Of the museums in New York creating an exhibit on jewelry associated with hip-hop culture, I wouldn’t have imagined the American Museum of Natural History. However, “Ice Cold: A Showcase of Hip-Hop Jewelry” This May opened a small gallery in his Mignon Halls of Gems and Minerals. With 66 objects, it has a clever factor—the gems might garner more attention if considered through the lens of hip-hop, possibly the most widespread musical movement the United States has ever produced.
The show may have been planned to absorb the energy around the 50th anniversary of hip-hop’s debut last year, or to anticipate the opening of the Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx in 2025. of the museum Acceptable possession and use No remains of indigenous and enslaved peoples, Because the museum faces criticism about the legality and ethics of these acquisitions. Anyway, the venture seems to be a success. I visited the show twice on Thursday evening and Monday morning, and each time the gallery was full of visitors.
The show is beautifully organized. It is installed in a small, dark, semicircular gallery, with jewelry in vitrines in front of black acetate and Plexiglas. Diamonds sparkle and coruscate as you move across the display. One can linger, dazzle and be captivated by the bold inventiveness of pieces like ASAP Rocky’s EXO Grenade pendant – its “pin” sets the time – displayed on two discs set inside the locket. However, the exhibition offers more, including the hidden and paradoxical implications of wearing these constellations of bling.
Curators, Vicki Toback, author of “Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History” Kevin “Coach K” LeeFounder of Quality Control Music Label and Karam GillDirector of A documentaries on the subject, Historically hip-hop’s historically rich look has taken an important step. He mentions an Asante chief in Ghana whose ceremonial dress consisted of copious amounts of gold (although the referenced image is dated 2005, making the ancestral connection unclear).
Cleverly, the curators also check each jeweler (when they are identified), so that they are properly recognized as collaborators and producers alongside music stars, such as Ghostface Killah’s Garuda bracelet by Jason Arasheben — a massive 14-karat gold wrist cuff with an eagle on it. land on Notorious BIG’s Jesus necklace, made by Tito Caicedo of Manny’s New York, is another icon. It depicts the head and neck of a golden figure whose beard, locks, clothes and crown are studded with diamonds. In terms of the meaning they convey, these chains do a lot of the heavy lifting.
For starters, he suggests membership in a very exclusive club, such as the Quality Control QC necklace for members of his label, including Migos and Lil Yachty. The Rock-a-Fella pendant – which is infamous Cannot be bought but must be given — produced for the eponymous label founded by Jay-Z, Damon Dash and Kareem Burke. And after performing their 1986 song “My Adidas,” each Run-DMC member received a solid-gold sneaker-shaped pendant from Adidas upon signing an endorsement deal.
Roxanne Shante of the Juice CrewAnd one of the few female rappers to achieve stardom in the early days of hip-hop, her Juice Crew ring is shown here. “Having a Juice Crew ring is like a royalty attitude, and you had to represent certain things in the community to wear it,” she says in the show’s text. “It stands for so much: community, loyalty and greatness.”
This jewelry is also used by men in marriage rituals. Nelly, who wears a diamond Nefertiti piece in a photo from the exhibition, sings in “Ride With Me” (2000): “And if Shorty wanna pop, we’re poppin’ Crist’/ Shorty wanna see snow, then I ice the wrist ” Both parties benefit here: the man who gives the crystal champagne is recognized as a lavish provider; the woman is treated as a prized object. How restrictive these roles may be is unknown. (Subtly, however, in the performance The exotic experience hasn’t been overlooked, including jeweler David Tamargo’s grill set launched by Lil Nas X in 2021 to celebrate the artist’s undeniably homoerotic single, “Montero (call me by your name).”)
These pieces also serve as a kind of memorial. is on display The Capital Steeze necklace was commissioned by Joy Badass in honor of his friend Capital Steeze, who died in 2012 at the age of 19. Became a founding member of the Progressive Era or Pro Era collective along with Badass Stizz and other rappers. The necklace features a likeness of the late rapper, in gold, on a diamond-studded Gucci link chain. Casting one out for a deceased housewife is a well-known ritual, but having her image printed on a pendant attracts attention.
But more importantly, also used for jewelry Ambition Being elite, having the means to spend lavishly on personal adornment. And this desire usually exceeds the actual assets that aspiring rappers have.
On his 2004 debut album “The College Dropout,” Kanye West recently talked about buying $25,000 worth of jewelry before owning a house, then added: “I’ve got some bills overdue, I sure ain’t gonna get one Having a spending problem before/we’re all self-conscious, I’ll be the first to admit it. Yeh, one of the most emotionally transparent (and most volatile) voices in hip-hop, articulates his fake-it-til-you-make-it ethos.
This is a critique of hip-hop culture: that flamboyant self-presentation — not just jewelry, but clothes and cars — says what you do. buyWhat do you object to? production There is a measure of your worth; That hip-hop glorifies a lifestyle that is fake or irresponsible and, anyway, beyond the reach of most people on this planet. There is some truth in all this. But this is not hip-hop’s cross to bear alone. The blame lies largely in American popular culture.
Throughout the 1980s, during the commercial rise of hip-hop, the television show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” blasted the clichéd notion that “making it” consisted of exclusive wristwatches, automobiles, boats, and real estate. In hip-hop culture, rappers say it with their chests, loudly, unashamedly, in the streets. The trappings are worn for public view rather than obscured by shell companies.
Yet, this shamelessness allows the unkind and hateful parts of the culture to feel entitled. “Run the Jewels”, released in 2013 by the eponymous rap duo, encouraged the violent theft of jewelry from anyone who felt privileged: “So when we say, ‘Run the Jewels’/Just run ’em, Baby, please don’t delay me / She grabbed the pearls, said, ‘What in the world?’/ And, ‘I don’t give a shit!’/ I put a pistol on that bitch and I shot that bitch.
So, while “Ice Cold” sings from the hip-hop songbook in a celebratory key, it avoids the culture’s unsettling bits: misogyny, homophobia’s continued, though diminished, support for physical violence.
I wish that hip-hop culture as represented here was more aware and willing to accept these contradictions and brave enough to try to resolve them. But this is not the purpose of this show. It does not feature hip-hop, underground acts, “conscious” or feminist rap, or queer segments of hip-hop produced outside the United States. However, Latin artists are present, including Fat Joe and Big Pun. As are some female rappers including MC Lyte and Queen Latifah.
The show takes seriously the less expensive symbols of black liberation that serve as embellishments, such as DJ Kool Herc’s leather medallion on which he painted a self-portrait and a graffiti tag. Kool Herc is one of the pioneers of hip-hop since the early 1970s, so his inclusion is a nod to the historical tradition. Within that tradition is Public Enemy, the most overtly political group in the early 1990s. The show offers watch pendants (adopted on a dare) worn by their hype men, Flavor Flavand a pendant designed by the group’s founder, Chuck Dee, depicting a black man caught in the crosshairs of a rifle — meant to symbolize the plight of all black men in the US.
But there’s an internal contradiction in the show, and in hip-hop itself: the people the culture wants to represent are, to a certain extent, ignored in favor of whoever holds the mic and whose voices shout the loudest. This is one percent.
Still, streetwise attitude and a desire to show the neighborhood that you’ve come through financially drive innovation. Tea Pain’s “Big Ass Chain” necklace weighs over 10 pounds and contains nearly 200 carats of diamonds. According to the caption, he commissioned the piece on the dare of someone he doesn’t even remember.
Tyler, the Creator’s bellhop necklace, a bejeweled golden figure holding a suitcase in each hand, is not my favorite piece because, as the text states, it contains “186 carats in diamonds and 60 carats in sapphires, as well as more than 23,000 hands. Stones.” Instead, it refers to the history of black people working in service jobs, such as hotel bellhops, because — based on their race alone — they were denied employment commensurate with their skills, abilities, and ambitions. It symbolizes Tyler’s success and A nod to his ancestors who could not flaunt their gifts in public.
I know something about the impulse to celebrate one’s accomplishments with jewelry. I got my first black diamond ring a few years ago and had to overcome considerable anxiety to do so. I grew up in a working-class home that convinced me that extravagance was acceptable only after a middle-class life was firmly established. I don’t know that I have. But after a long struggle to get my doctorate, I felt I deserved it. It wasn’t until the third visit to the midtown jeweler that I saw pictures on the walls of various hip-hop luminaries. What unites us are the years we spent working in obscurity and our willingness to invest in something that pays glowing tribute to the work we’ve done.
Meanwhile A recent public forumNicole Hannah-Jones, author of “The 1619 Project,” discusses the importance of black people presenting themselves in a way that reads authentically. “One of the things I love about black people is our sense of style and flair,” she said. She argues that in the struggle to achieve success, “if you make it, it’s important to make it intact.”
“Ice Cold,” despite its limitations, emphasizes an aspect of hip-hop that truly nourishes its audience: recognizing and accepting that we deserve more than just being intact; We have every right to shine.
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