holder has been charged with his murder.
In honor of Nipsey, Rapper T.I. and radio personality Charlamagne tha God went ahead and followed through on the meeting. Along with Nipsey’s business partner David A. Gross, they sat down with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss coming up with ways to rebuild underprivileged areas through opportunity zones.
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“Everybody knows that Nipsey was pretty much the founder of the idea to bring everyone together who, you know, may individually be able to do great things and make a significant impact on their own in their communities,” T.I. told The Hill. “But for us to come together, we can impact so, so many more communities and spread our efforts so much wider.”
Also, Los Angeles City councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, and others met up at Capitol Hill to conduct the meeting Nipsey would have attended.
Meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, T.I. and Charlamagne discussed coming up out of opportunity zones and what it means to them.
“I was born in an opportunity zone, and I’ve been making significant investments and contributions to the community that I have called home for all my life that is now zoned as an opportunity zone,” T.I. said, according to The Hill.
Charlamagne was explicitly clear why this is important. “I don’t want to be just another gentrifier that comes in, gets rich, buys these communities and pushes these people out.”
