A look back:
April 2019: On the last day of March 2019, like an April Fool’s Day misstep, news spread that Nipsey Hussle had been gunned down just a few paces from the intersection of Crenshaw and Slauson in Los Angeles - and just a couple of miles from the place I call home. My body reacted to the news of his passing in noticeable ways. I carried varying degrees of heaviness and tension for some time afterwards, and I reckon folks mourning his death all across Los Angeles have done the same.
I often think about the physiological responses of the bodies of those touched so deeply by the artist. The Crenshaw community has lost an advocate and salient source of sustenance. Hip hop heads will re-play his music in mixed emotional states, juggling the simultaneous catharsis and grief spilling from their headphones. Young entrepreneurs have lost a role model. Some will hear echoes of loved one’s pleas to move about South Central Los Angeles safely, for an untimely demise at the hands of an enemy may potentially await. Some were legitimately traumatized at the news of Nip’s passing. And our bodies register it all.
I’ve been drawn more to yin yoga during this season. It’s only recently that I noticed, but I’ve been swapping out intense flows for deep and intense stretches in my home practice, finding a sensational refuge in pigeon pose similar to the respite of Nipsey’s music; to the empathetic bars that validate a gritty yet triumphant South Central upbringing. In yin, I feel those sensations that I might otherwise glide over. You’re moving differently. I'm compelled to wonder: would these principles benefit the collective? To move more mindfully. More slowly. Face forward and head on. Whether on the mat or otherwise.
March 30, 2021: Crenshaw and Slauson is changing. The intersection's soulful energy feels like its been siphoned by the city, on reserve for the newfangled locomotive making it's way to Crenshaw. Or so they say. There's been years of construction, destruction, and major disruptions along the corridor. 3420 W Slauson Boulevard is encased by a ragged tarp and fence, such that it shields passersby from the concrete stained with our hero's blood, and from the life's work that is that hero's legacy. Bodies holding onto grief have most certainly had their tensions amplified by the state of the world throghout the past two years.
Nevertheless, Nip's music still springs forth from rattling car stereos and house party sound system set-ups. Murals around the city remind us of Hussle's effervescence. Though much has changed in two years, Nipsey's influence is still strong. His presence is still felt in LA. We're still taking about, writing about, and modeling aspect of our lives after Nip. Crenshaw and Slauson been changing.
I feel like I got to tell you you got something to contribute
Regardless what you into, regardless what you been through
I feel like I got to tell you you got something to contribute
Something to contribute
So face the world now...
-Nipsey Hussle, "Face the World"