Bling-bling
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Image:B00000ILTK.01.LZZZZZZZ.gif Bling-bling is a hip hop slang term which refers to expensive jewelry and other accoutrements, and also to an entire lifestyle built around excess spending and ostentation. According to the Urban Dictionary [1], the term originated as Jamaican slang referring to the onomatopoeic "sound" produced in animated cartoons when light reflects off a diamond. The term was popularized in the United States when southern rapper BG used it as the title of his hit song "Bling Bling". The earliest use in a song can be traced to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince using the term in "Everything That Glitters (Ain't Always Gold), which was released in 1989 on the album And In This Corner.
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Criticism
Mainstream hip hop music's fixation on bling bling and other material and luxury goods has led to much criticism from media pundits and musical critics. They charge that the phenomenon promotes consumerism and materialism, and strengthens racist arguments that young African American men are incapable of higher or more virtuous or spiritual goals than material gain, reinforcing the hood rich stereotype. Some of the most vocal critics of "bling bling"-oriented music are so-called "alternative" hip hop artists. An example of this is the group Dead Prez, from "Hip Hop" [2]:
- All y'all records sound the same
- I'm sick of that fake thug, R&B-rap scenario, all day on the radio
- Same scenes in the video, monotonous material
- Y'all don't hear me though
- These record labels slang our tapes like dope
- You can be next in line and signed; and still be writing rhymes and broke
- You would rather have a Lexus or justice? a dream or some substance?
- A Beamer? a necklace? or freedom?
Later use of the term
The extreme proliferation of the term into the early 2000s inevitably led to a degrading of its hipness value. With MTV itself even releasing a satirical cartoon commercial in 2004 showing the term being used by a rapper, then several other progressively less "streetwise" characters, then finally by a middle aged white woman who uses the term to describe her earrings to her elderly mother. It ends with the deadpan declaration: "RIP Bling-bling 1997-2004". The clip thus simultaneously recognizes the term's once attainment of an unusual level of popularity while cleverly underscoring the term's perceived aspect of "tiredness" in the current youth culture. Today, it is rare to find a mainstream rapper who uses the term in anything but a sarcastic or joking manner.
In Latin Hip-hop (and Reggaeton from both Puerto Rico and Panama), rappers also use the term, but it is usually written/pronounced as "blin-blin". Also, "blinblineo" means bling-bling style or bling-bling life-style.
Several Cadillac Escalade billboards and magazine advertisments used the phrase "Bling Bling" to promote the expensive vehicle.
The Shorter English Dictionary added "Bling-bling" as a new entry in its fifth edition (2002).
The wine cooler MD 20/20, also known as "Mad Dog," has recently marketed a flavor called 'Bling Bling Blue Raspberry' in an attempt to attract a more youthful and affluent demographic.
Related meaning
In Southwest Asia, counterfeit brand-name goods (such as Rolex watches) are known as bling bling specials.
Miss Blingins
Miss Bling, Ms Blingin, Miss Blingin, Miss Blingins, Miss Blingins World of Jewelry, all characterise young single women who like to wear the latest jewelry and fashion accessories made popular by hip hop culture. Some people refer to this persona as The World of Miss Blingins.
See also
- List of most frequently mentioned brands in the Billboard Top 20
- Hip hop fashion
- Gangsta rap
- Thug (hip hop slang)