Should we call Drake the king of bling? Designed and worn by hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur just days before he was shot dead, the iconic gold, diamond, and ruby ring sold earlier this week for a record $1 million at auction in New York, well above Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate of $300,000, making it the most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold.
For a week everyone was wondering who the buyer was and on Thursday night the Canadian rapper hit up his IG stories to show off the infamous bling while promoting his new song with Travis Scott, “Meltdown.” By Friday morning, Sotheby’s confirmed that the Canadian rapper was the one to purchase the valuable piece of jewelry.
Shakur, whose hits included ‘California Love,’ designed the ring over the course of a few months following his time behind bars before it was assembled by jewelers in New York City, Sotheby’s said.
His godmother Yaasmyn Fula offered the ring for the auction.
When designing the ring, Shakur had been influenced by 16th-century Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli’s political manifesto ‘The Prince’ which he read while in prison.
He modeled the design on the crowns of the medieval kings of Europe, Sotheby’s added and engraved ‘Pac & Dada 1996,’ a reference to his girlfriend Kidada Jones.
This isn’t the only piece of jewelry having relevance to Tupac that Drake owns. In July 2020, the rapper commissioned Jason of Beverly Hills, to pull off twin pendants depicting Pac with white and yellow diamond crowns of thorns. The total price for each piece was $300k!!!
Looks like the Canadian rapper is building quite the jewelry collection. Wonder if Rihanna was an influence?
Source: Getty/Sotheby’s
You must be logged in to post a comment.