Music journalist Rob Kenner is the first to tell Nipsey Hussle's full story in “The Marathon Don’t Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle” released on March 23rd.
Nipsey Hussle Biography The Marathon Don’t Stop
The first book to hit the market is “The Marathon Don’t Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle.” Written by the respected ex-Vibe magazine writer and editor Rob Kenner, the nearly 400-page biography sets itself a high bar: chronicle the artist’s life from cradle to grave — from his initiation into gang life to his sprawling mixtape catalog; from a three-month trip to his father’s native Eritrea to his fairy-tale union with the L.A. actor Lauren London. There are brief detours to explain redlining in the Crenshaw District and the historical brutality of the Los Angeles Police Department. Kenner has provided a thorough and well-researched history that hits the right notes and captures the essence of what made Hussle so significant.
The Marathon Don't Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle
By Rob Kenner Atria: 448 pages, $27
Written by Rashad Grove
Noted music journalist and author Rob Kenner, in his latest book The Marathon Don’t Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle, gives the first biographical account of Nipsey’s transformative legacy. Kenner’s in-depth analysis of Nispey’s life reveals the makings of a legend and the events that made Nipsey Hussle a worldwide icon.
The cottage industry of Hussle-core has only just begun. There are multiple podcasts set to launch about his life and legacy (full disclosure: I have been interviewed for two of them), as well as a family-sanctioned Ava DuVernay documentary slated to air on Netflix, reportedly after a high-eight-figure bidding war. As with the deification of Biggie and 2Pac, Hussle’s death will inevitably produce multiple gospels. An acquaintance in publishing remarked that she had heard of no less than nine Nipsey Hussle book proposals.
There wasn’t anyone entirely like the South L.A.-raised rapper born Ermias Asghedom. Hussle was killed March 31, 2019, in front of his Marathon Clothing store, the anchor of the neighborhood corner mall in front of which he had once hawked mixtapes — and which he now owned. It’s the type of ghoulishly scripted American dream-turned-nightmare this nation has sadly mastered. In many respects, Hussle was the ideal candidate for sanctification: a self-made, politically shrewd, warm-hearted rap mogul from working-class Crenshaw and Slauson. A Rollin’ 60s Crip determined to overturn crudely racist stereotypes about both gangbangers and rappers. A street-certified folk hero who could lucidly explain the tax incentives of investing in an economic opportunity zone. He died at 33.