Two of the most prominent groups of diamond collectors will converge on October first at Phillips de Pury when rappers and hip-hop moguls mingle with royalty at the Hip Hop’s Crown Jewels auction. Among the items up on the block is a Guinness World Record holder; Lil' Jon is selling his infamous Crunk Ain't Dead 12-pound diamond-studded monstrosity, notable for being the largest diamond pendant necklace in the world. No word yet on how much the bauble is expected to bring in ($500k is its reported value, and that doesn't include the priceless feeling of wearing a piece that used to sit next to the pimp cup), but its final selling price is guaranteed to become a lyric in a Lil' Jon song.
We've been in a sharing mood here on Stereohyped recently, in case you haven't noticed. In keeping with that theme, I should let you know that I studied cuisine and wine at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and, thus, am a foodie — in that I love cooking it and going out to eat it — and an amateur vinophile — in that I love drinking tasting and analyzing it. But as Lil Jon proves with his Little Jonathan Winery, you don't have to know a thing about it to try to make money off of it.
"I'm not no 'drink wine every day' kind of dude," Jon said. "I'm not like an expert, so don't ask me no questions…I just like the taste."
The idea to take his palate public admittedly "kind of came out of nowhere," he said. "We were just going to do some private label stuff [for parties] and we did it, and people was like, 'Hey, it's pretty nice.'"
Jon is also responsible for the pomegranate-flavored Crunk!!! herbal energy drink, which is largely available in the South and the Florida panhandle, a handful of Midwest states and California.
But while Crunk!!! is "bold pride, ridiculous parties and endless energy," according to the beverage's website, Little Jonathan Winery is "not no ghetto Boone's Farm," Jon said.
"This is real wine."
He means they won't be selling it alongside the forties at the corner store. Okay?
Leave it to TMZ to turn a potentially funny post about Lil Jon's new winery, called Little Jonathan Winery (ha!), into something cringeworthy with this headline: "Nothing Says Ghetto Like… Wine." Who's to say he was trying to "say ghetto?" They also take care to let you know that although Lil Jon is going into the alcohol business, he's not selling malt liquor. Okay, yes, Lil Jon puts himself out there for jokes. I mean, look at him. This is the man who invented Crunk Energy Drink. Still, ya'll know TMZ annoys me.
• Amy Winehouse has hair from the '60s and drug habits from the '80s. And she also just checked herself into a mental health facility. [MG]
• Proving that it ain't just the white females celebs with the major problems, Heath Ledger was found dead in a NYC apartment owned by Mary-Kate Olsen. Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed. R.I.P. [Jossip]
• Americans are more ready for a black president than a female one blah blah blah Bradley Effect blah blah blah. [LAT]
• For the presidential candidates, "black" equals "poor." [NPR]
• Two reasons why Lil Jon should always keep his sunglasses on. [C&D]
• Lil Jon made Avril Lavigne cry at the New Year's Eve party they were co-hosting when he led the countdown instead of her. But is anyone asking why the hell those two were co-hosting a party together in the first place? [MG]
• Birdman's getting sued. Chris Brown, too. [SOHH]
Ciara and Lil Jon set out to prove that crunk ain't dead in the former's new video for "That's Right." I'm not sure if they succeed, but, nevertheless, I always enjoy dancing Ciara more than strolling-down-the-street-and-feeling-up-50-Cent Ciara.
It wasn't until I saw a picture of these two again that I realized how nice it was to not see them for a while. Even if they're back for good, it was a smart move on their part to lay low for a while. They came out for the opening of Jermaine Dupri's new club, Studio 72, along with JD and Janet (of course), Nelly, some Flavor of Love girls (not pictured), and a bunch of your typical Atlantans.
Lil Jon has expended some energy and quite a bit of green (see his Guinness record-breaking medallion) to relay the message that crunk music is not dead. Unfortunately for us all, Merriam-Webster heard it loud and clear and added the word to the newest edition of the dictionary, along with ginormous, smackdown, telenovela, and DVR.
For the record, all five of those words came up on my Web browser spell check. If Webster says they're real words, then they're real words. Firefox needs to get on that.