A Hip Hop Jewelry History

Loud, personal and unapologetic — you couldn’t write a history on hip-hop without taking a long detour through the bling worn by rappers. To usher in its upcoming fall titles, TASCHEN releases Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History, a new weighty book chronicling one of the genre’s greatest subcultures.

From the ostentatious chains worn by Run-DMC, Eric B. & Rakim, the “show up and show out” culture ushered in by figures, such as Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z, to present day megastars in Tyler, the Creator, Cardi B and Lil Nas X — author Vikki Tobak goes on a 40-year deep dive unearthing the gems, chains and over-the-top pieces that have defined hip-hop’s greatest figures.

Ice Cold includes a foreword by Slick Rick, along with essays by A$AP Ferg, LL COOL J, Kevin “Coach K’ Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas of Quality Control Music.