During the late 90s and early 2000s hip-hop was obsessed with platinum jewelry. Only a few crews were able to compete with the Cash Money Records family when it came to expensive accessories. This crew of New Orleans artists played a major role in the popular fashion statement — and they also coined the term, “bling Bling.”
Cash Money rapper B.G. is actually credited with coining the pop culture slang for jewelery. However, Lil Wayne rapped on Outkast “Hollywood Divorce” that he was the creator of “Bling Bling.” Either way, the flashy term embedded itself into the culture and was even added to Webster’s dictionary. To recap the times, the good folks over at The Fader decided to compile an oral history of Cash Money’s most known catchphrase.
“I don’t remember how the word “bling bling” came up,” Turk said to Fader. “We used to always be playing around in conversations. And we always used to be in the studio so somebody might say something and somebody else might be like, “Aw man, that’s a song!” I believe B.G. ended up saying “bling bling” and we were like, “Man, that’s a song.” That’s why it’s known ‘til this day that B.G. is really the originator. But it really was our lifestyle and how we lived. We was always stuntin’ — throwing money, the jewelry, the cars.”
Fans can read the Bling Bling oral history in its entirety over at The Fader.
Unfortunately, Cash Money’s CEO Bryan “Birdman” Williams has been mired with rumors of shady business deals since the early 2000s. First, rappers B.G., Turk and Juvenile left the label for allegedly not receiving proper pay. Now, the face of Cash Money Lil Wayne has separated himself from CMR, claiming that Baby owes him $51 million.
B.G. is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for weapons possession and witness tampering,