Nipsey Hussle
UPDATE: Tragically, Nipsey Hussle was murdered in front of his Marathon clothing store in Los Angles in 2019.
One of rap’s newest rising stars Nipsey Hussle is fresh off releasing his critically acclaimed first major studio album “Victory Lap” and has now turned his focus is on creating a resource network for students in underserved communities nationwide. Nipsey and his partner David Gross a real estate developer created a STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, Math) center and co-working space in his native Crenshaw District called Vector 90. “Too Big to Fail” is the title of the STEM Center and is designed to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and the inner city and focus on the lack of diversity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Their hope is to serve as a conduit between underrepresented groups and corporate partners in Silicon Valley and beyond and the goal is to use resource networks and duplicate it in markets across the country. This is not only a power business move but a move that will affect change for generations to come.
Nipsey is the owner of the fashion brand Marathon Clothing. His flagship brick and mortar store in the Crenshaw Boulevard District where it’s labeled as a “smart store” where customers use a phone app to enhance their buying experience and preview exclusive content from Nipsey himself. This app was created by a 21year old young black man Iddris Sandu who has written algorithms for Instagram, Snap Chat, Twitter and the collaboration between himself and Nipsey was to blend technology into the fabric of the shop and create an unbelievable buying experience. Labeled at the first “smart store” in the country the plan is the build 10 other locations with each store having its own driven strategy. Nipsey being a young music veteran doing big business and creating a template for others to follow in retail along with empowering younger black men to participate in the process.
