The Urban Dictionary defines a chain as:

A rapper’s source of power. The sunlight to his birdman. Without a chain of platinum/gold/diamonds/bo nes, a rapper loses his ability to drop tight flows over phat beats. The is an absolute necessity, and its importance should not be taken lightly.

Ludacris once said, “Some people ask why there’s a skull on my chain, it’s ’cause I LOVE gettin’ head.”

While nearly all rappers today sport awfully gaudy jewelry, there are some artists who have taken things to another level of ridiculousness. Today we salute a few of these absurd-o-bling sporting gentlemen:

In the picture below, Busta Rhymes sports a number of chains, but the one that stands out is the diamond crusted bull, which comes complete with a ring through its nose.
Busta Rhymes And His Bull Chain

Next up we have R&B crooner Sean Kingston. We’ll leave the commentary on this piece to A Hot Mess!:

I know he doesn’t have a gold chain with crayons on it. That shit doesn’t even say “Crayola”. WOW! A mess at him getting this stupid ass chain in the first place, but to top it off he modeled the shit after the “Rose” brand they sell at Walgreen’s.

Sean Kingston And His Box Of Crayons

In the picture below Skateboard P is sporting a chain featuring diamond cartoon characters. EDIT: The man rocking the giant Dollar Sign Chain Is BAPE founder Nigo
The Neptunes

Next we have plus sized rapper, Fat Joe. His chain is fashioned to look like an I-95 shield (google I-95 Drugs for some context). The text on the shield reads ‘Coca Baby,’ in case you thought he was some sort of road-geek.
Fat Joe - Coca Baby - I-95 Chain

Kanye West demands to be recognized (see the Grammys, European VMAs, etc.), so we’ll include his Jesus chain. Nothing says you love your lord like a diamond crusted version of him worn around your neck.
Kanye West’s Jesus Piece

Young Joc likes to remind folks about his album Hustlenomics by sporting a giant diamond crusted H. Perhaps he wrote off the cost of the chain as marketing material?
Young Joc’s Hustlenomics Chain

Famous rapper Slick Rick is sporting too many pieces of jewelry to count in this photo, but note the Scales of Justice chain–a nod to his trouble with the law.
Slick Rick

Nas released I Am… back in 1999, an album which featured a golden pharaoh version of Nas on the cover. As long as you’re going to print 2 million copies of the image, you might as well have it cast in gold.
Nas The Pharaoh

Lil’ Jon deserves mention for his “Crunk Ain’t Dead” chain, as the chain is a record holder:

Check out Lil Jon’s Guinness Record-busting “Largest Diamond Pendant” — a $500K, 7.5″ x 6″ x 1″, 5.11 lb, 73 carat, 3756 round-cut diamond, 18K yellow-and-white gold monstrosity created by Jason of Beverly Hills

Lil Jon’s Record Breaking Crunk Aint Dead Chain

And the winner is? Rick Ross by a mile. While some rappers sport pieces related to their region, criminal history, record label, etc., no one to our knowledge had just gone ahead and put their own face on a chain (We don’t count Nas the Pharaoh). The purpose of a chain is to draw attention to yourself–as Jay-Z raps Said she loved my necklace, started relaxin / Now that’s what the fuck I call a chain reaction–and nothing says look at me like a yellow diamond pendant version of you (including ridiculous beard). And where was Rick Ross caught wearing this piece? At the 7th Annual Ghetto Diamond Awards in Jacksonville Florida
Rick Ross’ New Chain

Bonus: Ghostface Killa and his Eagle Bracelet. Wikipedia: Ghostface has an eccentric collection of unique jewelry that he mentions frequently in verse and interviews. Items heavily referenced are his “eagle bracelet”, a golden eagle statuette worn on his forearm (which has since been melted down), as well as the “Versace Plate” medallion.
Ghostface Killa and his Eagle Bracelet

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.