Remember this ridiculous story last week about how rapper Lil Uzi Vert spent the last four years paying off a $24 million pink diamond that he subsequently had embedded into his forehead? Now besides being accused of cultural appropriation by putting a pink stone where Hindus traditionally place their bindis to represent the ajna chakra (3rd eye), Lil Squert’s diamond has been accused of being fake and cubic zirconia by some on social media. Not to let the accusations stand, Simon Babaev, a spokesman from Uzi’s jeweler Eliantte & Co , spoke with Rolling Stone. He confirmed that the diamond did actually cost $24 million and that it is indeed real. Simon, a New York-based jeweler, said that Lil Uzi approached them in 2017 and fell in love with the pink diamond. Simon also said that Eliantte & Co did not initially take Lil Uzi seriously when he said he wanted to implant the diamond into his forehead. Don’t take my word for it, here’s what Simon had to say to Rolling Stone:
On how Lil Uzi approached them
Everything started back in 2017. Once he saw the stone, he really fell in love with it and said he’d think about what he wanted to do with it.We didn’t think he was serious about it, but as he started making payments on the specific stone, he made it clear that he was very serious.
On if they’ve been asked for forehead implants
In the forehead? No, that’s a bit extreme. But just on the face, we’ve done. In 2016, Young Thug had a diamond implanted on his face. He had a pear shape, like a teardrop, I believe. He had it on his face for a while, but then I think he lost it.It’s as safe as any other piercing. As long as you maintain it well and have good upkeep, it’s perfectly fine. We made sure that prior to getting anything done that Uzi brought someone in to consult on everything. We didn’t just do this randomly.
On if this was their most extravagant request and if it will inspire a trend
Yeah, this was definitely pretty extravagant. This would definitely be top-tier by far. People have gotten crazy custom pieces done, but something that’s done as a body modification, to have something popped onto your forehead? This is definitely the first time.People always want something that no one else has. And especially because we specialize in custom fabrication, we’ll make a link for somebody and it’ll become so popular that other people will request it, or they’ll try to customize it to make it their own. Uzi himself is a trendsetter, so I wouldn’t be surprised if people out there requested this. It’s crazy. Uzi is definitely a trendsetter.
Like I said last week, this story is ridiculous and spending $24 million dollars on a pink diamond that you insert into your forehead is extremely extravagant and silly. It would have been smarter for Lil Uzi to not paint a target on his back by one, broadcasting how much the diamond cost and two, placing the damned thing in his forehead. The smartest thing that Lil Uzi has done was put insurance on the stone. However, I stand by my original statement that he should have invested that money for his future. With that being said, it isn’t my business how these rappers spend their money. If they wish to throw it away on frivolous things then that’s their business.
I am “glad” that Eliantte & Co sent a representative to dispel the rumors that the diamond was fake and also reassure people that the procedure of inserting a diamond into one’s forehead is safe. I agree with Simon that as ridiculous as it may be, Lil Uzi Vert may have started a trend. At some point if this does become a trend, the cultural appropriation part will definitely need to be addressed. As a yogi, I sometimes wear a bindi but it is done within the context of a ritual, namely a puja. So my wearing a bindi is usually couched in its cultural context. Unfortunately, I do not believe getting a permastone in one’s forehead is the same. With that being said, I do hope that this will not become a trend. There is enough weird sh*t happening in the world, what I don’t need on Beyonce’s internet is a whole bunch of Millennials and Gen-Z babies running around with diamonds and other precious stones seared into their forehead. If that happens, I think I may log off the interwebs entirely and go live in the woods, near a river with my 100 cats and lover where wifi or cell towers are not available.
To each his own but I can’t help but wonder if this action is rooted in low self-esteem. “Look at me! I’m valuable!”.
It looks like a tiny vagina.
I understand that buying and displaying stuff can be a maladaptive way of filling gaps left from trauma for example.
$24 million for this isn’t a train smash. He has had a ton of publicity and he can at least sell it again for full or similar value unlike most designer gear which becomes pennies on the dollar once owned
THIS!
All of this sounds foolish and financially wasteful until you remember that his JOB is to get publicity for himself (and others if he’s going to be viable in the long run). In any other arena, this kind of antic would be ridiculous but male rappers/performers haven’t had the same freedom to be wildly creative with their appearances (the way Nicki Minaj did early in her career and the way Cardi B does now).
The fact that this is still being discussed over a week later, and there are so many images of it and now his jeweler has spoken out about it and I’ve seen several references to it in memes on my younger cousins’ social media means HIS MARKETING WORKED.
He’s getting attention in a *very* saturated market. His gimmick paid off. Most of us had never heard of him a couple weeks ago and now we’re talking about the pink diamond in his forehead and using his name and recognizing his name when it’s used elsewhere.
That’s a successful campaign.
“he can at least sell it again for full or similar value”
If he can keep it! It doesn’t seem very stable. Being that the jeweler said the other artist who had the diamond implanted in his face “lost” his, it doesn’t appear that face mounting is very secure.
Someone is bound to Thanos his ass.
I’m seeing this as inspired by Vision as well. Not sure why people think it’s the bindi, isn’t a bindi round and red?
Agreed. Many traditions worldwide and also in sci-fi and comic culture and in healing traditions speak to the third eye area and in connection to the pineal gland. I don’t think it’s appropriation to place a crystal here to activate that area. Often it’s advised with certain crystals to activate dreaming and other states of consciousness through holistic means. I actually think it’s pretty badass to have that kind of activation going on constantly though definitely it was a stupid amount of money to spend. But a lesser-priced diamond or gem piercing there? Sure, why not.
no, bindi is a third eye and can be any color and shape, but a red round bindi is the most common kind. source: am Indian. And I don’t think this is cultural appropriation, he’s just an idiot with too much money, he clearly did not try to imitate or rip off traditional Hindu customs.
I worked at the united nations (at UN Women) in NY for years and often wore a bindi for fashion only. Every Indian woman I worked with encouraged it and assured me it was totally appropriate (I am Caucasian).
It honestly turns my stomach to look at this piercing. It looks so uncomfortable.
“…what I don’t need on Beyonce’s internet is a whole bunch of Millennials and Gen-Z babies running around with diamonds and other precious stones seared into their forehead.”
The youngest millennials are like 25 now and the oldest are 40. Leave us out of this silliness! :p If anyone, it’ll be the Gen-Z kids trying it.
This – millennial has come to mean anyone under 35 when most millennials, myself included are 30+. Only the youngest of millennials are still in their late 20s. Gen Z kids are full grown adults now and they are pushing this nonsense.
I just don’t get how it’s done. How do you Implant it in? Please explain lolol.
the way the jeweller described it, it’s been done as a piercing rather than an implant.
As someone who had (HAD) a dermal piercing, I’ll say this. They look cute, hurt like hell (at least mine did, but pain thresholds vary), but will eventually reject. Not like an infection, but it will grow out of your flesh as your skin regenerates. You have to get them redone if you want to keep them longer than 2-4 years. Mine lasted 3, well past my quarter-life crisis when I got the damned thing.
(Mine was on the back of my neck, just below my hairline. Probably explains why it hurt like hell.)
Its looks dumb, it looks uncomfortable. Someone is going to try and take it from him i bet. What an idiot
I work with a lot of Indians, and during Diwali, our company puts on a celebration, and the Indians ask the rest of us to wear saris, and they help us get dressed correctly. Plus, they put bindis on our foreheads. We asked if that was OK, and they all told us it’s just makeup. They told us it has no religious or cultural significance and they don’t mind if anyone wears a bindi. That is what I was told by actual Indian ladies.
I personally would not wear a bindi on my own, as I would feel like it was cultural appropriation. However, the gemstone does not look like a bindi, since I associate those with women and makeup. Plus, it looks uncomfortable, and I worry that he’ll have a nasty scar if it falls out.
Isnt he afraid someone will attack him and try and cut it out?
That was my first thought!
for real, I keep imagining that a drug cartel or notorious well-connected gang might target him and rob him. Remember that Kim K got robbed in a fancy exclusive hotel in Paris despite having bodyguards and all? If that happened to her… imagine what can happen to him.
So is it drilled into his skull? How is something like that mounted/pierced/embedded?
It’s a subdermal piercing! They personally give me the heebie jeebies, but they’re not that uncommon, although I’ve never seen one that big and in the middle of the face. You can look it up if you’re curious, I promise the pictures on the first page of Google aren’t gross!
They pierce the skin with a needle just like a regular piercing, but then they insert an implant/base type thing into the skin. If you’re familiar with labret stud earrings for ear cartilage piercings, it’s a similar concept, except that the base rests below the skin and has a prong poking out that you use to connect the jewelry to the base.
Definitely not drilled into his skull, but to me it still sounds super super uncomfortable. I’ve seen people with this piercing in the webbing between their fingers, as “dimples” on the face, on cheekbones, back of the neck, clavicles, hip bones, etc. I think people like to go for a permanent rhinestone look, like the kind of rhinestones that come with a sticky back, but permanent and with precious stones.
I can’t help but think how much good could be done with $24 million dollars… or you could put a hunk of carbon in your forehead. Ugh.
I know. “I have an extra $24 million. I dunno, should I donate it to a lab that’s trying to cure breast cancer, fund a network of adult literacy centers in underserved neighborhoods, or embed a rock in my forehead?”
I still don’t understand how it attaches to his forehead?
Does it have a piercing w/a little post to hold it in place?
Why? Just why tho?
I do like the matching pink stone necklace he is wearing in the picture.
So, the jeweler claims the stone is worth $24M, did they give him a huge discount on price for all the publicity? Is it insured for more than $24M? Will this rapper go bankrupt in a few years, in a salute to MC Hammer? I have a lotta questions. lol
I don’t get the whole “implant” thing either. You’re not alone!
I’ll take the bait…I see it being called a “piercing”, but how does it attach? Can he remove it when he wants to or does he have to see his…jeweler? doctor? Help me understand how it works.
Super glue!
No, but in all seriousness, however it’s attached, I hope it’s fixed enough that it can’t just accidentally fall off (like jewellery can), but on the other hand can be taken off quickly without doing him serious harm, if somebody really does decide to rob him.
From what I recall reading… I think on CB, actually… I think 2 slits were made in to the skin on his forehead, next to each other, then a bar with a screw on it is inserted in to that (kind of like how you put a pin on) and the screw pushes through the skin. Then the diamond gets twisted on. It sounds kind of brutal, but the article said its pretty standard for dermal piercing. So, he can take the diamond off, but that bar with the screw sticking out out his forehead is permanent.
whoa – thanks for the explanation!
Literally has a price on his head. I’d be paranoid someone would come for me
I expect we’ll hear about him being decapitated at some point
I thought of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Lorelei Lee being overjoyed about finding new places to wear diamonds. I guess there’s a reason $24 million diamonds exist. That’s all I got.
What an incredibly awful way to waste money.
Help those that need it the most, it makes me so sad.
How much could be done for $ 24 million dollars, especially during these very hard times in the world!
MAKES ME SICK!!!!!
I suggest watching Generation wealth a documentary about today’s obsession with money, its prett fascinating
Thank you, I will.
I truly do not understand such level of greed that someone would in-bed a massive diamond into their forehead.
There are children starving around the world, planet is suffering, pandemic is taking lives and destroying jobs/businesses and this guy is figuring out how to show off his big diamond.
HORRIBLE act by any human doing!
Just from a visual perspective, mounting it right on his forehead removes so much of the stones ability to look the way it should. It needs light all around it to really sparkle, like on a ring. The ring as displayed on IG, floating in the air under bright light is spectacular. For it to be mounted flat against a background makes it read as plastic, or some other substance. So the desired effect is dampened or nullified on top of everything else.
When I first saw this, I thought Vision as well. Thing is, the design of Vision itself can be cultural appropriation.
Fun fact about me: remember back when tramp stamps were all the rage? I never wanted a tattoo so I got a piercing stamp. Two studs in the dimples of my lower back.
OK, that actually sounds really cute! When I was younger I was really fascinated by dimple piercings (the facial type) — kinda sugar, kinda spice!
When I first read about this, I shook my head and felt real respect for him for just taking it ALL THE WAY, and buying this thing he really likes (pink diamonds! He loves them!!) and just sticking it on his face so he can always admire it. And at almost the exact same time, I got choked up at how warped capitalism is, and how weird and gruesome and morbid this is. Like, is this the next thing? People proving they’ve made it by… becoming gem-encrusted?
Then my husband assured me there was no way this story was real, and I was like “wow, what a brilliant satire!” And now, this post, today. I’m sad again.
Well. It IS a super-pretty stone. And you need to wear it somewhere, so why not? As they said, it’s no more dangerous than other piercings.
This makes me feel better. You’re absolutely right. It’s practically in his ear, and no one freaks out about pretty earrings. (Related: I’m 38 and *today* is the day I finally noticed I have a nickel allergy. I had to take out my earrings. Maybe *I* should be spending more money on jewelry?)
It’s a gorgeous stone, and like fine China, should be used and adored rather than hidden away. Mounted to your face, maybe not, but whatever lol