Newsletter: Today: A Rapper Whose Dreams Were Bigger Than Hip-Hop
After finding success as a rapper and entrepreneur, Nipsey Hussle was killed in the South L.A. community he helped build up.
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A Rapper Whose Dreams Were Bigger Than Hip-Hop
To those who knew him, Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle was a pillar in his South L.A. community. He once gave a pair of shoes to every student at an elementary school in Hyde Park, where he owned a burger joint, a fish market and a barbershop. He helped reopen a beloved Mid-City roller rink. And last year, Hussle, who made no secret of his early life in a street gang, opened a co-working space in the Crenshaw district designed to call attention to the lack of diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. On Sunday, he was killed, shot in broad daylight outside his clothing store in a burst of gunfire that police say left two other people wounded. In the hours afterward, authorities continued to search for clues, hundreds of people gathered at the site to mourn, and celebrities in Hollywood and sports paid their respects online. Ominously, shortly before his death, Hussle posted on Twitter: “Having strong enemies is a blessing.” As The Times’ Gerrick Kennedy writes, the 33-year-old had a vision much larger than music.
Questions About ‘Uncle Joe’
Former Vice President Joe Biden hasn’t joined the crowded field of Democrats looking to become president, but already he finds himself responding to allegations that he kissed and touched a woman without her consent in 2014. Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state representative, wrote in a recent article that Biden kissed the back of her head and placed his hands on her shoulders at a political rally. Biden says he does not believe he has ever acted inappropriately toward Flores or other women. He also described “expressions of affection,” including handshakes and hugs, as part of his public repertoire. The White House appears to relish the controversy, despite President Trump’s own record of improprieties, including the sexually explicit “Access Hollywood” tape.
More Politics
-- California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker spoke at a high-profile gay rights gala in Los Angeles, with each offering some jabs at Trump over LGBTQ rights.
-- Silicon Valley’s standing in presidential politics has fallen many notches amid big-tech privacy intrusions, platform vulnerability to election interference and perceived corporate excess.
-- Trump plans to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to three Central American countries, as he threatens to close the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile, Fox News has apologized for an on-screen gaffe that said, “Trump cuts U.S. aid to 3 Mexican countries.”
Another Dark Day at the Track
Another horse has died at Santa Anita, marking the 23rd such fatality at the racetrack since the day after Christmas. The horse, Arms Runner, fell on the dirt crossover portion of the hillside turf course during Sunday’s feature race, the San Simeon Stakes, and was euthanized. Despite extensive testing of the dirt course, it’s not yet clear what’s behind the increase in horse deaths. Santa Anita had just reopened on Friday after being shuttered since March 4.
Relinquishing Their Trappings
Commercial fur trapping once brought international commerce to the San Francisco Bay Area well before the 1848 Gold Rush. Today, anti-fur laws in California abound, and many old trappers are calling it quits. Even the president of the National Trappers Assn.’s California chapter says he’s long past the point of arguing when people call the practice barbaric: “My association is not fighting back because trapping is a dead horse in California, and there isn’t a dad gum thing we can do about it.”
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OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND
-- The bizarre story of the L.A. dad who exposed the college admissions scandal.
-- The $69-million Coliseum naming-rights deal between USC and United Airlines is in limbo.
-- Ly Tong, a fighter pilot who became known as the “Vietnamese James Bond” and an anti-communist folk hero, is dying of liver disease.
-- The Lakers, eliminated from playoff contention, have shut down LeBron James to let him fully heal from a groin injury. Columnist Bill Plaschke calls James’ first season as a Laker “a complete bust.”
-- Get started on your emergency kit. A pro tells us the four items you need.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
On this date in 1993, more than 1,000 people flocked to Montgomery Field in San Diego after being told by a radio station deejay that they could witness a once-in-a-lifetime experience: the landing of the space shuttle Discovery. Never mind that the runway was too small and located in a densely populated neighborhood. The announcement was, of course, an April Fools’ joke. No space shuttle flight was even scheduled at the time. And in all its trips to California, the space shuttles always landed at Edwards Air Force Base in the desert.
CALIFORNIA
-- The state has spent $121 million of the gas tax revenue on bridge and culvert projects so far, completing the repair or replacement of 89 bridges. But some elected officials are saying work isn’t happening quickly enough.
-- The wife of a man who was seriously hurt at Dodger Stadium after being beaten in a parking lot fight early Saturday is pleading with the public for help in capturing the attackers.
-- With ride-hailing drivers fuming over low pay, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is taking some heat for celebrating Lyft’s debut as a publicly traded company.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- Tim Burton’s re-envisioning of “Dumbo” topped the box office, despite weaker-than-expected numbers. The 1941 original film, though, arguably was Disney’s most important blockbuster.
-- A reboot of “The Twilight Zone” begins streaming today on CBS All Access. The producers had to do some persuading to get Jordan Peele, of “Get Out” and “Us” fame, to join the show as the latter-day Rod Serling.
-- Speaking of “Us,” we looked at some of the crazy internet theories about the movie’s ending. Yes, there are plenty of spoilers in this piece.
-- Writers Guild of America members have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new code of conduct that would curb the use of packaging fees and other industry practices. It deepens the divide between Hollywood writers and their agents.
NATION-WORLD
-- A University of South Carolina student thought she was getting into her Uber ride. Instead, police say, she got into the wrong car and was killed.
-- In Syria, tens of thousands of children who fell under the sway of Islamic State, and even more out of school because of years of civil war, are in dire need of education.
-- In Ukraine, a comedian who plays an accidental president on TV was leading all candidates for the real job, as exit polls showed him poised to advance to a runoff in the presidential election.
-- India is about to hold the biggest election in history. How big? Here are the key numbers.
BUSINESS
-- Gavin de Becker, a security consultant for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says Saudi Arabia had access to Bezos’ phone and acquired his personal data and photos.
-- How he made it: Radha Arora started in a hotel laundry room and now runs a luxury resort chain.
SPORTS
-- This NCAA Final Four in men’s college basketball has a bunch of keepers: There are no one-and-done players left.
-- The Dodgers’ relentless offense helped them erase a pitching disaster in an 8-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
OPINION
-- Obamacare didn’t implode, as Trump said it would, so now he is trying to blow it up.
-- Has Marie Kondo led us astray on decluttering?
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- “The day the dinosaurs died”: A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of one of the most significant events in the history of life on Earth. (The New Yorker)
-- “The Matrix” came out 20 years ago. In today’s risk-averse Hollywood, it might never have been made. (The Atlantic)
-- Voyage to the bottom of the sea: How New York City subway cars became artificial reefs. (Atlas Obscura)
ONLY IN L.A.
At the OB Bear restaurant in Koreatown, the food is tasty, the regulars are close-knit, and the Dodgers are beloved. It’s one of columnist Frank Shyong’s favorite places: “a seemingly anonymous space that actually has a very specific story if you care to learn it.” And yet, “I’m a stranger here, and I’ve learned to be OK with that. It’s a feeling we might as well get used to in a city that overflows with the cultures of the world.”
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