You know times are hard when rappers and R'n'B divas are selling up their bling to make a buck.
The day after the world's biggest diamond was mined in Africa, news breaks that a US auction of hip hop bling has caused such a stir that its date has been postponed while experts catalogue the full gaudy array.
Naturally, all the papers went for it as a picture story: http://tinyurl.com/3g53ug
One angle, though, was left unexplored: Much was made of the cultural significance of the sale in terms of hip hop's standing as an art movement.
The Guardian couldn't help itself and dropped in a mention of "Smithsonian Institution's fledgling hip-hop archive".
So, if hip hop is now high art, and there are real collectors who are planning to pay tens of thousands for the bling rings about to go under the hammer, does this mean in years to come Michael Aspel and Eric Knowles will be pondering the value of the crown ring belonging to the late Tupac Shakur on the Antiques Road Show?
I do hope so.
The Karma of Literature... BookCrossing.com
1 comment:
You may laugh, but what about those poor gangsta rappers - imagine how they feel having to part with ridiculously overpriced pieces of tat from the Mr T range at Argos?
What are they going to do when all the bling is gone? When they are down to their last 50 cent?(Ha! See what I did there?)
I'm amazed they are in this much trouble - surely there are always more records to be made about bitches, hos and gats?
That wonderfully intelligent and urbane genre can't be tapped out already?
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