A makeshift memorial site for slain rapper Nipsey Hussle is filled with candles outside The Marathon Clothing store, Thursday, April 11, 2019, in Los Angeles. Hussle was killed in a shooting outside the store on March 31. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

LOS ANGELES - Nipsey Hussle's face was everywhere outside the Staples Center on Thursday, where a mood of festival and celebration stood in contrast to the sombre memorial inside .

The late rapper's image was on T-shirts, on buttons, on the side of passing vans, airbrushed on the back of jackets, etched on shoes, and printed on banners and flags along with his name and years of life, 1985-2019.

A painter, Gift Davis, created a portrait of Hussle surrounded by clouds in acrylics on a canvas on the sidewalk, as a crowd gathered and snapped photos. Many spoke of their admiration for the way he tried to lift his neighbourhood as well as his music.

Those lucky enough to get one of about 21,000 tickets in the few minutes they were available earlier in the week formed a giant line around the side of the downtown Los Angeles arena, where Hussle never headlined in life.

"This is the Nipsey Hussle show today. This is his show," said rapper Master P, a friend and occasional collaborator as he looked at the crowd outside Staples. "If he were here he would be trying to figure out how to help someone. He's up there smiling right now, looking down on us, and saying, 'Please keep up the work.'"

The ages of those outside ranged from small children to the elderly, with a few suits and formal dresses mixed with those in T-shirts and hoodies who created a sea of black, white and blue.

"He's a big inspiration to the youth," said Demond Ford of Anaheim, who wore a T-shirt with a painted image of Hussle and "RIP" on it. "He was a powerful leader. He inspired me to want to keep moving."

Many pleaded for any help they could get to enter. One man shouted "I have one ticket!" and grabbed the hand of a woman who cried, "Could I get it?" just as he walked in the door.

Some Hussle fans travelled hundreds of miles to be there.

Montana Corbett, 30, and two friends drove from Sacramento Wednesday night and were joined by a fourth woman from Los Angeles.

Their day started at 5 a.m. at The Marathon, Hussle's South Los Angeles clothing store, which he'd hoped would become a community-lifting institution before the 33-year-old was shot and killed as he stood outside on March 31. Later Thursday, a hearse with Hussle's body and a funeral procession will make a stop there on its 25-mile route.

The women then made their way to Staples, where they had tickets after all four of them tried online to get them, one succeeding and snaring four.

"We had to be here," Corbett said. "We had to pay our respects. We all cried when we heard. We were devastated."

Andrea Wash drove down from Oakland.

"I used my sick hours today," she said. "I've been following Nip for almost 10 years now. I'm here for my brother. I hate that this is the reason I'm here. I just saw him perform in June at the Warfield in San Francisco and he lit it up."

Hundreds who could not get tickets stood outside, there just to be part of the scene, where activists with microphones shouted about the systemic problems Hussle's death represents and others just danced to his music as it blasted out of their phone.

Several news helicopters hovered over the arena to capture the scene, where for several blocks in every direction, vendors sold T-shirts and bandanas made for the occasion.

___

Associated Press Writer Amanda Lee Myers contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrLandrum31 .

News from © The Associated Press, 2019