Is Bling Finally Receiving The Recognition It Deserves?

Alvaro Keding/© AMNH For the rapper Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (better known as Slick Rick), jewelry is rooted in identity.  “I have been telling stories through my attire and adornments for as long as I’ve been telling them with beats and rhymes,” he wrote in The Guardian. Case in point: his diamond eye patch isn’t mere adornment; it’s a majestic rendition of something he’s had to wear since a childhood accident cost him his right eye. Likewise, his diamond crown nods to his British upbringing and pays tribute to African royalty. When he commissioned the piece, he recreated the grandeur of Asante chiefs in Ghana who’d adorn themselves with regalia for ceremonies. “My jewels are a gift from my ancestors who sat on the thrones and reigned with rings and rocks the size of ice cubes,” he said. Alvaro Keding/© AMNH Just as Slick Rick turned his disability into a creative outlet, other hip-hop artists have channeled their life experiences into inventive designs, pioneering a rich visual art form. The cultural influence of hip-hop jewelry is at the center of a new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Titled Ice Cold: An Exhibition of...