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Hip Hop Jewelry: From 80s Gold Ropes to Iced-Out Cubans, and How to Buy It
From the counter at TraxNYC, 47th Street.
The short answer
- Hip hop jewelry is gold and diamond jewelry made to be seen. It began with thick gold rope chains in the 80s, turned to platinum and diamonds in the late 1990s, and today means Miami Cuban chains, plain or iced out, diamond tennis chains, Jesus pieces, iced-out watches and grillz.
- Buy it on four facts from the listing: the karat, the gram weight, solid or hollow, and natural diamonds or lab-grown diamonds. More than half of the chains we sell are 14K.
- We make it on 47th Street in New York, and have since 2004, including the 54 mm diamond Cuban chain and bracelet we made for Busta Rhymes.
Building a piece? Talk to a personal jeweler: call 212-872-9692 or text us, seven days.
Hip hop jewelry, from the 80s to now
Hip hop began at block parties in the Bronx in the 1970s, and gold came with it. Here is how the look moved, decade by decade.
| Years | What people wore | The metal |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | Thin gold rope chains at the first block parties | Yellow gold |
| 80s | Thick rope and dookie chains, big medallions and name plates, four-finger rings, door-knocker hoop earrings, gold caps on the teeth | Yellow gold |
| 1990s | Platinum chains, diamond pendants, the Jesus piece, diamond grills; people called it ice, and by the end of the decade, bling | Platinum, white gold, diamonds |
| 2000s | Iced-out watches and big custom pendants | Gold and platinum set with diamonds |
| Today | Miami Cubans plain or iced out, tennis chains, Jesus pieces, grillz | 10K and 14K gold, silver, natural and lab-grown diamonds |
Under the shine, the message stayed the same. For Black artists and fans, in a country with a long history of shutting them out, a big chain announced success in plain sight. It still does.
What changed is how you buy it. A piece that once meant platinum and natural diamonds now comes in 10K or 14K gold, solid or hollow, with natural diamonds or lab-grown diamonds, and a good listing tells you which.
The pieces, and how to buy each one
Here is each piece: what it is, what to check, and a few that buyers choose from us.
Miami Cuban chains, plain gold or iced out
The Miami Cuban is a curb link, rounded and packed tight, so the chain lies flat and heavy. Choose the width first, since the grams follow it.
An iced-out Cuban has diamonds set close across the links, called pave. Buy it on the same facts as a plain one, plus the diamonds: natural diamonds or lab-grown diamonds.
Making a diamond Cuban. Building the 54 mm diamond Cuban chain and bracelet for Busta Rhymes, 2023. 12 million views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
More widths and lengths in our Miami Cuban chains and diamond chains. Width, weight and the lock are in our Miami Cuban guide.
Diamond tennis chains
A tennis chain is one line of diamonds, each stone in its own setting, linked so the chain moves. Stone size is counted in points, a hundredth of a carat each: a 26 pointer carries stones of about a quarter carat.
The same chain comes with natural diamonds or lab-grown diamonds, and the listing says which.
See our tennis chains, and the tennis chain guide on stone size, prongs and the clasp.
Jesus pieces and pendants
A Jesus piece is a pendant of Christ's face, often crowned with thorns and often set with diamonds. It has hung on hip hop chains since the 1990s.
Plan for the weight. The middle of our range weighs 32.8 grams for a 14K Jesus pendant, 14.1 grams for 10K and 34.3 grams for silver, counted September 25, 2026. A pendant that heavy needs a solid chain made to carry it: see which chain for a pendant.
Making a purple gold Jesus piece. The work behind our purple gold Jesus head, and the problems we ran into along the way, 2024. 273,000 views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
Purple gold is gold alloyed with aluminum; the listing gives the blend as 80% gold and 20% aluminum. More in Jesus pieces and men's pendants.
Iced-out watches
An iced-out watch has diamonds set into the bezel, the dial, the case or the bracelet, often by a jeweler after the watch leaves its maker. We iced out the Datejust in the video below ourselves. Ask the desk which parts were set after the factory and what the stones are.
Icing out a Datejust. Behind the scenes as we fully ice out a Rolex Datejust, 2022. 1.3 million views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
See our watches and Rolex pieces, and our guide to buying a pre-owned Rolex.
Grillz
Grillz are removable covers for the teeth, in gold or set with diamonds, made to a mold of your own teeth. Ours start with a mold kit you do at home.
The kit's listing says it can start a single tooth or a full row, top and bottom, in solid gold or with diamonds. After the mold, you talk to a jeweler to start the grill.
Gold grillz. How a set is made, 2022. 2.5 million views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
Rings and earrings
From the 80s came four-finger rings and door-knocker hoops. Today's versions: Miami Cuban link rings, many set with diamonds, and diamond studs.
See our Miami Cuban rings, hip hop earrings and gold and diamond earrings.
How to buy it: the karat, the grams, solid or hollow, and the diamonds
The karat: how much of it is gold
The stamp tells you how much of the metal is gold. More gold gives a deeper yellow and a softer metal; 10K is the hardest wearing of the three.
| Stamp | Gold in the metal | Share of the chains we sold |
|---|---|---|
| 10K | 41.7% | 21% |
| 14K | 58.3% | 56% |
| 18K | 75% | 2% |
| 925 silver | None (92.5% silver) | 21% |
Chains we sold by metal, paid orders from September 25, 2025 to September 25, 2026.
And Trax's word on it: “If anything you bought from us ever tests under the metal it was sold as, a gold karat or sterling silver, you get your money back in full, with no time limit.” More in 10K vs 14K vs 18K gold chains.
The grams: how much gold you are buying
The karat is the share of gold; the gram weight is how much metal there is. Two chains of the same width can differ by double, so read the grams before the photo. Every chain is weighed, stamp-checked and appraised at the counter.
Grams of gold per inch, our solid 14K Miami Cubans, by width
At 22 inches, the 12 mm chain carries about 239 grams of 14K gold. More in how much a gold chain weighs.
Solid or hollow
A solid link is gold all the way through. A hollow link is a gold tube shaped into the same link: the same width for much less gold, but it dents if it takes a hit and it is no chain for a heavy pendant. Semi-solid is a trade word for a hollow-core link.
Two of our 14K Cubans show the gap. The hollow one, 5.5 mm wide, weighs 18 grams at 20 inches; the solid one, 5 mm wide, weighs 42 grams at 22 inches. Inch for inch, the wider hollow chain holds less than half the gold.
Cutting a gold Cuban. We cut a Miami Cuban apart and made it into gold Cuban rings, 2022. 50 million views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
More in hollow vs solid gold chains.
Lab-grown diamond or natural diamond
Both are diamond: the same carbon crystal, just as hard, returning light the same way. A natural diamond formed in the earth; a lab-grown diamond was grown in a laboratory. Your eye cannot tell them apart and neither can a pen tester. A screening machine sorts them, and a gem lab settles it.
They are priced differently. Natural diamonds trade against a weekly price list; lab-grown diamonds have none, and their prices have fallen year after year. Check the listing for which one you are buying. Every stone is shown in person or on video before you decide.
The appraisal states the diamond grade and color, and our 4Cs guide explains the letters. The two side by side: lab-grown diamond or natural diamond, and our lab-grown diamond pieces.
Made on 47th Street: our hip hop jewelry on camera
We film a lot of what we make, and the people who come to the counter.
Jon Jones at the counter. The UFC fighter stops by after a win and picks out custom tennis chains, 2024. 196,000 views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
- Busta Rhymes: the day he unveils the biggest Cuban we have made, at his studio, on his birthday (2023, 850,000 views).
- Kodak Black comes by TraxNYC (2026, 1.1 million views).
- BigXThaPlug goes jewelry shopping at TraxNYC (2023, 173,000 views).
- Joyner Lucas buys a custom piece, and photo pendants as gifts for his friends Mark Wahlberg and Snoop Dogg (2022, 115,000 views).
- MrBeast: the gold, silver and bronze medals we made for a MrBeast competition (2023, 233,000 views).
View counts on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
What buyers say
★★★★★
“And now I have to get a bigger chain because I underestimated the size of Jesus 🤣. Beautiful masterpiece though throughly happy with purchase!”
★★★★★
“I absolutely love this bracelet. It was made quickly and with precision”
★★★★★
“Excellent customer service.. my personal Jeweler personally saw to it my chain was overnighted.”
★★★★★
“Ive been watching trax videos for a while Very pleased with the order high quality packaging highly recommend”
A few of the five-star reviews buyers left on our listings, chosen by us, quoted as written and trimmed only for length.
Talk to a personal jeweler
Building a Cuban, a Jesus piece or a full set of ice?
Our personal jewelers on 47th Street answer by phone and text seven days.
Questions we hear at the counter
What does iced out mean?
Set with diamonds, so the piece throws light like ice. Fully iced means stones cover the whole face of the piece, edge to edge. A piece can be iced with natural diamonds or with lab-grown diamonds.
What is a dookie chain?
The thick gold rope chain of 80s hip hop, worn heavy and often several at once. Our rope chains are the same twisted link, from thin to thick.
Does hip hop jewelry come with papers?
Every purchase comes with an official appraisal: carat and gram weights, diamond grade and color, current market value, and our corporate seal. Silver jewelry does not come with an appraisal.
Can I trade in old gold toward a new piece?
Yes, at the counter. We test the karat and weigh it in grams while you watch, then quote you a number. Say yes and the value becomes store credit, applied to whatever you're picking up or having made or cash out.
Trade-ins happen in person only. To trade in gold: the gold itself and a valid photo ID. How trade-ins work.
How long does a custom piece take?
Custom work takes weeks, not days. Tell a personal jeweler what you want made: call or text 212-872-9692, or email sale@traxnyc.com.
Can I return it?
Eligible merchandise may be returned within fourteen (14) calendar days of confirmed delivery, as determined by the shipping carrier's delivery confirmation. The refund policy lists custom or personalized items and watches as "strictly non-returnable and non-refundable". Resizing and other alterations are done for you and are not returnable.
Keep reading
More answers from the counter: all TraxNYC buyer's guides.
Where to buy hip hop jewelry in New York
Our counter is at 64 W 47th St, Booth F-1, New York, NY 10036, in the Diamond District, on 47th Street since 2004. We are open Monday to Friday 11 am to 6 pm ET, Saturday and Sunday 12 pm to 4 pm ET; around a holiday, text first.
Call or text 212-872-9692, seven days, or email a personal jeweler at sale@traxnyc.com. We have about 4,470 reviews on Google. Plan a visit or read the reviews.