Nearly two years have passed since the death of the great Nipsey Hussle, and while hip-hop still contends with the void left behind by his loss, his voice still resonates through his music — including the posthumous verses he blessed collaborators with before he died. Two new Hussle verses arrived today courtesy of the Crenshaw rapper’s All Money In artist J Stone, who released his new project The Definition Of Pain. Nipsey appears on a pair of songs, “LeBron James” featuring Dom Kennedy, and “Started Wit Nothin’” featuring T.I.
The fellow featured artists are fitting, as both were regular collaborators and close friends of Nipsey’s in life. Dom and Nipsey were two of the primary rappers at the forefront of Los Angeles’ blog rap explosion in the late 2000s, culminating in their collaboration “Checc Me Out” from Nipsey’s Crenshaw mixtape as well as on “Double Up” with Belly from Nip’s debut album Victory Lap, while Nip appeared on T.I.’s Paperwork on the song “About My Issue.” J Stone’s new album also contains features from Dave East, E-40, Kash Doll, and Trae The Truth.
Along with Cobby Supreme, Cuzzo Capone, Pacman Da Gunman, and Wali Da Great, J Stone was one of the artists on Nipsey’s All Money In label. Nipsey was fiercely independent in his life, living by the mantra, “All money in, no money out,” and eventually turning that motto into the name of his label. Before he died, he partnered with Atlantic Records to distribute his debut album after independently releasing mixtapes for ten years — including the $100 mixtape Crenshaw and the $1,000 mixtape Mailbox Money.
Listen to Nipsey’s posthumous verses above and check out The Definition of Pain here.