Rihanna's loyalty to the rap game extends beyond her chin-up stance towards thirsty lyricists. For every rapper who uses "Rihanna" as a thirst-trap to their song, there's a Nipsey Hussle who would never dare overstep his bounds, owing to an actual personal accord he'd struck with the Bajan singer.
Rihanna's public mourning of Nipsey Hussle should come as no surprise given the likelihood they knew each other personally. Nipsey was among the notable attendees at Rihanna's 4th Annual Diamond Ball, a charity gala meant to raise money for her Clara Lionel Foundation.
Rihanna's Instagram post conveyed the sense of shock many of us shared upon discovering the news of Nipsey's passing. "Still can’t think about anything else...can’t believe someone would rob us of you @nipseyhussle," she wrote as a caption to a tribute an abridged clip of Nip's "Hussle in the House," his 2018 interpolation of Kriss Kross' "Jump."
Rihanna's Instagram post is the second of two eulogies that she has published her name, the first being a picture tribute, including images of Nipsey's profile, as well as photos of him clutching his daughter and Lauren London. Nipsey Hussle was 33 years old at the time of his passing. He and London welcomed their first child to the world in 2016, on top of the children they both had a hand in raising from previous relationships.