Bling Bling
Updated: 11/04/2008

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bling-bling" (usually shortened to simply "bling") is a hip hop jewellery slang term which refers to elaborate jewelry like bling rings and other accoutrements, and also to a lifestyle built around excess spending and ostentation.

Origins and popularization of the term
The word "bling" was coined by the rap family Cash Money Millionaires in the late 1990s.It was used on a song title by Cash Money artist B.G. and used in 1998 by fellow Cash Money Records artist Lil Wayne on the track "Millionaire Dream"- "I got ten around my neck, and baguettes on my wrist, Bling!"- from the Big Tymers album 'How Ya Luv That'. "Bling Bling," released in 1999 on B.G.'s album 'Chopper City in the Ghetto' also led to the rise of the term. In interviews, B.G. has stated that the term refers to the imaginary sound that light makes when it hits a diamond, smile we wanna see your grillz and bling rings

While the term originated in the Urban Clothing hip hop jewellery community, it spread into mass culture. With Bling Bling Pendants, & Bling bling watches. In 2004, MTV released a satirical cartoon showing the term being used by a rapper, wearing a replica Jacob & Co watches and bling rings then several other progressively less "streetwise" characters, then finally by a middle aged white woman who is describing her earrings to her elderly mother. It ends with the statement, "RIP Bling-bling 1997-2004." The term was added to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in 2002 and to the Merriam Webster dictionary in 2006. Companies such as Sprint and Cadillac have used the word "bling" in their advertisements. In 2005, the rapper B.G. remarked that he 'just wished that he'd trademarked it' so that he would have profited from its extensive use. The term has also spread to Spanish: in Latin hip-hop and in reggaeton from both Puerto Rico and Panama, rappers also use the term, though it is usually written/pronounced as "blin-blin." "Blinblineo," another Spanish word, means bling-bling style or bling-bling, or blingin life-style.With Bling Bling Pendants, & Bling bling watches.

Social significance
It is thought that wearing Urban Clothing & expensive jewelry like wearing a replica Jacob & Co watches and bling rings was the one way in which young and previously impoverished men, who had acquired riches through crime, could be sure of holding on to their wealth by wearing it for all to see. This marks out the wearer of such jewelry as a person with ghetto roots, as it shows that the source of their wealth or their personal prejudices prevent them from investing in more stable assets such as cash in the bank or property like a house or car. Hence 'bling bling', while widely regarded as a slang phrase, has been seen by some as manifestation of a deeper socioeconomic problem in the United States of America, trivialised by mainstream media and hip hop chains with grillz, With Bling Bling Pendants, & Bling bling watches.

Mainstream hip hop chains music's fixation on Urban Clothing & bling bling jewellery and wearing a replica Jacob & Co watches and bling rings & other material and luxury goods has led to much criticism from media pundits and musical critics.

Chuck D of Public Enemy in Urban Clothing , for one, has criticized the phenomenon's promotion of conspicuous consumption, summarizing the mentality of some low-income youths as "Man, I work at McDonald's, but in order for me to feel good about myself I got to get a gold chain or I got to get a fly car in order to impress a sister or whatever." In a 2004 television interview, rapper Missy Elliott spoke out against 'bling bling jewellery' culture, saying that it encouraged young black men and women to spend their money irresponsibly. In his 1992 song "Us," Ice Cube rapped that "Us will always sing the blues / 'cause all we care about is hairstyles and tennis shoes." Some fans have expressed disappointment with the increased amount of advertising for expensive hip-hop brands in hip-hop magazines, saying it may encourage low-income youths to commit crime to acquire expensive products. In fact, there were many highly-publicized robberies of hip-hop artists by the late 1990s. Guru of Gang Starr was robbed at gunpoint of his Rolex watch, Queen Latifah's wearing grillz car was car-jacked, and Prodigy was robbed at gunpoint of $300,000 in jewelry. Some of the most vocal critics of "bling bling watches"-oriented music are alternative hip hop jewellery artists.

Critics also argue that bling-bling culture strengthens racist arguments that young Black men wearing a replica Jacob & Co watches are supposedly incapable of higher or more virtuous or spiritual goals than material gain, reinforcing the hood rich, or nigger rich, stereotype.

The short film Bling: Consequences and Repercussions, shot by Kareem Adouard and narrated by Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, explains how diamonds, a staple of bling fashion, occasionally originate as conflict diamonds, fueling wars, poverty, and killings in Africa.

A few hip hop jewellery insiders, such as the members of Public Enemy, have made the deliberate choice not to don expensive jewelry as a statement against bling culture. Missy Elliott stated in the aforementioned interview that hip hop chains artists should act as role models in this respect and encourage young people to invest responsibly and sensibly in stable, long-term assets.

Bling Bling as product placement
Some critics wearing a replica Jacob & Co watches allege that shilling or product placement takes place in rap music, and that lyrical references to products are actually paid endorsements. In 2005, a proposed plan by McDonalds, which would have paid rappers to advertise McDonalds food in their music, was leaked to the press. After Russell Simmons made a deal with Courvoisier to promote the brand among hip hop chains fans, P. Diddy recorded the song "Pass The Courvoisier." Simmons insists that no money changed hands in the deal, sell me your grillz.With Bling Bling Pendants, & Bling bling watches.