From Biz Markie’s brushed gold nameplate to T-Pain’s “Big Ass Chain” beset with hundreds of diamonds and  Erykah Badu’s 22-karat gold Ma’at grills, inspired by the eponymous Egyptian goddess, 50 years of hip-hop jewelry history is now on display in all its blinged-out glory at New York’s American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). As a playlist by DJ Woof sets the mood, these gilded and diamond-encrusted necklaces, rings, and grills chart how hip-hop’s custom-crafted, oversized accessories became, like their wearers’ music, forms of radical, unabashed self-expression.

“Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry” may feel like a long way from the Bronx streets where hip-hop was born, and that’s part of the point. The exhibition demonstrates how hip-hop has spread so far beyond the margins that we may be only beginning to understand its influence on the culture at large.

Slick Rick. Photo: Janette Beckman, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery.

“Bringing the ‘Ice Cold’ exhibit to the American Museum of Natural History is a testament to the cultural significance of this art form and culture [and its] enduring impact on style and society,” said guest curator Vikki Tobak, whose 2022 book, Ice Cold. A Hip-Hop Jewelry History (Taschen), served as inspiration for the show.

Indeed, the show’s curatorial team points out that the exhibition is about a lot more than just bling.

“Both as a cultural symbol and as an aesthetic, hip-hop jewelry reflects deeper issues about wealth, identity, and the American Dream,” said Tobak via e-mail. “It has always been about more than just conspicuous consumption and more a visible statement of overcoming obstacles and transforming one’s circumstances.”

FERG. Photo: C.T. Robert.

Take the iconic label chains in the show. There’s the diamond-studded Roc-A-Fella medallion, in honor of the record label co-founded by Jay Z; there’s Nipsey Hussle’s All Money In A$I necklace, referring to the record label of the same name,  founded by the late rapper; and there’s Coach K’s diamond and 14-karat white gold QC necklace, signifying Quality Control Music. These, Tobak points out, are veritable symbols of entrepreneurship, the “hustle” of trying to make it, in “a grind outside of conventional opportunities that weren’t always made accessible to these artists.”

On the curatorial team, Tobak is joined by hip-hop legend Slick Rick, Kevin “Coach K” Lee, founder and COO of the Quality Control Music record label, Karam Gill, who made the 2021 documentary series Ice Cold, and other contributors.

The ever-larger dazzle of these jewels also challenges what success in America is supposed to look like and who gets to show it, argues Gill. The project, including his film on the topic, “has shed light on larger conversations around societal perception and the American Dream,” he said in press materials. “This exhibition pushes that further in a powerful way.”

“Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry.” Photo: Alvaro Keding/© American Museum of Natural History.

In addition, hip-hop jewelry is shown here as a personal expression of one’s culture and life, made popular by Black and Latinx communities. “People get so stuck on how much these pieces cost, but truly, even the early simpler gold pieces speak to [their] deeper cultural and personal significance,” added Tobak.

Slick Rick’s iconic eye patch, for instance, is an intrinsic part of his theatrical, narrative style and persona, while also a rejection of conventional ideas of displaying wealth.

Drake, The Crown Jewel of Toronto Pendant. This pendant—designed by Alex Moss in 2023 to celebrate Drake’s hometown of Toronto—boasts multicolored diamonds and rubies on 18-karat gold and features the mascots for the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Blue Jays wrapped around Toronto’s CN Tower. Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

Additionally, the show spotlights the jewelry makers who worked closely with these artists to create accessories not seen anywhere before, like K & I jewelers in Brooklyn’s Albee Square Mall, and a later generation of now well-known jewelers like Tito Caciedo of Manny’s New York and Jacob Arabo of Jacob & Co.

Ghostface Killah. Photograph by Atsuko Tanaka

Legendary pieces in the show include Notorious B.I.G.’s giant “Jesus” necklace; Slick Rick’s crown, eye patch, and five-foot-long chain; and Ghostface Killah’s five-pound Eagle arm band-cum-wearable monument. Another favorite example of hip-hop’s newer phase of bold expression is the Nicki Minaj “Barbie” pendant in gold, diamonds, and Barbie-pink enamel.

Nicki Minaj, Barbie Pendant. Nicki Minaj’s iconic Barbie pendant—which boasts 54.47 carats of diamonds on 18-karat gold and bright Barbie-pink enamel—was made by Ashna Mehta in 2022 and is the most recent commissioned by Minaj, whose first Barbie pendant dates to 2009. Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

“For many pioneers, these jewelry pieces also carried symbolic weight… literally, as in the case of nameplate pieces from artists April Walker and Scorpio, wearing your name on your body for the world to see,” said Tobak. “To really see and be seen.”

These artists, along with their bejeweled aesthetic, are certainly being seen now. In addition to AMNH, other cultural institutions have been celebrating hip-hop’s 50th anniversary since it began last year. (Why stop?)

But the AMNH show marks a new level of acknowledgment. What’s more, while setting up the show, several of the artists whose jewelry is on display, including Roxanne Shante, Joey Bada$$, FERG, and Nas, all said they had come to the museum as children on school trips. Returning now, as makers of cultural history, to see their own artifacts in the global and historical context of the museum’s hallowed halls of gems and minerals, is its own kind of priceless jewel.

“Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry” is on view at the American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, New York, until January 5, 2025.