Marianne Williamson’s Proof: Thank You Nipsey Hussle The Great.
Finding Hope in despair; how the life of Nipsey Hussle The Great gives proof to the famous quote about fear and liberation by Marianne Williamson.
How do you mourn a person you’ve never met, but felt was a member of your family who always looked out for your best interest? How do you grieve a fallen hero when because of their very nature, they couldn’t have fallen in your eyes? The mind is stuck trying to pair reality with what you deemed as impossibility because your imagination never created such a space for it to experience. Millions of people around the world, including myself are struggling with adjusting to the reality that Nipsey Hussle The Great is no longer alive; slain in broad daylight by a person who has to own the responsibilities of his actions and whatever comes from them. It’s as if we all lost our older brother who would stop by every now and then to give us wisdom, tell us about his journey, give us aspirations, and then go back to his adventures leaving us in awe and wonder. For a lot of us, we are still waiting to hear him speak, we’re still waiting on his next single to be released so we can have someone articulate the mood we feel when we strive for greatness, we’re still waiting to run into him to see the monument of a man in person, and we’re still waiting to cross paths to show him the fruits of his labor (A simple Thank You in most cases). Nipsey Hussle The Great was a beacon of hope, inspiration and dedication on a standard that unconsciously forced everyone who came in contact with him, whether through his music, his organizations, or in passing, to stand up that much taller, build that much better, and give that much more to the places you call home. Nipsey Hussle The Great is proof of the quote by Marianne Williamson and we’ve all been made better for it.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. — Marianne Williamson
I was in bed on Sunday afternoon, when I got the text message. It was a hard fought week and I was drifting into a depressive state through sheer exhaustion. I launched a start-up this year and it’s been pulling more from me than I thought I had to give. As I’m in bed, contemplating what decisions need to be made next, my phone buzzes and my life pauses for a moment in disbelief.
Suddenly, that depressive state seems that much more inviting. Your mind starts to scramble for an ounce of hope because if you can find it, then you can find faith and if you can find faith, then you can find God, and if you can find God you can find a miracle and as my mind searched for hope, my phone buzzes once again.
All is quiet, as if creation itself acknowledged the ascension of one of God’s greatest creations. I don’t feel anything. No heart beat. No breath. No thought. Sensations on my face trigger thoughts of fear, confusion, and despair.
I didn’t know Nipsey Hussle The Great personally, so why did this break me as it did? Who can look a great man like Nipsey Hussle The Great in the eye and shoot him? How do you take the life of someone who does what he does for everyone? I didn’t do half of what he did in my life yet, so what does that mean for me? Am I safe? Where is hope?
Feelings of inadequacy and isolation flood all the empty places within me. Since I came to California, I had goals and dreams of working with Nipsey Hussle The Great. Here was a man who to me, proved I didn’t have to sacrifice honor and respect for success and career ascension. Being from Brooklyn an easy person to look up to was Jay-Z, but at this point in my life, he was a little too far from my currently reality to draw from. Nipsey Hussle The Great however, felt like an older brother who if I just worked a little harder, I could build and adventure with. For me, it was about paying respects to a man that changed my life through how he lived his life, and a desire to do the same for someone else. I put my headphones in and listened to the song that made me feel hope since I couldn’t find any on my own.
Playin’ no games with you niggas, pop clutch, switch lanes on you niggas.
Look, I laid down the game for you niggas.
Taught you how to charge more than what they pay for you niggas.
Own the whole thing for you niggas.
Re-invest, double up, then explained for you niggas, it gotta be love…
Tears run down my face as I listen to who felt like an older brother come home one more time to share his stories again. As I breathed in his lyrics I began to feel the strength of every line…
And I come through fly, no co-sign.
I ain’t need radio to do mine, I done fine.
And I take my time, and take my tribe.
Every level that I crossed in this game like state lines.
It was visionary, either I’m genius or you niggas scary.
Maybe it’s both and this balance I deliver daily.
For every nigga in the streets trying to feed the babies.
The single mamas workin’ hard not to miss a payment
A shifting was happening in me and I heard the message between the lines. It was the same message in the movie Coach Carter when Timo Cruz had to answer to Coach Carter what is he most afraid of? He answered with a brief quote by Marianne Williamson that touched on our fear not in being in our weakness, but in our power.
The quote touched on the fear of our power not being in what we can’t do, but in questioning who are we to have such gifts and who are we to use them so freely?
Nipsey Hussle The Great not only showed us all in some way who we were to deserve these gifts, but also reminded us how powerful we were in the process. That very same power Nipsey Hussle The Great resonated at the highest of frequencies during his final years.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. — Marianne Williamson
It’s days later and social-media has been illuminated with memories, moments, artwork, and desires to commemorate such a great man. As I read these stories, I find community, and I find comfort because my struggle in processing this loss is being felt and experienced by so many people from all over. I’m crying once again as I’m watching people honor him in their own ways.
With every new story shared of his impact I feel the words of Marianne Williamson echo in my mind and I hear his music play right along side it. Songs like “Victory Lap” “Right Hand to God” and “Hustle and Motivate”, which bar by bar build monuments of self-confidence, are reflected back to me when Marianne Williamson speaks on the mistakes of playing small in hopes of somehow making people feel more comfortable around you. Nipsey Hussle The Great charged continuously for us to take up our mantle and run our own races, not just for the sake of personal progress but for the sake of everyone attached to the person making the progress. “Neighborhood Nip”, while it has meanings that will only be understood in full breath through distinct walks of life, on the surface, gives a testimony to the Great Man that he was.
Music acclaim and fame aside, with no diminishment to his catalogue of phenomenal work including his Grammy-nominated debut album Victory Lap, Nipsey Hussle The Great was the owner of many businesses within the Crenshaw community where he employed people from the neighborhood regardless of economic or past circumstances in many cases. He, along with partner David Gross, created the incubator and work space Vector 90 which focuses on providing underrepresented entrepreneurs with the resources necessary to grow their ideas and scale them appropriately. Upstairs at Vector 90, a STEM program was created for the children of that area to engage in immersive and emerging fields to stay at the forefront of education and expansion. Just recently, Nipsey Hussle The Great and David Gross closed on a deal that would revitalize the look and value of the Crenshaw area by purchasing the West Slauson plaza with plans to put in 100 rental units with the Marathon Store as an anchor for opportunity and community identity. Consistently and deliberately, every level increase Nipsey Hussle The Great experienced in his journey he connected back to his community, the people he felt he reflected, and the culture that helped him to become who he was. It was in this way, he manifested the glory of God that was within him.
It’s the third day since his passing and people still are in mourning. We’re grieving together as communities because we felt a sense of connection through the words and deeds of a great man. Many people tried to avoid the fact that he was a crip in their reports on him but I don’t want to because he was never ashamed of it, and I don’t believe he should be. What made Nipsey Hussle The Great an Icon was him being born and raised in places that a lot of us can relate to, experienced living through the same traps and circumstances that a lot of us have, made a lot of survival decisions that a lot of us have, and overcame it all while providing keys to open new doors so that the cycles will repeat themselves less and less as the generations continue. He was the Epic Hero that we learned about in literature. He was the civil rights leader that we learned about in history. He was the poet we had to recite in elementary school. He was the veteran that we looked up to during the war. He was, in many ways, a representation of the past lessons, the present opportunities, and the future possibilities in a single man. Nipsey Hussle The Great shined his light so bright, it forced us all to look inward and find our own. His words broke through barriers of unbelief and revealed to us who we already knew we were. His actions paved ways out of despair for many and into futures that seemed far out of reach. He showed the world he was liberated from his own fears and in return gave us road maps, soundtracks, and tools to liberate ourselves. He is Marianne Williamson’s Proof.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. — Marianne Williamson.
