The memorial was billed as a “celebration of life” and began at 11 a.m. local time, an hour later than scheduled. The arena holds 21,000 people and was also the venue for Michael Jackson’s public memorial in 2009.
The service began with a live band playing “Right Hand 2 God,” one of Hussle’s songs. His voice boomed across the arena, and thousands of fans sprang to their feet to sing along, the bass from the speakers shaking the ground, giving the event the feel of a concert.
“This is a celebration. The marathon continues,” DJ Battlecat shouted over the loudspeaker.
The coffin, adorned with white and violet flowers, sat center stage. Three large photographs of Hussle were projected overhead on oversized television panels, rendered in hues of pink and blue. A thick wall of flowers, a piano and a harp on stage softened the atmosphere in the cavernous sports arena.
Before the service began, “Victory Lap,” the title track from Hussle’s Grammy-nominated album, played on loop as people sang along. The bound, glossy booklet handed out at the beginning of the service featured messages from Hussle’s family, hip-hop luminaries, public figures with ties to South Los Angeles and other prominent African Americans in the arts.
Former President Barack Obama sent a letter praising Hussle, which Karen Civil, a hip-hop media personality, read at the service. Obama said that he had heard Hussle’s music through his daughters.
“While most people look at the Crenshaw neighborhood where he grew up and see only gangs, bullets and despair, Nipsey saw potential,” the former president wrote. “He saw hope. He saw a community that even through its flaws taught him to always keep going.”
Many of the people in attendance waved Eritrean flags in the air while yelling, “We miss you, Nipsey.”
A procession is set to follow the two-hour memorial, where it will snake through Watts, Inglewood and South Los Angeles, passing by the Marathon Clothing store that Hussle owned and where he was killed March 31.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.