The Economy's Having An Effect On Rapper's Bling...Say It Isn't So! - Page 4
'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.
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