Why Vikki Tobak’s “Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History” is A Must-Read For Music Fans and Diamond Lovers
Her newest book, “Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History”, pays homage to self-expression through gemstones, delving into the stories behind the sparkle…
Vikki Tobak is showing me her Nefertiti piece. “Jewellery has such a personal element to it in the way that we use it to communicate – more so than sneakers and clothing, because it’s a thing that’s passed on, it’s something given to you,” she tells me. “It’s a very layered story.”
Following a panel discussion at men’s outfitters John Elliott at Miami Design District on the opening night of Art Basel Miami Beach, the next stop on the Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History world tour is the Virgin Megastore pop-up at Sole DXB. As we flip through the book together, it’s clear that there’s so much fashion, folklore, and eye candy pressed between the heavy Taschen hard cover – over 300 pages of photos and words bound together at the spine – whether you’re a hip-hop head or a fine-jewellery connoisseur, Ice Cold is, undoubtedly, a masterpiece of a tome.
This is Vikki’s second book. The first, Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, was published in 2018 and went on to inspire a touring exhibition of the same name. Ice Cold appears to be following a similar trajectory to its predecessor. Chronicling the history of bling from the ’80s through to today, the book commemorates the long-standing relationship between hip-hop artists and their jewellery, along with the special role that gold and diamonds play in the visual storytelling of the culture.
Some of the genre’s most memorable photographs, shot by the likes of Wolfgang Tillmans, Janette Beckman, and David LaChapelle, feature alongside personal essays by A$AP Ferg, LL Cool J, Kevin “Coach K’ Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas of Quality Control Music. Slick Rick wrote the foreword to the book. DJ Khaled and Migos members Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff trusted Vikki and her team with pieces from their personal collections; these exclusive photographs share insight into the extravagance of the industry’s current stars, now forever commemorated in the pages of the book.
Prior to becoming a journalist, Vikki worked her way up at Payday Records/Empire Management to director of marketing and PR where she was responsible for organising photo shoots for the label’s artists, so is unfazed when discussing the process of compiling all this history, knowledge and photography into one source.
So why jewellery after Contact High? “My entry into this book is the music and the hip hop… but if you grow up around and have a love for it, you know the visuals of it are so important, right?” she explains. “When I was doing Contact High – which is more like celebrating the photographers and photographic history – I started to reflect on all the visual signifiers.”
Exploring expressions of status, identity and representation in hip-hop culture, she continues, “Clothing and shoes were probably the most obvious, right? Because sneaker culture is so dominant now – and there’s been so much written about it and mythologising of it… Jewellery was one of those elements that was hiding in plain sight for me, from being around it from the early ’90s when I worked in the music business. You would just see people and how they wore jewellery.” She describes it as a “subculture within the culture,” very much a “living story” that is continually developing to this day, from community shops and little gold chains to Beyoncé and Jay-Z fronting Tiffany & Co campaigns. It’s a story of humble beginnings that parallels her own.
“My family moved to America when I was young, from Kazakhstan to Detroit, and I do think that a little bit of the outsider culture, immigrant culture – especially in ’80s and ’90s America – really informed a lot of why I love hip hop, why I was drawn to it, and that sense of belonging it allowed you to have,” she recalls, highlighting how her own background is similar to that of the jewellers that cater to the community.
“You hear names like Jacob ‘The Jeweller’, you hear about Tito Caicedo of Manny’s New York, you knew Canal Street in New York was a big place for hip-hop gold – and I understood Jacob was an immigrant from Uzbekistan, or that Tito was from Ecuador… I never really thought about it through my lens until I did this book,” she acknowledges. “All the jewellers that service hip hop are either immigrants or children of immigrants. I don’t know that I would have honed in on that detail, because it’s kind of nuanced, if I didn’t have that experience myself.”
She admits, “I still speak a little bit of Russian, so being in the Diamond District in New York, you hear it. Most of the jewellers are from Uzbekistan – they’re Bukharan Jews, but they still speak Russian,” she points out. “For the cover of Ice Cold, we worked with a jeweller called Avianne & Co. When I met them for the first time, I peppered a little bit of Russian in there, and I was treated like a member of the family,” she laughs. “They thought I was a hip-hop journalist – which I am – but I brought in that aspect of familiarity. They were like ‘Oh! OK!’ It’s funny how the universe works, right?” she observes, a hint of a smile in her voice. Indeed.
Our conversation turns to the topic of Ice Cold as an exhibition and what that would look like were it to manifest in the near future. “I have been approached by a few places like the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which is not the most expected place but they have the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals. We’re talking about potentially doing something with them. It’s still early, but I am hoping that it will happen,” she teases.
According to Vikki, ideally the exhibition would include actual pieces featured in the book, on loan from their owners, alongside photographs – a logistical challenge which would require the support and infrastructure of an established institution. Regardless, Vikki seems cautiously optimistic. “I think we’ll make it happen. Pharrell just launched an auction house called JOOPITER, and the first sale they did in New York was made up of his pieces,” she notes. “They had a little exhibition to preview at the auction, so I was like ‘OK, it’s possible to do this.’”
With so many different ways to experience hip-hop history, participate in the culture, and be wowed by its blinged-out accessories, some may wonder if it’s necessary to compile it into a hard copy at all? “Books are something that will outlast us,” Vikki declares in a matter-of-fact tone, when I ask why it’s important for tomes like Ice Cold and Contact High to exist. “The kind of work I do is books that show this continuum of the community and the culture that are bigger than all of us.”
She argues, “There are Instagram feeds and digital platforms, but they don’t fully explain the story about New York in the ’80s and ’90s that kicked off hip hop: why were certain link styles developing; why was it dangerous to wear this jewellery early on; why weren’t any of the brands trying to interact with hip hop and rap, and now everyone’s at every front row in the luxury world.” Vikki continues to list off examples, bringing it back to the importance of having the tangible reliability of a physical record of history. “A book – it’ll outlast us all.”
When asked if she had an interest in gems growing up Vikki replies that she didn’t, but shares a story of her own, one that has a full-circle moment within it. “When I was really young, we had a little jewellery store nearby and my mom bought me a Nefertiti piece – I wear it all the time now. In the States, it’s not a common gift for a child, but it is common for hip hop,” she confides, pulling the yellow gold pendant out from under her shirt to show me. “We came from very humble means so for her to even buy this was…” she pauses, “very significant.”
It may not be as eccentric or extravagant as most displayed throughout Ice Cold, but her tone of voice suggests it’s just as precious to her as some of the pieces with which Cardi B and Offset have adorned their daughter, Kulture. And perhaps, in a way, keeping this Ancient Egyptian queen close predestined Vikki’s path as a chronicler of contemporary treasures herself.
“My mom passed away when I was in my early 20s, so I never asked her why she bought this for me or the significance of Nefertiti. But I always kind of knew it had a connection with hip-hop culture too, so I started wearing it again. That’s my jewellery story.” And it’s one that’s no less special than the tales told between the pages of Ice Cold.
From ART BOOK Miami Exhibition 004
