Bling Bling

In the early 2000’s, rapper Lil Wayne coined the term, “bling bling,” It is a synonym for expensive, often flashy jewelry including watches, earrings, chains, rings, teeth, and almost about any other gaudy accessory you can think of in hip hop culture. The word “Bling” was actually added to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in 2002, and has stuck with America since. This word’s significance is just one of the many examples that contribute to America’s growing obsession in materialism. Although excessive materialism currently may pertain to a small group of people, more Americans are spending money on useless desires. One can argue that excessive materialism only affects those who can afford their expenses. They claim that small groups of people, usually being “the 1%”, have a problem with spending money on items that they don’t require. They figure if they have enough money to support their useless purchases, it should not be a problem. And although this may be true in some cases, such as very wealthy rappers or celebrities in entertainment, the rise of excessive materialism is growing among young teenagers and adults that can’t afford the items they are purchasing. Young teenagers will go to the extent of stealing their own parents’ cash to buy high-end fashion clothes, accessories, games, and anything one can imagine. A story of a young girl named Dee in Champagne Taste, Beer Budget explains an incident where she withdrew $1,600 out of her mother’s saving account she had set up for her just to satisfy her fix of buying materialistic fashion items. Her mother says, “Delia, you’re turning into a lunatic, giving all your hard-earned money to multimillionaires!” (Cleveland 279). And she simply responds, “Mama, you’re behind the times.” I was looking fly, and that was all that mattered.” (Cleveland 279). The amount of people in America that can’t support their purchases outweigh those who can, which is most likely the main reason America is currently 59