Masonic Hip Hop Bling
Check out the bling on this Masonic buckle!
I came across these pieces of Masonic bling today, further illustrating the intriguing (and somewhat odd) nexus that has seemed to form between Hip Hop and Freemasonry.
It’s sold by an outfit called Hiphopbling.com, which, not surprisingly, specializes in hip hop style jewelry. They have a whole page of this stuff! (Although I didn’t find any Masonic rings — I would have expected some.)
My question is — and I don’t mean this condescendingly — who is the target market for this? Are there non-masonic fans of hip hop who think the idea of Freemasonry is cool and wear the Masonic bling, or are there Freemasons so involved in the hip hop scene that they would be the target customers for an item like this? I dunno. I’d enjoy hearing feedback on this.
Oh, and I should point out that my site is not affiliated in any way with this site — I’m not getting any kind of commission or anything from this post . . . just thought it was interesting.
It is not uncommon to see masons wearing extremely flashy square & compass, It has a very large target demographic, especially overseas in military lodges where we raise a lot of young men to Master Mason. I have to admit the hip-hop bling site does look retarded as hell. but just just because someone wears large flashy jewelry does not always mea they’re of the “hip-hop” culture. I personally would not wear it, but I dont knock anyone else who chooses to do so.
So to directly answer your question, there are plenty of masons that are fans of hip hop, I doubt seriously that non-masons go around wearing the square and compass because it looks cool.
So is JayZ a freemason? Maybe targeted at fans and followers?
I think these kneck peices are targeted at young Masons who, I Am sure, Are fans of Hip Hop, I do doubt that Freemasonry has any type of strong-hold on hip hop, or that the Beautiful system is reflected in hip hop. Maaybe an artist/producer or two, and a few thousand fans, but nothing too serious for the anti’s out there, lol. I Love hip hop, and the Craft, never to mix the two, and never would I wear such a peice. Seeing as one of the two shown is represented in an EA form and EAs Cant wear “light” I would assume that the charms were crafted by non-Masons, and I feel that is explotation of the Craft, but that’s just my thoughts, Peace, and Stay Fair and Square!!!