29 Days of Black History, Day 26

While watching an episode of Say Yes to the Dress the other day, I noticed that one of bridal customers kept requesting a dress with a lot of "bling-bling". It made me reflect on hip-hop's influence on American culture and around the world. The term "bling-bling" was first popularized in the hip hop community, appearing in Super Cat's song "Dolly My Baby" (featuring Notorious BIG) in 1993 and later made popular in B.G. and Lil Wayne's song "Bling-Bling" in 1999. Now, it has spread beyond hip hop culture and into mass culture. "Bling" was added to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in 2002 and to the Merriam Webster dictionary in 2006.

Hip-hop has influenced more than just the way we speak. It has changed the way people dress, what they believe, how they shop, and how they act--both positively and negatively. It begs the age-old question: How much is hip-hop responsible for many of the downfalls (crime, violence, drugs, etc.) in the black community?  Someone shared with me an interview that loosely relates to this particular question and I had to pass it along. Click HERE to peep the discussion between Ebony Magazine's Dream Hampton and rapper, Too Short.