The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be proud.
The Oxford English Dictionary has officially admitted the hip-hop term “bling-bling’ into its prestigious pages.
Rapper BG coined the word in 1999 in his hit song from the same name and it has been used ever since to explain a lavish lifestyle full of jewels, diamonds and extreme wealth. The song, which featured the Big Tymers, Lil’ Turk, Lil Wayne & Juvenile, showed up on the rapper’s album, Chopper City In The Ghetto.
On the song, BG rapped, “I be that ni**a with the ice on me/ If it cost less than twenty it don’t look right on me/ I stay flossed out all through the week
/ My money long if you don’t know I’m the B.G.”
Since, its inception, the song has gone on to be widely used (and overused) as a term for prosperity and material possessions from those that haven’t generally had access to it.
Like “bling-bling,” the Oxford English Dictionary also allowed ‘jiggy’ into its ranks last year after the popularity of the term waned.
