Some people CLAIM to be hustlers, but Nipsey is an artist that lives up to his name.  This past Tuesday Nipsey Hussle released his new CD, Crenshaw, selling at $100 each.  When asked why he was selling his CD at $100 each, Nipsey stated to Rap Radar:

“It ISN’T the price of the plastic case and polyurethane disc…it’s the price of Revolution! The price of Rebellion against an industry that has tricked us all into making products that have no soul for fear of not being heard if we don’t.”

Nipsey opened up a pop-up shop in LA, named it “Hussle in the House” – (and we will talk more about pop-up shops later on), that same day he received a DM on Twitter from a respected hip-hop journalist that stated, “Hov respects the move, salute.” Shortly thereafter, he received an email from Roc Nation, on behalf of Jay-Z requesting to purchase $100 units, and just like that he made a quick $10,000. 

Regarding that transaction, Nipsey confirmed, “I didn’t get a chance to holla at Jay, but through his people he made it clear that he respects the movement and everything. I was humbled by it. I felt like it was a good risk, and it ended up working out.”

This was a good look and it looks like people are paying attention because NIpsey has sold all of his available copies.

This is a great story simply because you have an artist, an entrepreneur that’s not sitting back relying on others to market, promote, advertise his body of work.  He took on the industry, a very powerful industry, and did things HIS WAY and it paid off.  The lesson learned here is that you should never be afraid to take risk and put yourself out there – people probably laughed at him like, “who in the hell is going to buy a CD for $100”, but look what happen….be bold people, you never know who’s watching.