Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, wrote a personal letter to the friends and family of late rapper Nipsey Hussle, which was read aloud at his memorial on Thursday (April 11).
The former president asked hip-hop journalist Karen Civil to read his letter at the service, taking place at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
A key message from Obama's letter included the passage: “While most folks look at the Crenshaw neighborhood where he grew up and see only gangs, bullets and despair, Nipsey saw potential. He saw hope. He saw a community that, even through its flaws, taught him to always keep going.”