Heart of Hyde Park mural honors Hyde Park community and Nipsey Hussle

HYDE PARK, Calif. (KABC) -- "Hello my name is Moses Ball, I'm the lead artists of the Heart of Hyde Park mural," Moses Ball said. "Every image that is depicted in the mural came from the minds and the ideas of the community members and the students."

About 20 kids from the community had a hand in creating the Heart of Hyde Park mural which lives on the corner of Crenshaw and Slauson, what is now known as Nipsey Hussle Square.

The mural features the late rapper, local business owners, some of the kids who worked on the mural and community activists, including Assata Umoja.

"I appreciate the fact that my picture is there," Umoja said. "I think it's great. Particularly because other people seem to appreciate it."

LA Commons, a non-profit organization whose goal is to engage communities in artistic and cultural expression, helped to facilitate the Heart of Hyde Park mural.

"Once we got our team in place, we set about recruiting young people, recruiting the artists" Karen Mack, LA Commons executive director said. "And creating the opportunity to interact with the community so we could get the stories that are really the foundation of the mural."

The Heart of Hyde Park mural is unique in the sense that it was painted before it actually had a home. All painting was done on metal panels and then installed onto the wall after completion.

"Usually a mural, you see it step by step, coming into being, but this one was just installed after," Ball said. "But with our brother Nipsey Hussle being shot just across the street I felt like this mural was kind of like a fitting memorial, particularly for this corner."

"We believe so strongly in the power of art as a tool for the inspiration of individuals as well as a way for communities," Mack said. "Particularly at this time of gentrification in neighborhoods, to assert their identity. They want to make it known that they love their community."