Blacc Sam has turned down offers that reached into the high 20s of millions of dollars from Netflix and Disney’s Onyx Collective for the Nipsey Hussle documentary, according to comments he made during an August appearance on The Breakfast Club. “It was upwards of 20, high 20s [million],” Sam said. “And it’s not a money play.” He added that no amount of money would lead the family to give up control of the project.
The series has expanded into an eight- or nine-episode format drawn from hundreds of hours of archival footage. Nipsey documented large portions of his own life, and his father filmed him extensively as a child. The material includes his first studio session at age 12, unreleased tracks, excerpts from an audio book he recorded, and private family moments such as the birth of his daughter. Director One9, whose previous work includes the Allen Iverson docuseries and Nas: Time Is Illmatic, is overseeing the project. It is being produced through Marathon Films in partnership with LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Company. Allen Hughes, the filmmaker behind the Tupac series Dear Mama, joined after completing that project and has reviewed the existing footage.
Sam has described similar resistance to outside control in other interviews. On the Bootleg Kev podcast he said earlier versions of the project were shelved because certain companies sought creative control. The family has instead financed the work themselves in increments of roughly $100,000 while finishing the edit on their own terms. Once completed, Sam has said, the cut will not be open to outside revision. He has indicated a preference for releasing the series as widely as possible, including the possibility of making it available for free, with ownership structured so that the documentary ultimately belongs to Nipsey’s children.
These discussions are distinct from earlier conversations that involved Ava DuVernay and a significantly smaller Netflix figure, which ended over disagreements about length and control. The current version is longer and incorporates interviews with Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and others who knew Nipsey at different stages of his life. It traces his path from childhood in Crenshaw through his early years, independent music career, the Marathon Clothing store, and his later community work.
Nipsey had previously told his family that any film about his life “better be a classic.” That standard has shaped the extended timeline. Recent social media posts summarized Sam’s Breakfast Club remarks as a flat rejection of a $20 million offer. The figure he actually stated was higher, and the decision centered on completing the project according to the family’s specifications rather than selling an unfinished version. No distribution agreement has been finalized. The family is still determining where the series will be released once the remaining edits are finished.
