Street art of Nipsey Hussle in LA breathes life into legacy

Along busy highways, on the sides of buildings and inside a school basketball court, more than 50 colorful murals of Nipsey Hussle have popped up in Los Angeles since the beloved rapper and community activist was gunned down outside his clothing store.

Some show the rapper gazing into the sky or bowing his head. One has him standing with angel wings. Others include inspiring quotes. The street artists who created the work said they want his legacy to grow and his entrepreneurial spirit to live on.

"He wasn't the biggest star, but I knew his music. His passing led me to rediscover him under a completely new light," said Levi Ponce, who created an elaborate blue, black and white mural on 26-foot-building with Hussle's image in one day. A lyric from his song "Victory Lap" was written above his head.

In this April 17, 2019 photo, mural artist Levi Ponce poses for photos in front of a mural he dedicated to slain rapper Nipsey Hussle in Los Angeles. More than 50 colorful murals of Hussle have popped up in Los Angeles since the beloved rapper and community activist was gunned down outside his clothing store. (AP PhotoJae C. Hong)

Hussle was fatally shot on March 31 while standing outside The Marathon, his South Los Angeles clothing store, not far from where he was raised.

"As a muralist, my philosophy is that we can do our part today with what we have now," Ponce said. "In my case, I'm a painter and paint in the streets. Nipsey was able to give it on a greater scale. He went out of his way to help the community. For me, that's motivation and inspiration. So I had to get my paint on the walls right away after hearing the sad news."

Eric R. Holder Jr., who has been charged with killing Hussle, has pleaded not guilty. Police have said Holder and Hussle had several interactions the day of the shooting and have described it as being the result of a personal dispute.

In this April 17, 2019 photo, mural artist Gustavo Zermeno Jr. walks on a basketball court mural he dedicated to slain rapper Nipsey Hussle in Los Angeles. More than 50 colorful murals of Hussle have popped up in Los Angeles since the beloved rapper and community activist was gunned down outside his clothing store. (AP PhotoJae C. Hong)

The death of the 33-year-old Hussle sent a shock wave through the hip-hop community and beyond. Fans poured out adoration for a man whose career hit new heights with "Victory Lap," his first studio album that earned a Grammy nomination after he released much sought-after mixtapes for a decade. He was an up-and-coming rapper and beloved figure for his philanthropic work that went well beyond the usual celebrity "giving back" ethos.

After he passed away, Hussle's peers, from Jay-Z to Snoop Dogg, along with political and community leaders, were quick and effusive in their praise using words. For Ponce and others, paint was how they paid homage.

"The world is uniting because of him. You can see the revival of all the murals going up," said Nick Ansom, CEO of the Venice Basketball League. He spearheaded a project to create the Nipsey Hussle Memorial Basketball Court at the nonprofit charter school Crete Academy, a few blocks from Hussle's clothing store.

In this April 17, 2019 photo, Carmen Rodriguez takes photos of artist Levi Ponce's mural of slain rapper Nipsey Hussle in Los Angeles. More than 50 colorful murals of Hussle have popped up in Los Angeles since the beloved rapper and community activist was gunned down outside his clothing store. (AP PhotoJae C. Hong)

The basketball court is painted blue with a checkerboard border and a side view of Hussle at midcourt.

Ansom said he felt the urge to push forward the initiative to create a basketball court mural in honor of Hussle as a "thank you" to the rapper who he says was "starting to reach his peak." He and his partner, Michael McLeod, drove around South Los Angeles looking for possible schools before Crete Academy founder-principal Hattie Mitchell agreed to embrace the idea.

Afterward, Ansom drew his vision for the mural on paper and called artist Gustavo Zermano Jr. to design it. He said about 40 people gathered to paint and touch up the mural in a week's time frame. Hussle's father and sister attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil it just days after the rapper's public memorial service, which drew more than 20,000 people to Staples Center.

"Nipsey was an advocate and passionate (about) the game (of basketball)," said Ansom, who started his basketball league in 2006 after he moved to Los Angeles from France. He called himself a big fan of Hussle's music and visited his clothing store to purchase apparel.

"He used to host charity games at Crenshaw High School," he said. "He was always around the game. (This mural) is hip-hop, basketball and art all in one."

Before Zermano helped create Hussle's basketball court mural, he had already done some street art of the rapper elsewhere in town. He painted a mural of Hussle in between other popular Los Angeles figures including Lakers player LeBron James and Snoop Dogg on the side of a clothing store.

When Ansom asked for his help, Zermano said it was a "no brainer." The muralist feels he's just doing his part to celebrate Hussle by doing both for free.

"It's bigger than just painting a mural," said Zermano, who has also created murals of the late Mac Miller and Selena. "A lot of the murals are solidifying Nipsey's legacy."

Mitchell shed tears while talking about Hussle's positive influence over her students at Crete Academy and the community. She was not only taken aback by the mural at her school, but also by the many others around town.

"These murals are popping up every day," she said. "There are photos that are truly memorializing this man. Most people are coming here to take photos with their family and etc. But I saw an individual who didn't have his phone out. He had his shoulders up, his head down. At that moment, I truly realized that our memorial in our court is somewhat of a gravesite. ... It's a place where you can remember someone, feel their spirit and grieve."

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrLandrum31

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)