If you know anything about anything, then you know that several Dirty Southerners, with such giants as Nelly and Lil’ John leading the way, it is once gain cool to lug five lb gold chains around our necks and shove our mouths full of gold hip hop jewelry. Once again, you say? Yeah, I dared to say it.

While these stars might be carrying the torch for a few of the styles from the past, er’,  I mean the future, it might be best for you to understand where real hip hop jewelry started.

Two words.

Flava Flav. Some may want to forget, but this skinny, little, high power, rap machine with the oversized clock swinging around his neck, and the teeth made right in Fort Knox, is probably the Godfather of Hip Hop jewelry as we know it today.

Nelly may have made gold and platinum plated bicuspids the rage it is today, with his hip hop Grillz success. Lil’ john might have brought back Run DMC rope chains with his infamous “crunk ain’t dead” pendant and chain and made them into the hip hop chains of today. He even brought his own addition to bling bling hip hop jewelry, the Pimp cup. But there is no way we can say that this “bling thing” is a new thing, and with that being said, I also do not think that it is going to be going away anytime soon.

There will always be a desire to express our success through the use of larger than life jewelry pieces. It is built into the very nature of jewelry itself. It is made to wear, and it is worn to show it off, so the bigger the bling the better the bling. Hip hop pendants, chains and ropes all fit this bill. It doesn’t take an inside look into the new generation to understand this need, to embrace it, and join right in.

No one is asking you to carry around one half million dollar, custom hip hop jewelry chains like Lil’ John, but it sure would be nice. For those of us with a little less scratch than that, there are still plenty of eye catchers out there to adorn our filthy rich desires. From something so simple as a dope belt buckle to a jewel encrusted phat ‘az wallet, and even hip hop diamond jewelry, the trend has grown to incorporate any body’s taste, as long as your not a just buster with a few bucks trying to look sick. If that the case, then you might need to use a little more hip hop jewelry than the next guy.

With some hip hop chains the size of Texas and a few forties, Beyonce will seem like a reasonable date selection, and you can finally get up the nerve to tell your girl who really runs the roost. At least when she puts you out on your butt, you will have all of that bling bling to pay for the hotel room fees for the next week or so.

Not all of us can be Li’ Wayne or one of the Cash Money Millionaires, but with a few mouse clicks and a valid credit card, any body who is willing to spend the cash, or simply look like they did, can find enough bling hip hop jewelry to fill Fort Knox. You have an almost endless selection of hip hop belt buckles and iced out watches at the tips of your fingertips.

You no longer have to source a blood diamond to fulfill your greedy jewel encrusted desires either. With faux hip hop jewelry and almost every other style of bling bling available in semi precious or non commodity form, there is no longer a reason at all to feel guilty for sporting your new Platinum and white gold rope chains and silver studded pistol hip hop pendants.

While appearing as if you just walked out of Tutankhamen tomb takes time to put together and is best pulled off by those with the ego of a mountain, anyone with a PC and an Internet connection can now live the dream of wearing a pirate’s ransom as an accessory a near reality.

Quality and actual piece value can vary from hip hop bling retailer to retailer. Make sure that you deal with a supplier that offers open information on the products they offers and a guarantee of satisfaction on the products they sell.