Items from the legendary rapper, The Notorious B.I.G. and other rap stars’ jewellery collections will be on display for the public to see in a forthcoming show highlighting hip-hop’s long history with bling.
Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewellery opens on May 9 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The exhibition will feature gems from A$AP Rocky, Nicki Minaj, Slick Rick, Erykah Badu, Tyler, The Creator, and those formerly worn by The Notorious B.I.G.
Sean M. Decatur, president of the American Museum of Natural History, discussed Hip-Hop‘s love of jewellery and the status that comes with it.
Sean M. Decatur, president of the American Museum of Natural History, described Hip-Hop’s relationship with jewellery and the status that comes with showing off such expensive ornaments.
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“Hip-hop jewelry has had a huge impact on our wider modern culture,” said Decatur in a statement. “These jewelry pieces are not just magnificent in and of themselves, they’re an important part of hip-hop history and hip-hop culture as artists claimed and transformed traditional symbols of luxury and success.”
Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewellery is the latest in a series of initiatives exploring society’s obsession with bling and excess.
The next year, author Vikki Tobak published Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewellery History, a hardback book that examines jewelry’s significance in Hip-Hop as a “proclamation of identity and self-expression.” The book is billed as “the definitive history of how Hip-Hop blinged out and redefined the world of jewellery, luxury, and style,”
