Ermias Asghedom built his name the independent way — mixtapes, a self-owned masters catalog, and the Marathon Clothing store he opened in his Crenshaw neighborhood — before his 2018 debut Victory Lap hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and earned a Grammy nomination. He also founded Vector 90, a STEM co-working space, and invested directly in South LA development as part of a real commitment to the neighborhood he came from. Shot and killed outside his own store on March 31, 2019, at 33; "Racks in the Middle" won Best Rap Performance at the Grammys the following year.
