Recommended by: NBA player DeMarcus Cousins. The triumphant hook, the dizzying beat and Hussle’s supreme confidence made for a record that sounds as fresh now as it did more than a decade ago.Įmani ain’t gon’ know the streets/ Gotta keep her close to me/ Put that on the man that’s on the cross on my rosary/ Wasn’t always banging, but I speak about it openly/ No shame in my game/ I did my thing on the coldest streets/ Who the hottest on the West/ All you n-as know it’s me/ So tell whoever got it locked that Nipsey Hussle stole the key. Recommended by: Matt Barnes, former NBA player and co-host of the All The Smoke podcast.Īfter hearing this record – one of the best Hussle made in his entire career – you wonder how Epic Records could just let him walk. Even before his storied friendship and collaborative history with YG, Hussle’s gangsta duet with The Game was one of the hardest records from the early part of his career. But he also understood the value of crossing color lines. Hussle was a Rollin’ 60s Crip – and a proud one. I didn’t know what Hussle would ultimately become, but he took me straight to Crenshaw and Slauson and I had never been to California. When I heard this for the first time in 2008 – a transformative year in my life as I was graduating from college right into a recession – it let me know something new was on the musical horizon. I’ll never not get chills listening to this standout record from Hussle’s mixtape Bullets Ain’t Got No Name Vol. Recommended by: Hussle’s brother, Blacc Sam, and business partner, David Gross. Rapper Nipsey Hussle performs during the Broccoli City Festival at RFK Stadium on April 28, 2018, in Washington.īrian Stukes/Getty Images “ Hussle In The House” (2008)

Nipsey hussle album