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.

I think Nelly said it best

I got the wrist wear and neck wear dats captivatin’
But it’s my smile dat’s got these onlookers spectatin’
My mouth piece simply certified a total package
Open up my mouth and you see mo carrots than a salad
My teeth are mind blowin’ givin’ everybody chillz
Call me George Foreman ‘cuz I’m sellin’ everybody grillz

While some may not understand, or even mock the legitimate fashion standing of hip hop grillz and their roots as a statement of overcoming adversity against all odds, they will at the same time totally enwrap themselves in all other aspects of a culture that seems to be based on opportunity and risk, but at the same time views the enjoyment of the profits to be something shameful.

Don’t ask Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ Kim, Jay Z, or Sean Combs to be bashful or repentant for their success. Lil’ John even rewarded himself in selfish splendor by spending over $150 on a 12 pound hip hop bling showered necklace and pendant stamping out the important social message “Crunk Aint Dead” in all its naked beauty.

Where Grillz take a special place in history is their unique body positioning as a jewelry item. While there have been many various reincarnations of older themes, such as tattooing and piercing arise throughout the years, grillz are uniquely modern. While tattoos or tribal piercing may have been the status defining adornments in previous cultures, the dramatic honesty in the display of raw wealth as the status symbol of today through real hip hop jewelry could never be a more natural act, no matter what you think of Nelly’s top row of diamonds and bottom row of gold.

If you would like to express what you got because you can, then a simple search of your favorite gold grillz and hip hop jewelry information will point you to an endless supply of choices of products, styles, and suppliers, of grillz, bling bling jewelry, and other iced out hip hop jewelry.