The next-up artist from Austin mentioned the late Los Angeles icon as one of his main inspirations before. Now Arod has paid homage to his idol in an Instagram video.
When Nipsey Hussle (RIP) was shot in Los Angeles in March 2019, the pain was felt beyond the scene and the music industry. The reasons for that are not only the music artist he was or the family and friends he left behind, but also the legacy of what he represented. He was authentic, had affiliations, but more than any of that he was an independent businessman making intelligent moves to secure more than just his own wealth. He had a vision for his whole community. It was about making change in a system that was never designed for him.
Musically, he was one of the few these days that combined the craft of writing with their own story to bring motivation and a platform for identification to his listeners.
Someone who was grinding and constantly releasing new music for his listeners, even though he spent majority of his career under the radar of mainstream listeners. The scene and is fans appreciated him even more for that.
Arod was and is one of those. He appreciated the late rapper for all those things and has big dreams himself, learning from greats that pathed his way. People like Jay-Z and Nas that went through similar struggles and intelligently hustled their way into positions of influence to make change for the better.
The overly romanticized story of the underdog that makes it to the top comes with a lot of pain and struggle, that doesn’t make it into the bigger picture of the end result.
Arod always keeps it real; the young man was raised by his single grand mother and had an eventful youth, yet successfully graduated from high school and got into college.
He now hopped into his car and onto Nipsey Hussle’s ‘Blue Laces 2’ beat to freestyle about ‘way back’ and how he is going to make it out of the hood for good.
He does the legend proud showing off his incredible rhyming skills while taking us on a ride through his life.
His audience appreciated the homage and freestyle demanding the track to be released as a studio version.
Whether that will happen or Arod is going to leave it with the Instagram video, it’s beautiful to see the legends legacy being cherished almost one and a half years after his tragic killing in Los Angeles.