subject: History Of The Dookie Chain [print this page] Since the beginning of hip hop music, the dookie chain has been a staple of the music genre culture. A dookie chain is a thick necklace, usually in gold or platinum, resembling a braided rope. Due to their size, dookie chains were originally hollow to decrease cost yet they still sold for thousands of dollars. In the golden era of hip hop music, emcees wore dookie chains to symbolize their success. Not many people could afford such an extravagant piece of jewelry, except for those who were on top of their game.
In the 1980's the pioneers of hip hop rocked gold or platinum dookie chains in videos or photo shoots. Run DMC flossed gold dookie chains with their signature fedoras and Adidas shoes. Ll Cool J would wear a dookie chain with his signature bucket hats. All the lyrical legends of the 80's, including Slick Rick, Big Daddy Cane, Jam Master Jay and Rakim, sported a gold or platinum dookie chain.
Two decades later, the fat rope dookie chains are making a comeback. View some of today's hip hop videos and you will notice artists like Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Nelly, Pharrell, Nas, Busta Rymes and Nick Cannon paying homage to 80's culture with thick dookie rope chains. For Kanye West, it's the only chain he wears.
"Platinum chains are wack, unless it's a rope," says Kanye West. Even hip hop superstar Lil Wayne is going with the classic dookie chain. "I just ordered mine," says Lil Wayne about the necklaces. "I'mma be purely honest: what sparked me to do it was Nick Cannon's new video. He's killing it. I saw plenty people do it, but I saw Nick and I was like, 'He's young - yeah. I like the whole look, no piece or nothing: just the rope."
There's an ongoing debate as to who is responsible for bringing back the dookie chain. Whether it's Nick Cannon, Nas or Kanye West, there's no debate that dookie chains are in fact back. The chain that symbolized 80's hip hop has rekindled the memories of the legends through today's brightest hip hop stars.
