Nipsey Hussle’s Girlfriend Lauren London Speaks out After His Death

Lauren London, Nipsey Hussle‘s longtime girlfriend, paid tribute to the late rapper after he was shot and killed on Sunday at the age of 33.

“I am completely lost,” London wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “I’ve lost my best friend. My sanctuary. My protector. My soul…. I’m lost without you. We are lost without you babe. I have no words.”

Hussle and the ATL star, 34, had been dating since 2013 and shared 2-year-old son Kross. Hussle was also the father of a young daughter named Emani from a previous relationship. London also has 9-year-old son Cameron with her ex-boyfriend Lil Wayne.

The couple met via Instagram after London purchased copies of Hussle’s mixtape as a wrap present for her co-stars on The Game. Soon after, she followed him on the social media platform, then he followed her back and sent her a message.

“Our stories are very different,” she told GQ in a joint interview published weeks before his death. “I did not slide into his DMs. My homeboy did.”

Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, was pronounced dead at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday after sustaining gunshot wounds to the head and torso outside his Marathon Clothing store. Monday, police identified 29-year-old Eric Holder as a suspect. Holder was arrested on Tuesday afternoon.

The West Coast rapper’s debut album, Victory Lap, was nominated for Best Rap Album at this year’s Grammys. In addition to his budding music career, he was known for rebuilding the South L.A. community where he grew up. At the time of his death, he was redeveloping a strip mall, where Marathon is located, and also owned a barbershop, a burger restaurant and a fish market.

He was also known for his charitable acts, like buying shoes for students, refreshing local basketball courts and playgrounds, paying for funerals for those who couldn’t afford them and providing jobs for the homeless.

“He’s a solid man who loved his woman, his family and his community,” Insecure star and fellow Californian Issa Rae tweeted on Sunday. “This hurts.”

Many others, including rapper Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner, mourned Hussle’s sudden death.

Jenner shared a photo of London and Hussle on her Instagram Story, writing, “this really breaks my heart. sending you love @laurenlondon.”

Scott shared a photo of himself and the later rapper hanging out together. “Rest up og,” he captioned the photo. “Sending prayers to u and the family.”

Drake reacted to Hussle’s death on Sunday. “F—. My whole energy is just at a low right now hearing this. We just linked for the first time in years and said we were gonna do a new song this summer cause it had been too long,” he wrote on Instagram. “You were having the best run and I was so happy watching from distance fam nobody ever talks down on your name you were a real one to your people and to the rest of us. I’m only doing this here cause I want the world to know I saw you as a man of respect and a don. Rest easy my g.”

Pusha T also memorialized Hussle: “We have done @NipseyHussle wrong…he was sharing his purest self, his vision, and traits from his heritage with all of us: empowerment and a sense of community, something that many of us don’t have. White supremacy at its finest couldn’t have done something this terrible,” he tweeted with a broken heart emoji.