Rappers' Ice and Hip Hop's Jewels On The Block

Hip Hop isn't going mainstream - it's gone mainstream. And now, it's going upstream. No longer the domain of urban angst, Hip Hop has entered the echelons of high-society parlours. In this case, some of the most blinged out bling from the genre's stars is going under the hammer at tony auctioneers, Phillips de Pury.

Among the lots of diamonds, gems, rings and pimped out pendants is a jeweled Rolex watch worn by Notorious B.I.G., Lil’ Wayne’s jeweled Money Bag pendant and Biz Markie’s Headphone Necklace. The sale isn't though only about weighing down the jewelry boxes of well-heeled doyennes, proceeds from the sale of select items will benefit the National Museum of American History’s new "Hip-Hop Won’t Stop" collection.

The auction's going down on October 1st but you can get a sneak preview of the rappers' jewels between September 23-30 at the auction house's Chelsea headquarters.

Diamonds For The Jane Bonds Of The World

For anyone who likes to be in charge of selecting her own bling, thank you very much, H. Stern is hoping you’ll be directing your attention their way. They’re about to launch a new campaign targeting the ‘H. Stern woman’. Apparently she’s “James Bond and a ‘Bond girl’ all in one package” [may we call her Jane Bond, please?].

Adventurous, strong, sexy, and smart, she is the ideal of today’s empowered femme who isn’t afraid to show off what she’s got. As far as I know, this type of women has been around, well since Adam and the apple. Today though, it's not a club and fig leaf they sport - it's a diamond right hand ring. After all, Adam, James Bond and most other members of the less 'fairer' sex aren’t the most reliable when it comes to showing their affection with gems.

As far as these women are concerned (methinks Samantha, Carrie and co) fabulous jewelry is even more fabulous when they buy it themselves.

Back to H. Stern, their campaign which is set to launch in September 2008 features four collections: Stars and Highlight, Celtic Dunes, Golden Stones, and SUTRA, a watch collection inspired by Diane von Furstenberg.

But why wait for a ‘campaign’ to buy your own jewelry. Sometimes ladies, patience is not a virtue.

Why not flaunt your confidence today with a diamond right hand ring like the one below from Jewelry.com to show everyone just how strong and marvelous of woman you are, inside and out.

Today Show Wedding Bling

The Today Show's "Race to the Alter" wedding on Wednesday featured no small amount of bling. The beautiful bride, LaDonna Bradford sparkled in $1 million dollars worth of platinum and diamond jewelry by Kwiat when she wed Darnell Suggs.

LaDonna choose a necklace featuring a whopping 50 carats (hey - why not), a 20 carat diamond bracelet, and a pair of classic platinum and 10-carat stud earrings. That's a total of 80 carats of diamonds - not including the rings themselves. To symbolize their official commitment, the couple also exchanged platinum wedding bands by Kwiat. In all, the blinging bride wore $1 million dollars of Kwiat diamonds.

The platinum rings, from Kwiat’s new bridal collection “Fidelity,” feature two individual bands of pure Platinum running parallel to each other to symbolize the couple’s intersecting love.

The Black Diamond Un-Scandal

Oh please - sometimes people (i.e. tabloids) come out with the most ridiculous ideas. My latest peeve is the headlines slamming Carmen Electra's new fiance, Rob Patterson. The poor guy apparently committed a greater sin than mere cheating, lying, stealing, drunk-driving, shooting-up etc. (i.e. the regular misdeamnours). What did he do? Well, he apparently bought a diamond ring and didn't want to pay more than he had to.

Apparently the Korn musician has a brain. Instead of going to a 'name' and paying a fortune just for the pleasure of having his finance state it's a #### ring. He searched around - found a different (black diamond) ring, something he thought his beloved would like. Probably researched the prices and bought something that was value for money.

According to the papers - this was not a wise move. “She seems really embarrassed,” an insider tells Life and Style Magazine. “I think the ring is a real deal breaker. She thought she’d be getting this giant rock. Instead, Rob bought it online for a bargain price!”

A bargain price???? Shame on him....

Actually shame on whoever thinks that finding a bargain is wrong. Since when is love measured by the price of the ring. Apparently too often. Surely a ring should be something the betrothed loves. Something that reflects her personality. Something unique to the couple. And surely internet bargains are great deals. After all, who wants to spend more than necessary.

Apparently - the black diamond ring cost just under $2000.

If only he'd asked, I would have sent him to Jewelry.com for JCPenney where they have this gorgeous, Champagne, Black and White diamond ring for under $900.

Rings In The News

There've been a couple of diamond dazzlers hitting the tabloids over the past 24 hours. As noted a few days ago, one celebrity jeweler wasted no time in congratulating a couple of no-one knew they were married newlyweds. When Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon did the deed in total secrecy on a Caribbean island, their jeweler, Jacob Arabo, aka Jacob the Jeweler wasted no time in issuing a statement of congratutions to the media, specially since he designed the ring...... And here it is.

Mariah's known for her love of all things sparkly and this sure sparkles a 17 carat diamond and platinum ring worth $2.5 million. The piece was designed just for Carey, and features a fancy light pink 10 ct. square emerald-cut center diamond surrounded by 58 intense pink diamonds, and two half-moon-cut stones.

Another dazzler that's in the news is Paris Hilton's latest jewel. The heiress has been seen sporting a two-band diamond ring - a 'sweet' present by rocker-love Benji Madden.