In 2005, the Austrian “Standard” reported: “The Duden editorial team has bling-bling in the pipeline of words that may need to be lexicalized, but hesitates (…) as to whether the onomatopoeic double word has really caught on in German.” Ha! How one can misjudge cultural phenomena when looking at them solely through the white Central European glasses. Just one year later, in 2006, the Duden had to admit that bling-bling (“very glittery jewellery”) naturally belongs in the German vocabulary; meanwhile, in 2008, the “Spiegel” still lacked any sensitivity when it described bling as “the ostentatious proletarian pomp of hip hoppers”. Such a hateful orgy of alliteration can only come about through too much Protestantism and envy.
? “IceCold. A Hip-Hop Jewelry History” at Amazon.de
The new book “Ice Cold. A Hip-Hop Jewelry History” (Taschen) now helps to understand how much the pride in sparkling jewelry in the Afro-American hip-hop world is also pride in the rediscovered cultural roots in Africa: “My jewels are my superhero suit, an Extension of my beautiful brown skin. It’s a gift from ancestors who sat on thrones and reigned with rings and rocks the size of ice cubes,” writes rapper Slick Rick in the preface to the opulent illustrated book.
The forefather of bling
With Mansa Musa, he also names a style role model: the king of the West African kingdom of Mali sits on a golden throne with a golden crown on illustrations from the 14th century and holds his golden scepter and a golden cup in his hands. Mansa Musa was considered the richest man in the world at the time. The father of bling! From the photos in “Ice Cold” it is by no means clear that as a rap star you earn less money through Spotify today than you did in the past with physical sound carriers. The iced-out chains, grillz, rings and watches of younger stars like Megan Thee Stallion and Tyler the Creator are in no way inferior to those of old icons like Eric B. & Rakim or Tupac Shakur.
Interestingly enough, the little words “fake” or “faux” are not used once in the book, and there is no philosophizing about “realness” either. Editor Vicki Tobak, who is white, doesn’t presume to question whether all diamonds in the rap game are real. Seen in this way, it adopts the argumentation of rap: diamonds are real when they are described and presented as diamonds. Anything else would be disrespectful. After all, bling is a self-empowerment strategy of people whose slave ancestors once had to leave all wealth behind.
This column first appeared in the Musikexpress issue 09/2022.