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Bling-bling, often shortened to justbling, is "flashyjewelry worn especially as an indication of wealth or status; broadly: expensive and ostentatious possessions"[1] such asgrills and designerhandbags. The term arose as slang, but grew into a cultural mainstay. Prominent examples of bling-bling include a largecross necklace orJesus piece.[2]
Inlinguistics terms,bling is either anideophone or anonomatopoeia, depending on the definition one uses, withbling-bling being itsreduplication. Some have attributed the term to rappers that came beforeB.G., or to the old cartoonish sound effects meant to convey the desirability and or shininess of gold, gems, jewels, money, and more.[3]
Bling became increasingly entrenched within thehip hop movement followingB.G.'s release of his lead single "Bling Bling" off of his 1999 albumChopper City in the Ghetto.[4]
The word was added to theShorter Oxford English Dictionary in 2002, and to theMerriam Webster dictionary in 2006. Companies such asSprint andCadillac have used the wordbling in their advertisements, for instance. On the other hand, in 2004,MTV released a satirical cartoon showing the term first being used by a rapper, followed by several progressively less "streetwise" characters, concluding with a middle-aged white woman describing her "bling" to her elderly mother.[5][6]
The term was subsequently used for anyone displaying a luxurious and ostentatious lifestyle.[7][8][9]
The term has spread to Spanish speaking countries around the world, with Latin hip-hop andreggaeton artists from places likePuerto Rico andPanama. The main nuance is that, in Spanish, it is often stylized and pronounced as "blin-blin".[10] Furthermore, the Spanish wordblinblineo also refers to bling and its style. Similarly, in French, "bling-bling" traditionally describesnouveau riche attitudes; such as "wearing expensive suits, stylish sunglasses and conspicuously large wristwatches" or anything that is ostentatious and can be considered of "poor taste".[11] In German, it is usually used as simply "Bling".[citation needed]
The short filmBling: Consequences and Repercussions explains the troubled backstory of many of the diamonds jewelers often use to make the gaudy jewelry. Explicitly, the film takes issue with the fact that, occasionally, the diamonds were originallyblood diamonds, that fuel wars, poverty, slavery, and killings across countries in Africa.[12] Similarly,Bling: A Planet Rock (2007) documents and subsequently contrasts the flashy world of commercial hip-hop jewelry against the significant role diamonds play in the ten-yearcivil war inSierra Leone.
From a different perspective, many people consider bling and its aesthetic as empowering, rather than literally and metaphorically likening the expensive chains to slavery.[13][14]