Around lunch time the other day I stop by a local bookstore to see if I could find anything cool to read. To my surprise I found a book titled “Bling: The Hip-Hop Jewelry Book” by Reggie Ossé and Gabriel Tolliver.

OMG! This book was hot…it showed the evolution on bling, from Slick Rick to Ghost Face. The pictures are crazy…80s, 90s, 00s. This book is a must read. So today post is just a history show of Hip Hop Bling.

Slick Rick, hip-hop’s original “King of Bling.”

Dennis Coles, aka Ghostface Killah, taking a much needed snack break, shows off one of his most prized possessions, his “Wu Bird”.

Manny’s Rolls Royce, a classic late 1970’s – early 1980’s finger ring. This was a must-have amongst the period’s Harlemite drug dealers, hustlers, pimps and underground elite.

Diplomats. All those colors show us why these dudes are seriously ballin’. It’s also a visual metaphor for sampling. They took elements of the presidential seal, much like the Ramones did with their logo, and remixed it.

The Clown Prince of hip-hop, Biz Markie, rocking his custom made 18k gold four-finger ring

Ol’ Dirty Bastard, rocking his ill set of grills. I think this shot speaks to the last period when the grills were definitely part of a New York, Northeastern phenomenon. This is classic ODB in his state of genius/befuddlement. R.I.P. dude, you were one of the illest! Hope the man upstairs isn’t too tight about you rocking your shines in Heaven.

Sooo this is just a snippet of whats inside the book. So go buy it: Bling: The Hip-Hop Jewelry Book

Peace

Rah