Perkins’ Picks

Oh no! Not only has the slumped economy resulted in devastating job loss and budget shortfalls, it’s also hampering rappers’ wealth-flaunting abilities! The Wall Street Journal reports today on the sad plight of bling merchants, whose clients in the rap game can no longer afford ostentatious medallions and have apparently been purchasing smaller pieces of jewelry, with rocks made of cubic zirconia. (Drug kingpin and prison guard Rick Ross, for example, has been accused by 50 Cent of wearing fake diamonds, a charge Ross vehemently denies.) Additionally, sales of grillz have fallen off by an astonishing 60 percent, creating a hilarious secondary market. So, anyway, there’s no longer any money in hip-hop, which is probably also why there weren’t any high-profile rap albums released between The Paper Trail and Relapse.

Culture of Bling Clangs to Earth as the Recession Melts Rappers’ Ice [WSJ