Gold Teeth - The start of a trend in hip hop
When you think of gold teeth, what or who does it make you think of? It makes me think of Flavor Flav, a member of the rap group Public Enemy that became popular back in the late eighties with their debut album “Yo! Bum Rush the Show.” Flavor Flav was the flashy one of the group, sporting crazy sunglasses, bright colored clothing, a huge clock around his neck, and of course, gold teeth. Flav credits himself as having been the originator of the current platinum and gold teeth and platinum grill craze in hip hop fashion. While I remember Flav from the eighties, this generation knows him from VH1’s the Surreal Life and Strange Love where he would sometimes pop in his gold teeth, much to the chagrin of his love interest, Brigitte Neilson.
Eddie’s Gold Teeth owner Plein outfitted Flava Flav with a set of simple caps back in the eighties. Other top New York rappers followed, including Bid Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap. In the early 1990s, Plein moved to Atlanta and began designing flashier fronts for artists including OutKast, Goodie Mob, Ludacris and Lil Jon.
The hip hop fashion is big, and the bigger it is the better it is. Gold teeth became more elaborate and expensive, with platinum and diamonds becoming more popular. For many rap artists who have come from poverty and gained success, expensive grills and other bling bling is a great way to celebrate success. Wearing grills is a sign of success, and in some ways is just like wearing an expensive chain around your neck.
Nelly’s song “Grillz” talks about this trend in hip hop and features Paul Wall, who not only wears diamond encrusted, silver, platinum, and gold teeth, he sells them. Paul Wall is the go-to guy so to speak in the rap and hip hop world when they are looking for platinum and gold teeth and other expensive mouth jewelry. There are websites dedicated to selling grills such as Gold Teeth America, GoldTeeth.com, and Mr. Bling. There is even a magazine called XXL that features photos of rap artists showing off the custom grills.
Of course while the hip hop world may be infatuated with this type of mouth jewelry, dentists are not. Wearing grills for an extended period of time may cause tooth decay and other damage within your mouth. It is very important that if you are considering buying into this latest craze that you look at all the information regarding care of your mouth as well as proper care of the grills themselves. Consult with a dentist and an expert in this type of jewelry before you buy.