Nipsey Hussle’s Victory Lap album has transpired into a modern-day rap classic years after its release. Especially on the West Coast.
During the Golden State Warriors 2018 championship run, living NBA legend Stephen Curry was able to sit down with the Crenshaw rapper for his “5 Minutes From Home” YouTube series to discuss the landmark Hip Hop album.
To celebrate the release of his new podcast on Audible, Fifteen Minutes From Home on Thursday (December 9), HipHopDX has unearthed a never-before-heard portion of the 2018 interview that digs deep into the album. While chilling outside the Oracle Arena, Neighborhood Nip broke down why Victory Lap stood as his life’s work at the time.
“I’m proud of that album,” Nipsey Hussle admitted to Chef Curry. “It was a lot of blood, sweat, heavy, critical expectations for each one of those records. I think over time it’ll reflect how much was put into those songs. And I think the album will have legs and stand the test of the time.”
Released in February 2018 to an instantaneous 4.⅘ album rating, energetic records such as “Keys 2 The City 2,” “Grinding All My Life” and the YG-assisted “Last Time That I Checc’d” packed on pure California Hip Hop flavor the entire world would go on to enjoy down the line.
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The blockbuster album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 — peaking in April 2019 at No. 2 — and would go to be certified platinum in January 2020, eight months after he was tragically murdered in Los Angeles.
Nipsey understood the uphill battle to make it in Hip Hop and even likened his path to that of Steph Curry’s.
“I’m sure in your own way you can relate to looking at basketball, from not being a professional, just being a young kid with a dream and being somebody that got a passion for the game and then looking at we’re you’re standing now,” Nipsey Hussle explained. “ And for you to tell that story and to flashback to that young version of yourself and re-identify with those emotions — that’s how I look at the album.
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The decision to pick up the microphone was Nipsey’s way to let his voice ring out, whether it be rap nerd conversations or philanthropic strides in the community.
“I wanted to be a rapper,” he continued. “I wanted to speak on a platform. And all the process to get here, that shit wasn’t no straight line. It was ups and downs and setbacks. I would assume as an athlete, you deal with injuries, politics in sports but when you get to where you’re going and take a moment to step back, that’s what I look at [Victory Lap] as. The reflection.”
Tune into Stephen Curry’s Fifteen Minutes from Home on Audible here. This season’s guests include Kevin Hart, E-40, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, the late Nipsey Hussle, Kane Brown and many more.
