Snoop Dogg fought back tears while speaking at Nipsey Hussle’s memorial service earlier today.
The 47-year-old rapper was among other celebrity mourners who gathered at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Thursday to remember Nipsey, who died on 31 March after being shot outside his clothing store.
Visibly emotional, Snoop took to the stage and said: ‘It’s a tough one right here.’
The legendary rapper started off by celebrating Nipsey’s five-year relationship with Lauren London, saying: ‘Everytime I would see Nip and Lauren, they reminded me of me and my wife.
‘Every black man needs a great black woman in their life. It was like black excellence. You love to see that.’
Addressing Lauren directly, Snoop said: ‘My wife, family, friends, kids, we’re here for you. We love you baby girl, always have, and always will.’
At one point, Snoop was overcome with emotions and tried to fight back tears, telling the audience: ‘Bare with me y’all, I’m trying to stay strong for my cousin Nip.’
Snoop continued: ‘Nip has always benefited from always having a strong man in his life and his father clearly did a great job. He showed Nip how to be a strong man.’
The rapper then told Nipsey’s father Dawit Asghedom: ‘You may have lost a son but you picked up another son in me.’
In a more light-hearted moment, Snoop later addressed the long-running comparisons between him and Nipsey – notably their hair styles and speaking voices.
However, Snoop said: ‘I don’t think so, he was tall, lanky, had braids, had that LA mentality and he claimed a gang.
‘But one thing that me and Nip had was that same kind spirit, like a magnet coming together.’
He added: ‘But Nip’s mentality was stronger than a rapper who had been in the game for 10 years.’
Snoop also fondly remembered how he discovered Nipsey’s music – by rolling a blunt on the rapper’s CD cover but finally deciding to listen to the demo before realising his talent.
Earlier in the memorial service, Nipsey’s children delivered a heartfelt speech while Lauren remembered his ‘majestic soul’.
A letter from former US President Barack Obama was also read out, while Nipsey’s mother gave a powerful speech seeing the positive in his passing on.
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