DJ Khaledis showing his love for Mamba.

The rapper held up a vintageKobe Bryantt-shirt on the2020 Grammysred carpet, just hours afterthe basketball star tragically died, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash. Bryant was 41, and leaves behind his wife Vanessa and three other daughters.

Khaled, who was already scheduled to do a tribute along with John Legend to the late rapper Nipsey Hussle, said they wouldalso honor Bryant during the show.

“God is greatness, a blessing, but you know, especially when we doing a tribute for Nipsey Hussle,” he told hostRyan Seacrestduring theE! Live from the Red Carpet show. “And we also want to pay homage and show love to Kobe Bryant, and his daughter, Gianna, the news is devastating.”

Khaled, whowelcomed his second son with longtime partner Nicole Tuckjust a week earlier, admitted that “It’s hard to even celebrate” during the Grammys, “but what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna lift the spirits and pay homage and show love because, you know, like Nipsey would say, the marathon continues.”

DJ Khaled at the Grammys on Jan. 26.Lester Cohen/Getty

DJ Khaled

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Khaled said that Hussle, who was shot to death in March, made a huge impact on his and others’ lives.

“Nipsey was somebody who when they spoke, you would just listen,” Khaled said. “And he would always be the key. And I call it club talk but we always talk about family and uplifting people and being great leaders and entrepreneurship. He was just a good man, and he always had a lot of love that obviously the world felt that, that’s why we go so hard for our brothers. That’s Nipsey Hussle, he’s a king.”

Jerritt Clark/Getty

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - DECEMBER 02: Nipsey Hussle and DJ Khaled attend The Four cast Sean Diddy Combs, Fergie, and Meghan Trainor Host DJ Khaled’s Birthday Presented by CÎROC and Fox on December 2, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Ciroc)

Khaled is nominated tonight for best rap/sung performance for “Higher,” his song with Hussle and Legend. Hussle has already won a posthumous Grammy, his first, for best rap performance for his song “Racks in the Middle.”

source: people.com