A rapper who turned his Crenshaw block into a business model for how artists could own their culture and community.
Ermias Joseph Asghedom was born on August 15, 1985, in Los Angeles, California, to an Eritrean father and African American mother. He grew up in Crenshaw and came up through the streets before choosing music and entrepreneurship as his path. He built a grassroots following through mixtapes before his debut album Victory Lap earned him a Grammy nomination in 2019. But it was his business model that set him apart: he sold mixtapes at premium prices to create scarcity, bought back the strip mall in his neighborhood to keep money in the community, and launched a STEM co-working space in South Los Angeles. He was shot and killed outside his Marathon Clothing store on March 31, 2019, at 33—the day before a planned meeting with LAPD to address gang violence. Los Angeles renamed the intersection in his honor.
“The only thing that will make you happy is being happy with who you are.”
“Dedication, hard work, the Marathon continues.”
Demonstrated that a rapper could be a genuine community developer—investing in the neighborhood that raised him and building a business philosophy that outlived him.
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