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November 24, 2005
Marketing: The Dental Connection
Sequestered in Sweden, I miss out on most developments in hip-hop. So the rage for dental jewelry is news to me. Don't miss the slideshow running with a great LA Times article by Chris Lee, who writes:
"Hip-hop has had a well-chronicled love affair with conspicuous consumption. Gold 'rope' necklaces and 'iced out' wristwatches covered in precious stones have become standard issue within the field. And over the years, rap paeans similar to Nelly's 'Grillz' have been devoted to sky pagers, Adidas sneakers, chrome hubcaps and the diamond affluence of 'bling-bling.'
"But according to Bun B, whose grill spells 'Trill,' the title of his recently released album, across six top teeth, dental jewelry is more than simply an assertion of rappers' purchasing power.
" 'Gold teeth have evolved from being just pieces of metal on your tooth,' said the hard-core rapper. 'For some people, it's an expression of who they are: their 'hood, what they represent.... It's marketing, a promotion.' "
An expression of the hood? Yeah, right. But promotion? Ubetcha. This trend didn't make any sense to me until I got to that line. The hip-hop artists profiled in the piece all got their grillz at a place owned by a fellow hip-hop star but you can get something similar from Mr. Bling. I'm rather taken with the $500 fang covers but there are plenty of choices.
I still don't get it. Gold choppers remind me of Jaws, the James Bond villain in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Of course there's no reason this particular trend would speak to me but clearly it has an audience or Mr. Bling would not be in business.
Posted by Deborah Branscum at November 24, 2005 12:12 AM