Netflix Wins Rights to Ava DuVernay’s Nipsey Hussle Documentary

February 11, 2020

Following an intense bidding war between studios, Deadline is reporting that Netflix has successfully won the rights to the upcoming documentary film about the late Grammy-winning rapper Nipsey Hussle with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay (Selma) attached to helm the untitled docufilm.

Nipsey Hussle first gained recognition in 2005 for releasing his first mixtape titled Slauson Boy Volume which was followed by a number of successful mixtape releases including Bullets Ain’t Got No Name series, The Marathon, Crenshaw and Mailbox Money. In 2018, he was finally able to release his debut studio album Victory which earned critical acclaimed and commercial success featuring songs with other artist such as Kendrick Lamar, Cee-Lo Green, YG and Puff Daddy/ P. Diddy.

At the age of 33, Hussle died last year due to a fatal shot by man who confronted him outside of his Marathon Clothing Store. Following his death, Hussle’s posthumous songs “Higher” (with DJ Khaled and John Legend) and “Racks in the Middle” were recently awarded at the 2020 Grammy Awards for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Performance respectively.

The untitled Nipsey Hussle documentary will be co-production between DuVernay’s ARRAY Filmworks and Hussle’s Marathon Films. This project marks the second collaboration between DuVernay and the streaming service, who have worked together on the Oscar nominated documentary film 13th and the award-winning miniseries When They See Us.

In 2018, DuVernay had signed a massive $100 million multi-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group to produce new original content for broadcast and cable, premium cable, streaming services, and other platforms. The new series will be added to the growing slate of DuVernay’s ongoing projects which include: the DC film New Gods; the pilot adaptation of DMZ for HBO Max; Battle at Versailles; and Cherish the Day.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)