Well you know the US is in trouble when rappers have to resort to buying cubic zirconium and lesser grade diamonds for their bling obsessions. Oh dear, what are we to do? Certainly this is a great concern to all? NOT!

I am sorry, I never thought bling was prestigious or cool. I know it’s extremely popular in the rap culture, but I hate the fact that bling (the cultural term for gaudy and flashy jewelry) and cars ultimately define a person’s success in this society. But all that may be changing soon.

Now I don’t mind someone buying a tasteful car or moderate jewelry to treat yourself as a pat on the back for a job well done or as a gift to celebrate some sort of important occasion, but when it comes to buying this stuff just to show how wealthy you are as a status symbol…blech!

Of course jewelry has been around since the first homo sapiens first traveled north out of Africa. Early man’s first attempts at adornment date back as far as 100,000 years ago, using perforated beads made from snail shells. Over the centuries jewelry has had many functions, including use as currency, portable wealth storage AND of course, as STATUS measurement, thanks to the Egyptians.

Celebrities have donned all sorts of bling going way back.  Wealthy people, stars, musicians, athletes and royals alike, love to flaunt their wealth.

The Tower of London houses the British Crown Jewels, where the Queen of England’s personal stash is valued at $58 million. I find this utterly disgusting and wasteful. Let’s not forget the bling of Elizabeth Taylor and other celebrities’ with their larger than life engagement rings.  Today hasn’t changed much in the celebrity corner, as far as engagement rings — the bigger, the gaudier, the better.
 

Katie Holmes was given a 15-carat pale pink diamond engagement ring, AFTER THE FIRST DATE (arranged marriage much Tom?) believed to be worth over $1 million.  At least that is a million dollars that Scientology won’t be getting their mitts on. Yay!

Of course you can buy a replica of Katie’s rock for a mere fifty three dollars! ONLY $53.00, ka-ching!

But real “bling” usually means only one thing…GIANT BIG ASS RAPPER necklaces, watches and rings. Double the diamonds, double the tacky.

The term was supposedly coined by rapper B.G. back in the 90’s when his single “Bling Bling” was released. Perhaps the term was coined by B.G. (Baby Gangster), but I think the roots of bling go back to Mr. T of A-Team fame, the original bling-a-nator.  He wore enough crap around his neck to choke a horse. Oh, and rings too, lots of rings!

Jason Arasheben who has a shop in Beverly Hills and creates pieces for wealthy clients said:

“A lot of these rappers simply don’t have the money for real stuff anymore. It’s to the point where they are wearing imitation jewelry, and that’s ridiculous.”

Who can forget the monstrosity he created for rapper Lil Jon, which read “CRUNK AIN’T DEAD”? I know I’d like to.

It weighed over five pounds and had 3,756 round-cut white diamonds, and also won a place in the 2007 by Guinness World Records. A bit pretentious to say the least. Ah hell…it’s just damn STUPID. There I said it. All that money spent frivolously on jewelry to prove how much money you make, when clearly what these people need is to buy some damn common sense.

I was intrigued that Biz Markie, whose 1990’s hit and claim to fame was “Just a Friend” (loved that song and video, white wig, candelabra and all) for agreeing to sell off his bling for charity in the “Hip Hop’s Crown Jewels” auction. Sadly the auction was canceled due to lack of interest. Kudos to Biz for trying to do the right thing. I wish the rap community would follow suit and give a little bit back.

In Houston, which is the epicenter for “ice” created for rappers, designer Johhny Dang says his business has fallen off 60% and that rappers are going for lesser gold, cheaper and fake diamonds and machine made pieces. Gee, that’s a shame.

Looks like rappers will have to invest in something of worth, rather than a gigantic status symbol.  Perhaps something a little bit more sound. Although these days, that’s an ever-shifting commodity. May I suggest their family’s future or even a wonderful charity, or dare I say something that they can fall back on when their rap career comes to an abrupt halt? MC Hammer anyone?

The Wall Street Journal”s  Miguel Bustillo reported:

After years of starring in rap-music lyrics and videos, “bling” is losing its ring.

The recession is cramping the style of hip-hop artists and wannabes — many of whom are finding it difficult to afford the diamond-encrusted pendants and heavy gold chains they have long used to project an aura of out-sized wealth.

In an attempt to keep up appearances, celebrity jewelers say rappers are asking them to make medallions with less-precious stones and metals. Some even whisper that the artists have begun requesting cubic zirconia, the synthetic diamond stand-in and QVC staple.

Hip-hop luminaries with the cash to keep it real are appalled. Bling aficionados fret that the art of “ice” is being watered down.

Rapper 50 Cent (Fiddy as we call him) has relished the chance to accuse his musical adversaries of not glittering like gold. During a radio interview, the artist, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, taunted rapper Rick Ross for wearing faux and rented jewelry. “Everything that you see has to absolutely be fake,” said Mr. Jackson. Rick Ross, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, has denied the claims. Mr. Jackson didn’t return requests for comment.

“A lot of these rappers simply don’t have the money for real stuff anymore,” says Jason Arasheben, who crafts custom jewelry for wealthy clientele, including Saudi royals and Hollywood movie stars, at his California boutique called Jason of Beverly Hills. “It’s to the point where they are wearing imitation jewelry, and that’s ridiculous.”

Mr. Arasheben designed the colossus of hip-hop jewels three years ago for rapper Lil Jon: an enormous gold necklace that spells out “CRUNK AIN’T DEAD” with 3,756 round-cut white diamonds (Crunk is a southern rap subgenre that Lil Jon — real name, Jonathan Mortimer Smith — has struggled to keep alive). The neck-straining piece, which weighs more than five pounds, was recognized in 2007 by Guinness World Records as the largest diamond pendant on Earth.

‘Big, Chintzy Junk’

He also fashioned a pendant in the image of headphones bedecked in black and white diamonds a few years ago for rapper Biz Markie, whose whimsical jewelry hailed from a less self-conscious era in rap. The rapper — whose real name is Marcel Theo Hall — says he is saddened to see newer rappers favor big, chintzy junk over smaller jewels that illuminate personality.

“When I was wearing a big rope, it was a symbol that I was one of the elite,” says Mr. Hall, whose 1990 hit “Just a Friend” is enjoying a renaissance on iTunes after being featured in a Heineken beer television ad. “These kids think size matters, but they be lyin’. It just makes them look silly.”

Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Hall had planned to sell their pieces for charity last fall in an auction titled “Hip Hop’s Crown Jewels.” But in a sign of bling’s fading shine, Phillips de Pury & Co. postponed the auction to March and then canceled it altogether due partly to insufficient interest.

From the dawn of rap music three decades ago, hip-hop artists have festooned themselves with gaudy ornaments to signify that they have risen above humble origins to become ghetto royalty.

English-American trailblazer Slick Rick sported a diamond-studded eye patch, portraying himself as the “Black Liberace,” while the three members of Queens, N.Y.-based Run-D.M.C. rocked gold rope chains that seemed thick enough to hold a real anchor.

To be sure, phony or inferior ice has been around as long as rappers’ traditional standard gear of two-turntables-and-a-microphone. But with Internet piracy cutting into musicians’ record sales and the recession shrinking attendance for live shows, jewelers say the ersatz stuff has never been more widespread.

“Times are hard, ain’t nobody rocking it like that anymore,” says rapper and record executive Bryan “Birdman” Williams, who co-founded Cash Money Records in New Orleans in the early 1990s with his brother, Ronald “Slim” Williams. The independent label has sold more than 45 million albums.

The founders of the record label claim that its most famous artist, Lil Wayne, coined the term “bling” during a recording session to give a sound to blinding opulence. The word entered popular usage after the hit “Bling Bling” by then Cash Money artist B.G. and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003.

‘D-Quality Diamonds’

“People think these big pieces are blindin’ but they be like D-quality diamonds, and when you try and sell them you learn they ain’t worth a thing,” says Slim Williams. “You can’t be doing it like we did it no more.”

In humid Houston, a Southern rap capital renowned as a mecca of ice, jeweler Johnny Dang says he is adapting to the changing climate by giving customers the less-expensive jewelry they want.

“The look is still big, it is still bling, but people are going with smaller diamonds and lower-karat gold,” trading down from 18- and 14-karat alloys to 12k, which is only 50% gold, or less, says Mr. Dang. A Vietnamese immigrant, he started out at flea markets and now has a shop in the tony Galleria mall next to Neiman Marcus.

To survive, Mr. Dang is relying more often on machine-made versions of his jewelry that can cut the cost of a $10,000 handcrafted pendant in half.

Mr. Dang’s “grillz” sales also have fallen off 60% in the recession. He and his business partner, the rapper Paul Wall, helped popularize the bejeweled dental retainers earlier this decade, when diamond-laced varieties molded with platinum were selling for tens of thousands of dollars.

Melting Down Grillz

Now the recession has so damped the extravagance that a Web site called sellyourgoldteeth.com is doing brisk business buying grillz for meltdown value. “It’s a sign of the times,” says Mark Porcello of Porcello Estate Buyers, which runs the site.

Hip-hop artists aren’t eager to admit to thrift, and numerous rappers rumored to be trading down declined to talk about the trend.

“You gotta understand, it is every rapper’s fear to be exposed as a fraud,” said Gregory Lewis of Brooklyn, who posts conversations with artists on the Internet under the alias “Doggie Diamonds, the interview king.” “If you admit you wear fake jewelry, it is over for you. It’s like bragging you drive a Lamborghini when you really drive a Toyota.”

Selling their grillz at sellyourgoldteeth.com? Well I don’t think Flavor Flav is willing to melt down any of his grillz any time soon. It is now one of his trademarks, the first one being of course his HUGE clock necklace.

And who can forget the Pimp Cup?  Nelly, Lundacris, comedian Kat Williams and Lil Jon have all carried a pimp cup just to name a few.
The perfect accessory to carry to a club so you can drink your ”crunk juice,” which is Energy drink and Hennessy. Yum. I kid you not.

Now I myself LOVE jewelry, but it doesn’t have to be real or gigantic — It just has to be something I like. And if I was ever fortunate to be wealthy, I wouldn’t be rushing off to the store to pick out some big honking ring. Call me crazy, I would rather it go to my children, my family or a sound investment. Although one would argue that gold is now at an all time high, so perhaps rappers can cash in and invest in something worthwhile, like say, a pimped out Escalade. *snicker*

I can’t imagine ever wanting to “show off my wealth.” But there are many people who think this is of the utmost importance, some to the point of going into debt, to show off their wealth. Totally ironic isn’t it?
I think if you are wealthy, a star, a sports figure, musician, royalty or what have you, and you didn’t follow suit like others and buy jewelry, cars and houses with such exorbitant price tags, it would only make the celebrity look more humble, and I am sure people would admire that trait immensely, especially in these hard times.

Take the late, great Paul Newman for instance. VERY wealthy for sure, but you never witnessed him flashing his money around. In fact, Newman created a line of food products for the sole purpose of donating all the profits to charity. Just plain class all the way. We miss you Paul!

Many greats were remembered for who they were, and what they contributed to the world, but none of them were remembered JUST for their bling. Ok rappers? iight?? 

Peace Out.