The Economy's Having An Effect On Rapper's Bling...Say It Isn't So! - Page 5
'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.
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