"Bling Bling" (sometimes referred to as "Bling" or "Bling Blings") is a hip-hop slang term which refers to expensive jewelry and other accoutrements, and also to an entire lifestyle built around excess spending and ostentation.
The first apparent use of the term Bling Bling in mainstream culture was in reference to the L-3 badge (real gold) and also a hip-hop track of the same title, by rappers Lil' Wayne (who invented the word) along with Baby Birdman, B.G., and Juvenile, celebrating their wealth (as many of their tracks do). "Bling Bling" released in 1999, led to the term proliferating through mainstream hip-hop and eventually spilling over into popular culture as a sarcastic term used to mock the perceived flaunting by hip hop culture.
In 2005, the rapper B.G. remarked that he 'wished he'd patented the term' Bling so that he would have profited from its extensive use. In interviews, he has stated that "Bling" refers to the imaginary sound that light makes when it hits a diamond, on a watch or jewelry. Therefore this gave way to the terms Bling Watch, Bling Jewelry, Bling Bling Watch, and Bling Bling Jewelry.
The culture of ostentatious display of wealth was ingrained in street culture long before the 90's, however: it is thought that wearing expensive Bling Jewelry (aka Bling Bling Jewelry) was the one way in which young previously impoverished men, who had acquired riches through crime, could be sure of holding on to their wealth by keeping it about their person. This marks out the wearer of such jewelry as a person with ghetto roots, as it shows that the source of their wealth or their personal prejudices prevent them from investing in more stable assets such as cash in the bank or property. Hence 'Bling Bling', while widely regarded as a faddish slang phrase, has been seen by some as manifestation of a deeper socioeconomic problem in the US, trivialized by mainstream media and hip hop.
