and he placed seven songs on the Hot 100 in a
single week, three of them in the top 40.
STAYING ON TOP OF THE WRLD Lil Bibby, 25, a
Chicago rapper in his own right whose hits
include 2016’s “You Ain’t Gang,” says he has
“slowed down” on his own music to focus on
the label’s roster. Older brother G-Money,
26, says the highlight of his year came “when
‘Lucid Dreams’ went to No. 2 on the Hot 100.”
In addition to planning a new album and arena
tour for Juice in 2020, the Dickinsons are
readying their next act, teen Australian rapper
The Kid LAROI. “I find talent on Instagram,”
says Bibby. “Then I like to meet them to see
what kind of people they are.”
Marleny Dominguez-Reyes
SENIOR VP MARKETING, REPUBLIC RECORDS
Tyler Arnold
VP A&R, REPUBLIC RECORDS
POST TIME Post Malone’s pop omnipresence
continues unabated thanks in large part to
Arnold, 27, who signed the tattooed artist
in 2015, and Dominguez- Reyes, who has
since worked closely with the “Better Now”
rapper-singer. In September, Post Malone’s
third studio album, Hollywood’s Bleeding,
debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, moving
489,000 equivalent album units its first week
— the second-biggest overall week of 2019,
after Taylor Swift’s Lover — and had all 17 of
its tracks simultaneously land on the Hot 100.
“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,”
says Dominguez- Reyes.
BIG DEBUT FOR LIL TECCA Dominguez- Reyes, 41,
helped catapult newly signed rapper Lil Tecca
from SoundCloud cult favorite to rising star
by working the 17-year-old’s debut mixtape,
We Love You Tecca, to No. 1 on the Top R&B/
Hip-Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums charts
in September. “I don’t remember the last time
I have seen an artist explode the way he has,”
she says.
Bill Evans
SENIOR VP URBAN PROMOTION, CAPITOL MUSIC GROUP
TRANSLATED GIRL CODE INTO HITS Evans heads
Capitol Music Group’s urban promotion de-
partment, overseeing the strategic develop-
ment and execution of all national promotion
initiatives. His team worked singles from City
Girls and Lil Baby — both products of CMG
label Motown’s co-venture with Quality Con-
trol — to the upper reaches of Billboard’s radio
charts: Lil Baby’s “Yes Indeed” (with Drake),
“Drip Too Hard” (with Gunna) and “Close
Friends” all topped the Mainstream R&B/Hip-
Hop chart, while City Girls’ “Twerk” (featuring
Cardi B) went to No. 2. City Girls’ “Act Up”
topped the Rhythmic airplay chart in July.
MAXIMUM EXPOSURE Evans, whose career in
the music business spans over two decades,
says Capitol’s “synergistic radio and streaming
strategy,” gives its artists “the widest audience
possible to showcase how relatable they are.
We don’t view these mediums as competitors,
but as teammates working together toward a
common goal. It has been vital to our success.”
D
uring his 33 years of life,
Nipsey Hussle, the beloved
artist and entrepreneur born
Ermias Asghedom in Los
Angeles’ Crenshaw neigh-
borhood, made it his mission to
stand up for his community. Across
independent mixtapes and a Gram-
my-nominated major-label studio
album, he rapped about where he
came from, telling genuine stories
about its realities and how they
shaped him into a man of integrity.
But Nipsey’s influence went
beyond the traditional. He opened
his Marathon brand clothing store at
the corner of Slauson and Cren-
shaw — an intersection that now
bears his name — and owned the
strip mall around it, with plans to
build housing there. He created a
coworking space called Vector90
in South Central that focused
on teaching STEM skills to the
people he grew up around. He was
involved in an investment fund, Our
Opportunity, that sought to use tax
incentives to further develop com-
munities of color. He dreamed, and
planned, bigger than himself.
Nipsey’s untimely death — he
was shot outside his Marathon store
on March 31 — was mourned by
millions, including JAY-Z, Rihanna
and Barack Obama; his funeral filled
the Staples Center. His life may have
ended, but his mission remains.
Billboard spoke with his business
partners Dave Gross and Steve-O
Carless, who are continuing his
work, about Nipsey’s impact.
What are you most proud to
have accomplished with Nipsey?
DAVE GROSS, CO-FOUNDER, OUR
OPPORTUNITY/VECTOR90 He
dedicated himself to investing
and believing in his own people.
He stayed on Slauson and
Crenshaw and hired from that
neighborhood. I don’t know if
we’ll ever be able to calculate
the direct and indirect impact of
everything Nipsey did.
STEVE-O CARLESS, CO-FOUNDER,
MARATHON AGENCY I’m most proud
of how he did it. He sacrificed
major opportunities just to give
someone like me a space to live
out my fullest value for him, with
the utmost integrity. When he and
I talked, we used a phrase: “We’re
going to tune ourselves to a higher
frequency.” He learned to build
this inner wisdom that allowed
him to project what we got from
him when we saw him or spoke
to him. It’s ingrained in him. It was
something spiritual.
What did people fail to
understand about Nipsey?
GROSS It was hard for institutions of
any stripe to appreciate everything
about him, because he was such
a soulful, genuine person. As an
iconoclast, you don’t typically fit
in institutional boxes. He didn’t do
anything contrived. That soulful-
ness, that genuine authenticity —
those things are hard to scale to an
institutional level.
CARLESS Nipsey was a futurist. He
paid attention to the marketplace
and trends. He wanted to under-
stand the evolution of business.
And he didn’t look at failures as
failures, but as experiences that
taught him.
How did Nipsey make an impact?
GROSS Nip is a symbol of radical
entrepreneurship and ownership.
As much, or more than, anyone
in my lifetime, he inspired black
Americans to focus on coop-
erative economics and owning
our own. He used his platform to
create economic opportunities for
others at the grassroots level. He
met people where they were and
never condescended or patron-
ized. Despite his strength, he led
with communication and love.
And most importantly, he led by
consistent action that reflected ex-
actly what he stood for. I view him
as a giant of our culture, whose
shoulders future leaders in our
community will stand on.
CARLESS It is radical entrepreneur-
ship; the idea of sole control of
your own brand, your own plat-
form and your own legacy. Now
he represents a global idea of love
and self-awareness, an idea that
spans across business, culture,
entertainment, community and,
more importantly, humanity. The
effects of his contributions are just
starting to blossom. Authenticity
and truth of self no matter your or-
igins now are the bold sentiments
of his work. —ROSS SCARANO
IMPACT AWARD HONOREE
NIPSEY HUSSLE WAS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL AND FORWARD-THINKING
ARTISTS IN HIP-HOP, BOTH MUSICALLY AND WITHIN HIS COMMUNITY,
UNTIL HIS DEATH AT AGE 33. HERE, HIS BUSINESS PARTNERS HONOR HIS LEGACY
OCTOBER 19, 2019 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 49
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