Jewelry Expert Critiques More Rappers' Chains | Fine Points | GQ

0:00 - What's up, guys. It's Trax, and I'm back to talk about rapper chains and pendants. [upbeat music] Takeoff. This is Takeoff's super viral chain. The solar system chain. This is a work of art more than it is just a piece of jewelry. And, you could see that because just looking at it is almost a galactic adventure. First and foremost, you have this beautiful three dimensional pop with the jet stream coming out of the back of the space shuttle. It goes outside of that disc, that give it a nice three dimensional look. The disc, itself, is fully iced. It's got different levels, different dimensions, beautiful setting, beautiful enamel work on the Y-R-N.

0:45 So, you could see that detail. It doesn't have to be iced there. Just because you have that enamel there that gives it that pop, that gives it that life. Not everything has to be iced. You could see the star streaks right next to the space shuttle are also done with just gold because you wanna give it that contrast. An added touch, those two stars on the side were probably added later to give it a even more pop cause this was a masterpiece. The space shuttle is flying directly towards the sun at the center of the solar system. The sun is done beautifully, the setting, the curvature of the dome on the sun, and the solar flares are something I personally really, really admire. To the right side, you've got the Earth. Again, the detail. You have the different coloring

1:31 of enamel mixing in. So, an artist had to mix in a light green, a dark green, and a brown to give it that earth-like look. Done extremely, extremely well. On the other side, you have the moon has got its craters, it's got its look, it's got that cartoony look, but that's goes well with the rest of the chain. Then, you have the whole chain on a puffed-up anchor link. Sometimes, it's called a Gucci link. Stars all around it. You've got Saturn with different colors in the bands, right there. You've got Mars on the top right side of the chain. Really something amazing. And, if you take a look at the way the links are on the puffed-up anchor link, it's got diamonds on the inside rim, on the outside.

2:16 So, all together, the full piece is something remarkable. Something amazing. He definitely didn't have a limit when he was spending on this particular piece. There's not a lot of bad things you could say about it. It's a classic. It's something that when if you see it in real life, it's gonna really throw you back and make you double take. If someone wanted to make a chain like this, they'd better have half a million dollars ready to spend on it. Cause, it's gonna take a lot of time. It's got a lot of materials. It's got a lot of diamonds. It's not for someone with short pockets. You've better be ready to spend on something like this cause you're not just paying for diamonds and gold, you're paying for art. Young Thug. Young Thug has a whole entire jewelry store around his neck. The most expensive chain, and he's wearing right there, is definitely the tennis chain. Those tennis chains with those big pointers,

3:03 those big carat weights per stone. Ultimately, it's those tennis chains that are gonna stand the test of time. The baguette chains are beautiful, they're interesting, they're different links, they're different sizes. But price wise, they do not compare to those tennis chains. The XO piece has nice dimension to it, it's done in rose gold with baguettes. I think it's a very, very nice piece. It's got a nice three dimensional look. So, that was done really well, but I think the yellow gold cross takes the cake. First and foremost, this is a trendsetting piece. That single row of diamonds in the center is a very, very nice touch. You got the pavé set, or the flower set, as some people call it. All around, beautiful piece, beautiful dimensioning. I'm a really big fan of that one. Takes the cake on all of his pieces that he's wearing there.

3:49 So, Gunna has a completely unique, ridiculous, modified cuban because it's got snakes coming out in different directions, built right into the cuban. Now, the cuban is one thickness. It was cut and those snake pieces were attached to it after, that could have been done a little bit better. But, given the complexity of this piece, it's just something that is remarkable, in and of itself. Snakes are beautiful. The detail on their faces, the way they open up their mouths, again, something that they could have spent a little bit more time on. To every rapper that might be watching this now, if you're getting your piece made, give the jeweler as much time as he needs. You're gonna get more detail and you're gonna get a better quality piece

4:35 if you're working with the right jeweler. The Gunna piece, on the other hand, is the standard drip piece, except the drips, this time, have pear-shaped diamonds in it. Or, some people call them tear-drop diamonds. But, they're really pear-cut diamonds, and that's a beautiful touch with the blue diamond at the top. That blue diamond a real deep blue. I really, really like it. You can't just get the standard layered piece, or something like, you gotta add that artistic touch. He did it with the snake cuban. He did it with the Gunna piece. He did it with the tear-drop drip. It's beautiful. Lil Uzi Vert. Lil Uzi Vert's got a lotta unique pieces. He's got a completely unique flair for jewelry and unique flair for everything he's doing. He's a true artist and that shows in that eye-catching cross piece that he's wearing.

5:23 That cross piece takes the attention away from every other piece of jewelry that he's wearing. He's wearing it on a unique and interesting chain, but the piece, in and of itself, with the roses and the design is something that I think is immaculate. And, I'm not the only one who think so because that's something that went around when he released it. When it was released on the internet, that's something that got a lot of attention. It's got pink diamonds, it's got those petals and the roses. The setting on the inside, deeper inside those petals. Beautiful. DaBaby. DaBaby's got the Rich Youngin 4X piece, which is the style of the Dreamchasers piece that Meek Mill made super, super popular. He's got a bunch of cuban chains that have the elevated prong setting.

6:09 It's classic, fully iced, cubans, and pendants. So, when you wanna ice out a cuban, you could dig right into a plain-jane cuban, and dig in the holes, and set the diamonds right in there. However, now-a-days, they're doing something called a prong setting which basically adds the gold weight. You're putting a plate of gold on top, so you don't have that gold loss. Your spending a little bit more money, and you're getting a different look. Something like this. That's exactly what he has. There is the rectangular look, like this, or you can have the rounded-out look. That means, that you're not digging holes in your cuban, you're not losing weight, but it's really a matter of preference. This is the style today, it could change tomorrow. But, he decided to go for the prong with the extra dimension and the extra gold weight. A Boogie. A Boogie has another viral piece, okay.

6:57 The Highbridge, the detailing, the dimensioning, the layering of it, right, of the bridge that was put in there. And, how it pops out, and pops in, with the High at the top. That's the type of detail you wanna see on a piece. You wanna see that artistic sense done. The model maker working on that did the job correctly. The setter, as well. The casing of the piece is beautiful. And, when you have these big boy pieces, you wanna have the cuban attached to it. You wanna have it on both sides, so, it's not just a bail and a piece, it's a whole set. That's what really makes these pieces something beautiful and unique. That's what I personally recommend. He's got a monster cuban on there. That's something to talk about with those big stones. When you look at that, and you him in real life with that piece, is the first thing, you'll gonna be blown away by it.

7:44 That's something that went viral. Beautiful item, and he should be very, very proud of that. Lil Baby has some monster cuban chain collection. Those are big boy cubans up there in the 800 grams a piece, on the largest one. In rose gold, white gold, one of them's got baguettes. He's got the real premiere cuban pieces there. They're really, really nice. The WP Baby is hanging off of one of them. The WP is the bail. That's a really cool, creative bail. Very thick, very three dimensional, fully iced on the sides. The diamonds on the sides got more carats than most rappers have on the front of their pieces. So, the most eye-catching piece Lil Baby has, to me, is the WP Baby piece. It's a very, very thick piece.

8:29 It has beautiful flower-set diamonds on the side of it. Very, very thick. So, that carat weight is very, very high. It's got a higher carat weight than most rappers and celebrities, what have you, have on the front of their pendant. So, he's got that on the side. On the front of it, however, he has the channel-set baguettes with the round-cut stones as a trim. Blueface went viral with his blue diamond bandana piece. When these guys put their money in the piece, they put in a lot of money, but it is an investment into marketing. Because, when they get out there and they show it to the world, the world shows them a level of respect based on the piece that they got. So, he definitely accomplished that particular task.

9:16 The bandana has details, it's got three dimension, the way it locks, the way it's put together. It's fitted to his neck perfectly. There's one thing, as a professional jeweler that I think it's missing, is black rhodium which would make the blue pop out. The blue, kinda, gets lost in a white gold. And, if you put black rhodium on it, it's gonna pop out a little bit more. Rhodium is a metal that covers white gold to give it that extra white finish. Cause, gold is naturally yellow. And, if you wanted to be pristine white, you have to cover it. It also comes in black, and black rhodium in contrast to blue diamonds, gives an incredible pop that's highly recommended. The beautiful thing about it though, for Blueface, is that he can get that done whenever he wants. You can put the black rhodium finishing on it, anytime,

10:02 with a variety of different jewelers. Particularly, the one that he bought the piece with. So, he should really think about that and he's gonna transform that piece. It's gonna go viral a second time, Blueface also got the Catch Em Slippin pendant in yellow gold, black enamel. It's actually, you could see the hinge on it so, it does pop open that he could even set it on the table when he's done wearing it at night. Beautifully done, nice model, nice setting, it's hard to pay attention to it with the bandana, though. The bandana's really, really while and out. Hopefully, he makes that one little adjustment and then he's gonna really be happy with the results. Young Dolph. So, Young Dolph's got two dolphins, one with a crown. He got the emoji piece, and he got the P-R-E.

10:48 So, the dolphin at the bottom is missing some of the detail that you would wanna have. The way the fins are done isn't exactly up to par with the rest of his jewelry. The emoji has a nice details, it's got the lettering on it, it's got the hat, it looks exactly like the emoji you find on your phone. The dolphin at the top's got the crown, it's got the three dimensional look, it's got some of the details, too. You have the diamonds, you have the setting, you have the gold, but then you have the model. And, you gotta do all three perfectly to get that perfect piece. Swae Lee has two baguette chains and one unique round-cut chain. That round-cut chain, I really, really like. It's a unique chain, I haven't seen it before. It's something that I should my keep my eye on because it's got the nice setting in it with different sized round-cut diamonds clustered in, and set along the side those baguette chains.

11:34 They look really, really beautiful. The baguette chain is white gold and yellow gold. Classic baguette piece, not too much different from what I'm holding right now. This is actually, probably a slightly heavier one cause it's got a solid back, not all of them have that. However, with these baguette chains, and the jewelers, and the things that are going on, you might run into a little trouble. And, he's got a missing diamond there. That's not to the fault of his jeweler, that happens. That could happen to any jeweler at any point of time. Of course, the jeweler should fix it, right away, for free. It's not the end of the world, but that goes to show you that the chain could be, or should be, made a little bit tougher, and with a little bit larger prongs. But, that happens because this is a new trend. It's a new style, and something might go wrong. But, as long as you got the right jeweler that's gonna

12:19 stand behind you, take care of you, treat you like a respected client, then you're good. You don't have a problem. Pearl chain with the Swae Lee on it. Who knows how long he's had that because it's something really, really interesting. The Swae letters are individual letters cause they could be worn as pendants individually. They're strung in on those pearls, and the way pearls are done, you knot them together so you're not gonna be able to remove them later. Very unique, very artistic. You got your baguette chains. You got whatever else you got. You wanna do something artistic. You wanna use different materials. You wanna use those pink pearls. That sets you apart. That sets something, it could start a trend, it could do something completely different that I admire. So, here you've got a half man, half grizzly bear piece. I like it. It's very, very nice. The blood's dripping.

13:05 Half the face is rose gold, the other half is white gold. So, the assembly is there. The detail is there. Very nice. The ear's ripped off, chewed off, scarred. Got the details, they got the scar. That's something that sets him apart. So, the artistic sense is there. Big ticket item, fully iced on the classic cuban chains. Classic rap piece. Something that's gonna get the attention that a rapper like him deserves. A$AP Ferg. He gotta piece to commemorate his friend, A$AP Yams, who passed away. He did an incredible chain on this one. I really like it. The way the flower setting is done in the back, is something superior to what we've been look at in a lot of instances because the Yamborghini letters are sitting on top of that flower setting in a flush way.

13:53 The details on that bull, and everything that's going on in there is really, really nice for that Lamborghini logo that's kinda remixed in this chain. He's got it on a different style chain. It's not a diamond chain, but it's still a very immaculate piece and he should be proud of it. This is done right. So, Big Sean's got the rolo chains, fully iced, with tennis chains, three of them going around. Nice length, 16 inches, 18 inches, 20 inches. With a Don Life in enamel going around in a circle. Cool pieces, really nice, really trendy look, really slick look. He did a great job with that, especially, with that yellow Jesus on the end. Satin finish on the face, the yellow diamonds and the white gold crown, all right, the crown of thorns. So, that was attached later, it was cast separately.

14:39 And, this is a Jesus piece that's classic, that he's probably was just watching for a long time, he wanted it, he got it. If you're watching this, and you're blowing up on your first or second piece, don't waste your money. Get that elite piece made. Take your time, don't rush the jeweler. You're gonna get something that's gonna set a trend and it's gonna be watched for a very long time. [upbeat music]