The BlingDex Top 40: Rap Edition features more than £62m of bling in their videos
Has hip hop moved away from it’s outrageous spending culture or has the game just been raised? Over the years, it seems that hip hop stars have competed against each other to display the most bling in their videos. Betway has estimated the featured value of 20 Billboard Top 100 hit videos from 1999-2019 to see if the Bling-Dex is higher or lower. The estimation is based on clothing, bling, real estate and production value. After all, image is everything.
Lil Wayne featuring Static’s “Lollipop” from 2008 tops Betway’s Bling-Dex Top 10 Spenders list with £13,247,000 ($16,519,222). 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” from 2005 comes in second with £7,840,000 ($9,776,606). 21 Savage with “A Lot” comes in third with £7,195,000 ($8,974,384) in 2019. 50 Cent’s “PIMP” from 2003 comes in fourth with £5,715,000 ($7,128,368). Rounding out the top five is Terror Squad featuring Fat Joe and Remy Ma on 2004’s “Lean Back” with £4,160,000 ($5,188,803).
Dropping a cool £12 ($14,967,701) million on real estate, it’s easy to see why Lil Wayne featuring Static’s “Lollipop” video tops the Bling-Dex. The video, released in 2008, was filmed at poker star Gavin Maloof’s Las Vegas residence and features a 1964 Chevrolet Impala Convertible and Custom International CXT Stretched Limousine worth a combined £125,000 ($155,921). The clothing and jewelry featured in the video are worth more than £450,000 ($561,319) including Lil Wayne’s grills and luxury watches. Production costs £150,000 ($187,106) with staging topping at £20,000 ($24,947) and luxury food and beverages costing £2,000 ($2,494) for a total of £13,247,000 ($16,519,222).
50 Cent’s “Candy Shop,” released in 2005, comes in second partially due to dropping £7,000,000 ($8,729,044) on a luxury Hollywood mansion for its location. It featured a 2004 BMW 645Ci [E63] and Saleen S7 vehicles worth a combined £450,000 ($561,319). More than £210,000 ($261,959) of clothing and jewelry were featured including 50 Cent’s ring, diamond earring, gold chain and watch. Production costs top £150,000 ($187,106) for a total of £7,840,000 ($9,776,606).
Female rappers also make the list for dropping some bling for flexing their latest luxury clothes. Luxury garments account for three percent of the overall amount spent by the videos in the Bling-Dex. The Carters — Beyonce and Jay Z — top the list for their “Apeshit” video featuring a variety of Burberry, Versace and Balmain clothing worth £150,000 ($187,172). Cardi B’s “Money” features Chanel, Gareth Pugh and Christian Cowan worth £100,000 ($124,772). Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” featured £100,000 ($124,772) worth of Chanel and Calvin Klein while Migos drops £80,000 ($99,816) on Versace, MCM and Hermes for their “Stir Fry” video.
Overall, real estate accounts for two-thirds or 66% of budgets in rap videos with production coming in at 12%, vehicles at 11% and jewelry at 8% and clothing at 3%. However you look at it, rap videos account for some of the most expensive videos in music, period.
