Thursday, July 29, 2010
Rope Chains are back in style - as Hip Hop Dookie Rope Retro Chains Of Respect
 If
you look at some recent hip-hop videos, or even pictures from parties and
concerts, you'll notice artists such as Lil Jon, Nick Cannon, Kanye West,
Pharrell Williams, Nelly and Nas bringing back the world-famous gold rope chains
or as they were christened in the '80s, "dookie ropes" (also known to some as
"dookie rolls"). It's a trend that's making MCs think about the true-school
innovators who first wore them and what gold ropes symbolized back in the day,
as well as what these classic chains mean today.
» View Men's Dookie Rope Chains At JewelryByNET.com
Has the time come for MCs to put their platinum chains on ice? Not ice as in
diamonds - they've been doing that for years. This time we're talking about
rappers setting their platinum down on the shelf for a returning favorite that's
old school to the heart.
 "It's
my way to pay homage," says Cannon, whose new publicity shots show him wearing
no shirt and a gold rope เ la LL Cool J circa '87. "Back in the day, most gold
chains were hollow. I had to go [with] the official one. Everybody been rocking
platinum; you can't tell platinum from stainless steel right now."
"Platinum chains are wack, unless it's a rope," asserts Kanye West, who debuted
his new gold rope in the video for "Drive Slow." "I'm not trying to dis nobody's
chain, it's just wack to me. Maybe you can get away with it if you have it
tucked, with it just peeking up out the top of your T-shirt."
Like Cannon, Kanye says gold ropes are appealing because they're a nod to the
past. "History repeats itself," Ye says. "It was throwbacks [jerseys], my album
had the Tribe [Called Quest] sound. Now it's gold ropes. And it's dope for black
people to wear a lot of jewelry it was always in an African's blood to rock
gold. So we rock gaudy chains. It's not ostentatious; it's an African thing."
 Lil
Jon agrees with Ye's theory about throwing it back. "We love the old school," he
says. "Everybody got pleasant memories of the '80s. That's when hip-hop was
fresh and new, it was like a baby. All those pleasant memories, we trying to
bring back. I grew up seeing the Slick Ricks and Big Daddy Kanes, but I was a
kid I couldn't get no big-ass rope chain. I'm grown, I can do that now.
"Even on my iPod, I only listen to old-school sh--, whether it's hip-hop,
dancehall, reggae, rock. For me, I want to bring little things from the old
school back," Jon continues, referring to 1980s fashion fads. "Gazelles
[eyeglasses], I was looking for them for awhile. Members Only jackets are coming
back. Shell-toe Adidas never went out of style. Everybody wants to accessorize
themselves with stuff they grew up with, whether it be sh-- they wanted and
couldn't have, or sh-- they used to rock."
"Things that are really authentic always return," says original dookie-rope-rocker
DMC, one of hip-hop's earliest innovators on the mic and in the jewelry
department. "It ain't a mere thing of just bringing the gold rope back. It means
something."
» View Men's Dookie Rope Chains At JewelryByNET.com
 "My
sh-- is authentic because it rocked stages all across the world," smiles Too
Short, who still has his first rope chain from the '80s the same rope he used
to wear on album covers and at shows. "That rope is power. I felt I could take
it off and whip you with it. I feel it's [representing] elements of hip-hop that
are always gonna resurface."
"That's hip-hop to its fullest," Rakim says of dookie ropes. "I'm glad that's
coming back. It don't get more hip-hop than a phat gold rope."
"I just ordered mine," says perennial platinum king Lil Wayne of his rope. "I'mma
be purely honest: what sparked me to do it was Nick Cannons new video. He's
killing it. I saw plenty people do it, but I saw Nick and I was like, 'Hes
young yeah. I like the whole look, no piece or nothing: just the rope."
So, who exactly are the ones responsible for bringing back this classic hip-hop
style?
 Busta
Rhymes, who wears a bulging platinum rope these days, says he and Pharrell
Williams share some responsibility for their return. "Me and Pharrell are
bringing back the golden era, like Slick Rick, [whose style] epitomized the '80s
era," Busta says. Want proof? Just ask Slick Rick, himself.
"The best I see right now is Busta," Rick proclaims. "Pharrell is a definite
second, but Busta was destroying it on Summer Jam. That sh-- I seen was
insanity. All Bus has to do is lengthen his sh--. Just make the chains longer so
it hangs down to you b---s. That's how it was back in the days, 'insane so they
can't compete' type sh--."
The Ruler's Ropes
Slick Rick knows a thing or two about competing with the gold ropes. Back in the
day, he had more of them than anybody, and he's often heralded as one of the
gold-rope gods. In fact, when MCs think back to the '80s, only a handful of
artists stand out for wearing them best: Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Jam Master
Jay and Rakim.
» View Men's Dookie Rope Chains At JewelryByNET.com
Cannon says Run-DMC were the first rappers he saw rocking gold ropes. "Then Big
Daddy Kane did it. He had the fattest rope," Cannon recalls. "But the cat who
took it over the top for me and made me say, 'I gotta get that,' was Slick Rick.
He was gaudy with it. He had six, seven chains on. He was the first person with
the gold grills. He was gold out."
The legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff says one-upmanship was a big part of "hip-hop's
wonder years." "[The Fresh Prince and I] were on the road with Eric B. and Rakim,
they both had ropes. Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie ... When somebody would come out
with a rope this big, you felt you had to get one even bigger. Then Slick Rick
came out with a chest full of gold. That was hip-hop."
For Kanye, there's no competition over who had the best gold rope back in the
day. "What type of stupid question is that?" he laughs. "Slick Rick, 'the Ruler'
what the f---!"
"Slick Rick would come with, like, 32 chains on," Rakim says. "[Gold ropes] was
a phenomenon that was poppin' off. I remember Jam Master Jay Allah bless the
dead he was the first one to come with a gold rope and no link on it. It was a
gold rope all the way around! We was trying to see who could get the biggest
chain and come through the 'hood with it swinging from side to side."
"I think Slick Rick was the jewelry master," Big Daddy Kane chimes in. "He had
that gigantic Libra plate. I don't think anybody got anything that big until
maybe Ghostface."
Chain of Respect
Slick Rick himself will tell you that he appreciates the accolades, but his
stiffest comp in the '80s came from Rakim.
"I'd have to say on the rap scene, Eric B. and Rakim, they was doing it heavy,"
Slick Rick remembers. "All you had to do was check their album cover: They had
all that gangsterism culture."
DJ Jazzy Jeff agrees. "Slick Rick had the most [ropes], but I think Rakim did it
better than everybody else," he said. "The Fila suit with one gold chain it
was fly!"
"Rakim!" Lil Jon yells when asked whose rope was the tightest. "The one he had
in the 'Microphone Fiend' video. He had the Benz medallion. That's like the
ultimate rope; the most classic. I remember when cats would steal the
Mercedes-Benz emblem [off of cars] and put them on their chain."
While today thick gold chains often represent respect for the true essence of
hip-hop, back in the day a massive gold rope signified juice in the streets. In
fact, Rick says on the street level, a lot of the hustlers who were getting
major dough at the time had way more jewels than any MCs.
"Once you see something that doesn't make sense, you always try to escalate to
that," Rick says. "When I was growing up, I used to see n---as with chains that
were dripping-to-their-knees-type sh--. It would be enormous and crazy
expensive. They would be by themselves sometimes [wearing all that jewelry] a
n---a wearing some sh-- like that, you knew he was dangerous. You would see a
dude with, like, $100,000 in jewels on. Today that would be like somebody
wearing $5 million in jewels."
DMC says his first rope was a Christmas gift from Jam Master Jay. "That was in
1984, I think. We wore them because of Jay. Me and Run weren't that gangster. We
could rap our asses off, we were b-boys, but we weren't thugged out. Jay wore
that gold chain everywhere. Jay was an elder statesman in Hollis with the Hollis
Crew."
» View Men's Dookie Rope Chains At JewelryByNET.com
The rope wasn't just a fashion accessory, however. "Put it like this," DMC
explains, "when Kanye said that Dame [Dash] and them gave him his Roc-A-Fella
medallion, getting my gold chain from Jay was like that. That chain was me being
accepted as part of the crew, part of the legacy. And we got the chains from
Jay, so me and Run knew we could wear these chains everywhere because mutha----as
ain't gonna try to rob us for them. Jay was wearing them ropes before Run-DMC
became a group. His chain was bigger than mine and Run's combined.
"Before Jay, I had a little bullsh-- chain with a Cadillac piece hanging from
it," he adds. "Jay was like, 'OK, you was in hip-hop puberty, you're into
maturity now. You're official.' "
Price of Glory
Obviously the MCs of today have more than enough money to pay for a rope that
proves they're well into hip-hop maturity, but back in the day it wasn't as easy
to shell out between five and 10 G's (at the least) for a real good one.
"I bought [my rope] right before [I went] on tour with N.W.A and Eazy-E," Short
remembers. "I said, 'I'm gonna need a big rope.' The cold part is I borrowed one
from the jewelry store. They gave me a big-ass one. They said, 'This one cost 10
thousand, but you can borrow it as long as you bring it back.' Everybody on tour
had a big rope. You wasn't nothing if you ain't had your big rope. The bigger
rope determines your status."
"My first rope, I borrowed it from Big Daddy Kane," Slick Rick admits about the
humungous gold rope he wore in the video for "Teenage Love." "Big Daddy Kane had
an enormous amount of money. I had money before Kane, because I came out before
Kane, then sh-- had died down. But Kane was getting money because rap was
escalating that fast. Kane's rope was like, I couldn't even buy that sh-- yet.
So I was like, 'Let me hold it for this video.' He let me wear it."
"I think it's a beautiful thing for hip-hop because young cats don't have to
break themselves for diamonds and platinum," Big Daddy Kane says, pointing out
that gold's return does create a financial advantage. "They don't have to live
out of their means just to look fly. It ain't that serious. It's more important
things to do with your money."
Still, MCs who are going all-out today are doing it just as hard as their
forefathers did back in the day. Right now, Busta and Pharrell are in a tight
competition for who's got the most elaborate pieces: Pharrell has a pendant made
of diamonds that are caricatures of his N.E.R.D. group on his Gucci links, and
Busta Rhymes has a diamond Mets cap pendant, a diamond Rangers jersey pendant
and a diamond New York Knicks medallion, among others.
Lil Jon wants to make history with his gigantic pendant that reads "Crunk Ain't
Dead" in diamonds. "This chain is kinda for the haters and fits into the concept
of my album [Crunk Rock]," he says. "You know how they said 'Punk ain't dead' or
'Rock and roll ain't dead'? [It's also] a message to the haters. They trying to
write me off. So I got this seven-inch pendant with 150 karats with diamonds.
Then the rope is three inches thick.
"I wanted something shocking," he adds. "And I wanted an old-school rope. That's
the perfect chain to rock with a pendant that big. I think a lot more cats are
gonna be doing [the rope and pendant] now."
So does the resurgence of ropes mean the end of platinum chains? It looks like
there may be room for both, because some MCs say there's no way they're getting
rid of their chains for the returning trend.
"[When gold ropes were first out,] that's when I was sitting on the porch
watching the older dudes do what they do," Young Jeezy says. "That's a little
bit before my time. I respect it, though. It's a good thing. Jam Master Jay
would be proud to see them bring it back."
"On some dudes it looks cool," Fabolous says. "[The rope] is a good alternative
chain, but I don't like big gaudy chains. If I have to do an event or something,
I might throw on a rope, but I can't wear something big every day. I can't do
the two, three chains, Rakim thing everyday. It just ain't part of my swag. I
don't think it would replace the platinum chain. I think it's time for a new
chain, though. 'Cause you got the diamond chain thing, but now it's a lot of
fakes of that. The jewelers need to put their thinking caps on."
And despite the return of appreciation for the old school, some MCs take a
harsher look.
"Nah," G-Unit's Lloyd Banks says when asked if he'll start wearing one. "If you
notice, a lot of them look uncomfortable. It looks like the chain is choking
they ass.
"I wasn't a part of that era," he continues. "I seen it, but I didn't have money
for ropes when I was that young. I'm a part of the new school."
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» View Men's Dookie Rope Chains At JewelryByNET.com
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