Rappers having bogus jewelry is nothing new: back in 2008, Maino released a hilarious — albeit, in hindsight, quite prophetic — video detailing how common junk jewels were in his “line of work” at the time.
In 2009, The Wall Street Journal (of all outlets) did a similar story exposing artists, as well. While we’re sure no one with any vestige of common sense thought Soulja Boy was a multi-billionaire that could afford jewelry whose value rivaled that of the Hope Diamond (while still not being able to make his child support payments), we, as Hip-Hop fans, still found it hard to believe that our favorite rappers were passing off fugazi floss as legit.
Then, FakeWatchBusta brought the debate roaring back to life with his Instagram account, and things haven’t been the same since.
But the account doesn’t just call out rappers for their BS bling. It, rightly, calls out the jewelers who, aware that the majority of their clientele aren’t schooled in the finer points of gemology (clusters of diamond dust does not a decent ring make, rappers), prey upon their ignorance and sell them $20 jewelry for $20,000.
Here, then, is our list of 10 rappers who have been, either hilariously or unexpectedly, called out for their fake bling.
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Photos: WENN.com
10. Waka Flocka Flame
The Brick Squad Monopoly capo should have a little bit of cheddar in his pockets, but apparently not enough to get a genuine Hublot. (A genuine Swiss luxury Hublot retails, on average, about $20,500 — the same price as a Toyota)
9. Jadakiss
The D-Block rhyme-spitter has made a career out of being real — right down to his Rolexes, for which he claims to have “all the paperwork” — but it seems as though what he thought was real has come into question, because he shouted out a jeweler that’s a known scammer. The lowest-end Rolex men’s watches sell for about $10,000…so we’re not sure what the difficulty is in finding a legit one from a legit retailer. (And by the way — “icing out” a Rolex actually decreases the value of the watch, especially if the diamonds are after-market.)
Photo: WENN.com
8. Big Sean
Big Sean is a rarity in Hip-Hop — unlike many of his contemporaries, he actually admitted that some of his jewels weren’t the real deal. He came clean in an interview with GQ: “I had a super fake, gold herringbone chain. Yeah man, it was, like, super fake. I don’t remember if it was my mom’s or how I got it, but ever since then, I’ve loved chains.”
Photo: WENN.com
7. Plies
Back in 2009, the Florida-born rapper was discovered to have bogus bling during — of all things — a robbery. After a show in Minnesota, Plies returned to his room to discover that two of his prized chains were gone. When, however, the thief traded in the chains for cash, he discovered that the only thing real on the chains was the gold…all the rest of the accoutrement was pure CZ. Shawty!
6. Rick Ross
Fake rapper with a fake name has fake jewelry. Don’t know why anyone’s surprised…but, again, that’s the sad state of Hip-Hop affairs today.
5. Lil’Scrappy
Guess the Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta checks don’t pay the rent — or anything else. When Lil’Scrappy posted this photo of a clearly-fake Audemaurs Piguet watch, the “Fake Watch Busta” pounced all over it with the quickness. Considering that a real AP runs about $30,000, Scrappy would have to pool his earnings with his mother’s, his baby mother’s, AND his jumpoff’s earnings to afford it.
4. Sean Kingston
The “Beautiful Girls” singer has some pop money in his pockets, so unlike many of the rappers on this list, he should be able to reasonably afford a decent watch or two. But as the FakeWatchBusta is all-too-happy to point out, not one of these AP’s are the genuine article.
3. Jody HighRoller a/k/a RiffRaff
Again, this is one of those inclusions that no on in particular is really surprised with. To his credit, he took the inclusion with a grain of salt and a hearty laugh…which, one supposes, is the best sort of reaction to have when one’s entire career is a joke.
2. Gunplay
If the “Boss” of the team can’t afford a real watch, chances are, the foot soldiers can’t afford one either. But don’t tell that to Gunplay — not content with being the least-well-known of the MMG camp, Scrapping with G-Unit, and earning the reputation of being a crackhead, Gunplay has decided to continue taking L’s by posting pictures of fake watches and claiming them as his own. When Fake Watch Busta called him out for his fake AP Bumblebee watch (retail price: about $44,000), Gunplay took to his (unverified) Twitter account with the following, classy, response.
1. Soulja Boy
Soulja Boy has been caught with so much fake jewelry, Fake Watch Busta has created countless — hilarious — memes out of him. All of his watches, in fact, all read 10:25 (hey, even a broken watch is right twice a day). At this point, it would be better for the rapper-turned-BET host to simply admit his jewels are fake, accept it, and move on with his life.
Check out Bernadette Giacomazzo’s new website here.
