Nipsey Hussle

Nipsey Hussle: Was he a victim of the ‘crabs in a barrel’ mentality?

It was a special Sunday at first, I woke up and called my sister to wish her a happy birthday. As usual, she answered the phone in such a blissful mood, 24 is a big number!

My Sunday went back to regular after that. I put my music on, turned on my NBA 2K19 and got in my zone. Then everything got weird. In the background, coincidentally I got a notification from Hip-Hop Daily while my favorite song, “Double Up” came on.

As usual, I sang along with the chorus, “Double up, three or four times, I ain't tellin no lies, I just run it up. Never let a hard time humble us,” as I picked up my phone to read the notification.

The notification read, “Rapper Nipsey Hussle shot 6 times, rushed to the hospital but pronounced dead a few moments later.”

My heart dropped, I never felt that way about a celebrity before, thoughts ran through my head.

“They always do this when a black man is doing big things for their community,” I immediately thought. Then other thoughts came rushing in. “They only killed him because he was about to release the truth and expose the government about Dr. Sebi’s cure for AIDS. They didn’t want him to release the documentary so they killed him.”

“Them” is perceived to be another black man. According to reports, Nipsey Hussle, who was going to congratulate his friend for making it home at his storefront in L.A., had gotten in a confrontation with another man. Words were exchanged and the alleged suspect left, but came back firing bullets, killing the rapper.

This story has saddened fans around the world, with many suspecting the shooter was just another “hater” mad at a man’s success. Which leads me into this question, why do you think we still sometimes have the “crabs in a barrel mentality?”

Jabari Sherman, an editor for the TSU Herald, said, “People only like you if it is beneficial. Once they see you’re doing better than them, they find any way to take that away in secret. It is sad that it is like that, especially in this community, but if it happened to Nipsey Hussle, someone who has never been in the media for a negative light, then who can it not happen to?”

Though I disagree with it being specifically in the black community, I felt Sherman made a lot of sense. These types of things can happen to anyone.

Professor Koo, an Asian-American instructor at TSU, had a different perspective.

“I think it depends on the individual’s integrity, some individuals don’t want to work hard and get it like others do, so they will rather take it any way they can. It might be personal belongings or it might be the other person’s happiness, whichever is making the envious person more jealous,” Koo said.

To me, this is a harsh reality of my generation. Sad, but true.