You can obtain good quality silver and cubic zirconia reproductions of pieces worn by your favorite hip hop artists from one to ten percent of the cost of the precious version. Silver being the versatile white metal that it is takes a good polish and its tarnishing nature can be mitigated to a great extent by electroplating it with Rhodium for a pure white look on silver jewelry and 18kt gold for a yellow look. Silver can also be finished au naturale with a bit of carefully applied antiquing for that vintage look.

Silver is not as malleable or ductile as gold is but is fairly easy to work with from a setting point of view. For hip hop jewelry that is mass produced, stones are not really set one by one on the jewelers bench. Instead, they are fixed on wax itself in a process called wax setting before the wax is immersed the liquid mold material. Once the mold material solidifies molten silver is introduced and the wax is burnt out, hence the term “lost wax”. The silver solidifies in the mold where the wax used to be and so the original wax settings are replaced with silver and the stones are thus preset once the mold material is broken to extract the silver settings. This lowers the cost of stone setting considerably and is a fairly routine process in silver jewelry manufacturing.

The use of sterling silver for hip hop jewelry allows for the mass marketing of our favorite hip hop jewelry styles and for its availability from many retailers at very affordable prices. Although one would not consider such jewelry to be “handmade jewelry” nevertheless, it is appreciated greatly by hip hop’s fans and can be measured in the serious growth of this category of hip hop jewelry.

You don’t need more than this because single diamonds that are high quality diamonds will flash light at eye level and will be quite noticeable at a party, gig, or any gathering where you want to be noticed. The first impression from your diamond stud will likely be the flashing sparkly diamond as it catches the light, and the second might well be the vibrant color if your diamond stud has a row of smaller colored diamonds on the bezel. Color enhanced diamonds combined with funky designs and highly distinctive looks are instantly recognizable as hip hop. Some men love checkerboard styles with white and deeper colored diamonds set in a check pattern. Others may prefer the bling of lots of small bright and sparkling white diamonds, against a yellow gold or pink gold setting.

Most popular are the kite shapes with varying patterns of blue, yellow, black and white diamonds either in pave set round diamonds or invisible set princess diamonds. This ubiquitous style comes in a dizzying array of design combinations to suit any requirement. Some men may only want a black and white combination with the center black and the outer rows in white or vice versa. Others may want the full rainbow colored diamond repertoire mixing pink, blue, yellow, brown, champagne, cognac, with white diamonds to highlight the effect of all the colors.

Men who cannot afford the real diamonds and gold earrings can pick up the CZ and sterling silver versions for not much money and once they’ve decided on what suits them best can opt for the real ones later. the Sterling silver and CZ earrings can be designs that are the latest trends and replicas of red carpet fashions and hip hop music video fashions. You can have a full collection of silver hip hop earrings that are reproductions of the celebrity earrings from artists like P. Diddy, Nelly, Jay-Z and athletes like Alan Iverson, Jermaine O’Neal, and Lebron James.

The large sized iced out watches that hip hop would become famous for inspiring became a force to be reckoned with. Mainstream Gents and ladies’ watch design began to change considerably during the mid to late nineties as watch faces got bigger and women began to sport mens watches because many loved the larger scale and felt liberated from the tiny watch faces of the 70s and 80s which were really just gents watch designs scaled down for women. Watches especially designed for women were few and far between and hip hop watch style had a lot to do with changing this. Blinged out mens hip hop watches looked equally good on womens wrists because they had style, flash, and diamonds. Suddenly mainstream watch designer such as Chopard and Charriol got the message and began designing watches with much more scale but with curves, shapes, colors,gemstones, and straps that were fashion forward and distinctly feminine.

Mens watches took this cue from hip hop style as well and sport chronograph watches from mainstream Swiss watch makers like Breitling and Tag Heuer began to offer models with larger dials and cases with more embellishment. They also offered a greater selection of watch styles with diamonds on the face and bezel. Hip Hop watch style gave rise to designers who catered singularly to the hip hop style. Such a designer is Jacob the Jeweler (Jacob Arabov) whose over the top styling in watches won many fans and hip hop customers as well as customers from the National Basketball Association. Another designer influenced by hip hop and celebrity clients is Chris Aire. He introduced his “Aire Traveler” watch in 2004, a 38-mm, five-time-zone watch with a convex-shaped square case. This watch was no doubt inspired by hip hop. He made it available in steel and his trademarked 18k “Red Gold,” with colored dials and straps and diamonds as an option.

Other styles of chain became popular in their over sized versions such as the Curb link or Cuban link and Figaro link. These also came out in hollow versions and worked well for hip hop pendants with flatter bails that could not over the wide cylindrical profile of the dookie chains. All these types of hip hop jewelry were only available in yellow gold during the 80s. In the nineties is when the iced out hip hop phenomenon took over and white became the color of choice for hip hop chains to mimic platinum. There are now hundreds of styles of hip hop but some of the most well known are bullet chains, military ball chains, Gucci link chains and prong and bezel set CZ chains. Hip hop artists like Snoop Dogg and DMC Run pioneered certain styles of chain and now those styles named after them are among some of the most popular.Chain lengths run from 20 inches to 40 inches in length. Hip hop pendants are meant to hang way down the torso for maximum visibility and swing to catch the most attention.

Hip hop chains come in a variety of metals. In the precious metals Platinum and 18kt gold are the most prestigious. Platinum can become quite heavy since its specific gravity is highest among precious metals. It is some 20% denser and therefore heavier than 18kt gold and would wreak havoc on the strongest necks if they were to made in solid links in the size of some of the old hollow dookie chains that were some 20 to 30mm in width. Platinum chains are more than double the price of similar 14kt and 18kt gold chains because platinum chains of a similar size contain way more precious metal. platinum is typically 95% pure platinum whereas 14k is 58% pure gold and 18kt is 75% pure gold. Platinum being denser will also weigh more and prices are calculated per unit weight. Nothing beats platinum’s ability to take a great finish. Platinum has a much longer polishing process but doesn’t need to be plated like gold does and retains its whiteness and polish for far longer.

For most hip hop enthusiaists, platinum hip hop chains are out of the question and most white metal chains sold as hip hop chains are rhodium plated silver or base metal. Since Rhodium plating is essentially a platinum plating, many of these inexpensive chains may not have the heft of platinum but they sure do look like platinum

Hip Hop chains have come along way from yellow gold dookie chain era.The iced out look even in chains continues unabated as new styles keep coming out. The hip hop influence can be seen in mainstream designers like david Yurman and John hardy. They both have extensive mens’ jewelry lines and hip hop influences can be clearly seen in their chain collections. David Yurman’s classic box link chain continues to add bigger sizes to the collection as does John Hardy to his classic chevron style chain and bracelet collections for men.

Recognizable names in the fashion world, like Prada, have produced and marketed hip hop men’s jewelry. For guys who aim to dress to impress, glitzy “bling” helps create a pulled together look. Some designs feature just a few well placed diamonds while others are literally encrusted with the rows and rows of pave and bead and bright set diamonds. With this type of jewelry the attitude is the bigger and bolder the jewelry, the better.

Diamonds are synonymous with luxury and class, and diamond hip hop jewelry was created for men of all ethnicities who want accessories that make a statement. Hip hop jewelry that is covered in diamonds is called “iced out”  and always is a great contrast against a dark skin color. The diamonds are usually mounted in precious metals like gold and platinum.  For those who like the look of diamonds but can’t afford the price tag, there are plenty of budget-friendly bling that incorporate diamond substitutes like moissanite, cubic zirconia, and YAG.

Hip Hop mens jewelry is now also incorporating black diamonds in the mix showing the contrast between black and white diamonds while creating some great styles, especially for white guys who are so pale that white bling doesn’t show up that well against their skin unless it’s contrasted with black bling.I have seen the black diamonds show up in mainstream designers like David Yurman and to a lesser extent , John Hardy. These are not the obnoxiously sized blinged out designs available on 47th street . They are rather , the more gentlemanly iced out interpretations of these fine jewelry designers.

Although it must be noted that Hip Hop Jewelry has  influenced more than just the blinginess of mens jewelry. The overall scale of men’s watches has seen a major increase in the last seven or so years and this can be attributed directly to hip hop jewelry’s penchant for massively sized jewelry and watches for both sexes. Men’s watch cases have increased from an average diameter of 38 mm to 41mm. This may sound like an insubstantial amount but remember we’re talking overall diameter here which translates to a 20 to 30 percent overall size increase.

Thus there are many jewelry and watch trends that have taken direction from Hip Hop Jewelry and Hip Hop Culture. The bottom line thus being that Hip Hop Culture sells otherwise Jewelry designers would not have embraced the hip hop  context without being assured that the dollars would show up to chase their otherworldly creations.