Hip-hop heads found a new appreciation for Nipsey Hussle after his death.
Streams of Hussle’s music increased by 1,773% on Sunday and Monday, according to Billboard. His songs collected 101.5 million audio and visual streams. His music reportedly had just 5.4 million streams between Friday and Saturday.
“Racks in the Middle” and “Dedication” earned the most streams with 11.8 million and 9.6 million, respectively.
Hussle died on Sunday when he was shot multiple times outside of his clothing store.
Prayers for Nipsey Hussle. Pull through Big Homie. ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/KLzYJybAWt
— BagSzn Ent. (@sznent) March 31, 2019
Victory Lap, Nip’s first and only album with a major label, is expected to score a top 10 spot on the Billboard 200 list. The album peaked at No. 4 in March 2018.
Famously independent, Hussle owned all of his masters and maintained complete control over his All Money In label after entering a partnership with Atlantic Records.
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“Royalties, publishing, plus I own masters/ I'll be damned if I slave for some white crackers,” he rapped on “Dedication.”
Hussle wanted to avoid the pitfalls many artists encounter with the business side of the music industry.
“As an artist, there's a business model that exists in the music industry to prevent you from having ownership, to prevent you from being a partner in the lion's share of the profit,” he told Mass Appeal in March. “The value is created in content, so when I think of us as hip-hop artists, we create content, but we don't have a wide product line.”
The man reportedly responsible for Hussle’s death is currently in police custody, as Blavity previously reported. TMZ reports Eric Holder is being held in solitary confinement due to safety concerns. A judge set his bond at $7 million.
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