Queen Sugar star Kofi Siriboe is opening up about his relationship with his “idol”: Nipsey Hussle.
The rapper, whose birth name was Ermias Asghedom, died from a fatal shooting on March 31 in Los Angeles in front of his Marathon Store.
The actor said he had reached out to Hussle on Instagram, DM’ing in hopes of collaborating with him on a music video for his song, “Young N-gga,” which was featured on the rapper’s debut album Victory Lap released last year.
“We were working on a video together. I reached out to him in January after 10 years of being afraid of reaching out to him,” Siriboe said on ESSENCE’s Yes Girl podcast. “He hit me back immediately.”
The actor said the song, which features ESSENCE May 2019 cover star Diddy, spoke so much to his experience as a man.
“It’s such a powerful song and it’s my life. [I told him,] ‘If I could direct this video for the West OG it’d be such an honor.’ And he said, ‘Well that’s what we doing then.'”
After working up a treatment and having several meetings, Hussle then “gets killed,” Siriboe recalled.
“I’m so grateful that I got to exchange with him and meet him personally,” the actor continued. “The fact that it never manifested the way that I wanted to breaks my heart.”
Still, it looks like fans may soon get to see what Siriboe and Hussle were cooking up as he told co-hosts Cori Murray and Charli Penn, “I do feel a responsibility to finish his work.”
To hear their full conversation, check out the latest episode of Yes, Girl podcast below: