Before his untimely death, Nipsey Hussle was well on his way to superstardom. Nipsey began making a name for himself on the West Coast Hip Hop scene in the mid-2000s. Hussle independently released his first mixtape, Slauson Boy Volume 1, in 2005, which led to him being signed to Cinematic Music Group and Epic Records. His mixtape Crenshaw was priced at $100 per copy and JAY-Z bought 100 copies. His debut studio album, Victory Lap, was released in 2018 to critical acclaim and commercial success and was nominated for the Best Rap Album at the 61st Grammy Awards in 2019. On March 31, 2019, Hussle was killed in the parking lot of his store, Marathon Clothing.