Bling

According to Urban Dictionary, bling is a Jamaican slang that has been adopted by some African American rappers and inserted into popular culture (Urban Dictionar, 2010). The term "Bling Bling" refers to the imaginary sound that is produced from light reflected by a diamond. Once upon a time diamonds were a girl's best friend, but in today's pervasive hip-hop culture, diamonds are no longer merely a discreet confidante. In hip hop, heroes like P Diddy and 50 Cent, diamonds are the ultimate prize. They are the epitome of success. The crossover was complete when the word bling earned a place in the Oxford English Dictionary. According to the lexicographers, "bling-bling" means expensive, ostentatious jewelry or clothing, or the wearing of them.

Bling has a much broader definition. It is also seen as a set of values that encompasses playing hard, looking good and lapping up the finest of everything. Sassy/gaudy style, Bentleys, Dom Perignon, fur coats, private jets, Gucci, Prada, Rolex, etc. are the materialistic items that embodies what bling represents in today’s hip hop culture. Bling is often dismissed as being a shallow and crass celebration of material wealth (Wikipedia, 2010). Traces of the evolution of black music and image back to the civil rights movement in 1960s America are all a part of the history of bling. Some believe that the era of bling has gone too far (Blender, 2010). Young music fans are being bombarded with images of a life they will never attain, partly because it does not exist anyway. Thanks to Master P, founder and creator of No Limit Records, bling has successfully infiltrated hip hop and pop culture.

Master P aka Percy Miller was born in New Orleans, LA April 29 1970. Miller and four siblings were raised in the housing project in New Orleans in a neighborhood in one of the most crime invested neighborhoods of the city. With his parents divorced, Miller traveled from New Orleans to Richmond, CA. To keep out of trouble from the...