But the one in front of the gun lives forever
(The one in front of the gun, forever)
And I been hustlin’ all day
This-a-way, that-a-way
—Kendrick Lamar “Money Trees” good kid m.A.A.d city 2012

“I need a favor,” said Kendrick Lamar.

It was March 31, 2019, a day which will live in infamy, the day 33-year-old Ermias Asghedom, better known as Nipsey Hussle, was suddenly and deliberately attacked in the parking lot at Slauson and Crenshaw. Hussle arrived without security that Sunday to do a quick favor for someone who’d just come home from prison and wanted new clothes. Always happy to help less fortunate folks from his neighborhood get back on their feet, Hussle’s good deed was repaid with a senseless assassination near the entrance to the family-owned business that was his pride and joy, The Marathon Clothing smart store. This cold killing shook the city to its core, cutting down an inspirational figure, a dedicated father, mentor, artist, activist, and entrepreneur hailed far and wide as the people’s champ, The Light of Los Angeles.

That same day, Compton’s own Pulitzer Prize–winning lyrical polymath was in a whole ’nother hemisphere, standing onstage 6,100 miles away from home at the Hipódromo de San Isidro racetrack in Buenos Aires, headlining Lollapalooza Argentina. “Keep them lights up y’all,” Kendrick told a vast expanse of fans numbering in the tens of thousands as he walked in circles, wiping water from his eyes. “Keep it quiet. Listen to me. I need a favor,” he said again, pausing for a long moment to collect himself.

READ THE ARTICLE IN FULL AT GQ