This question has crossed many peoples’ minds whenever they see a rapper adorned with jewelry of great value. They are the only people on earth who can rival a typical Indian lady in terms of gold. It seems that it is in their nature to wear flashy jewelry. As there are five elements of hip hop; DJing beatboxing, graffiti, MCing, and B-boying, I would add another three which are Ag, Au, and C. I know you are wondering which elements are these. They are gold, silver, and carbon. These three elements have been a vital part of hip hop since its inception.
The following are reasons why rappers wear bling.
1. Competition
Hip hop rappers are always in a competition to discern who has more jewelry than the other. With so many competing visions of opulence, the artists are always in a race to outdo one another. They flex their hardest by acquiring new pieces of jewelry. In the process, they get bling of all kinds and designs. The length of your chain, the number of chains you have, and the number of diamonds on your jewelry are used as an indication of how your career is doing. The more flashy chains you have, the more it is perceived that your career is doing well even when this is not true. However, through this competition, many masterpieces have been brought alive due to the creativeness one needs to outdo the other. Artists also compete for followers and fans. After all, you cannot have a hip-hop career without fans.
2. Allegiance and status
In the beginning hip hop was a medium for the oppressed, segregated and subjected people of color and those of lower-income brackets to air their grievances. It was there for people who could not even imagine themselves adorned with expensive jewelry such as gold. When hip-hop artists made it from the bottom of the social hierarchy to climb up to the top hierarchy through rap music, they had to show it off by buying flashy jewelry. They had to flaunt their wealth and put it out there for the world to see. There is no better way of showing it off than hanging it on their neck. They, therefore, used jewelry that their social status had changed. To this date, jewelry is still a status symbol.
3. Wealth
Though in today’s world bling might be synonymous with rap music, it does not mean that it is easy to acquire. Gold is a very expensive precious metal. Therefore when one can afford it, it means they are wealthy. As it was used to store wealth in ancient times, in today's world the rappers use it as their bank. This is because many hip-hop artists do not trust third parties like banks and financial societies. Therefore instead of banking their money, they prefer walking around with it on their bodies in form of jewelry. This means they can retrieve it whenever they want and the bank cannot freeze it whenever they are in trouble with the law. This is because they have a high probability of colliding with the law due to their social status.
I hope that your question has been answered well, right?
