Steve Lopez: Nipsey Hussle was a symbol of hope to a neighborhood. Now he is a cautionary tale
Near the spot where homegrown South L.A. rapper Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed Sunday afternoon, Louis Aikens had two reasons to mourn the loss.
"I wasn't only a fan of his music, but of the man that he was," said Aikens, 29, who stopped by Monday to pay his respects.
Joseph Walker, 30, wore a Crenshaw T-shirt from Hussle's Marathon clothing line and needed just one word to describe what the rapper's life and music meant to him.
"Inspiration," he said.
To the throngs of people who took photos near the candles and the bouquets of flowers, Hussle represented hope in a neighborhood of dreams dashed by decades of violence and economic despair.
He was a kid who
