A US$39 million stash takes the bling throne … but which rapper got a 10-carat diamond surgically embedded into his forehead?
Birkin bags and vintage Rolexes aren’t the only luxury collectibles celebrities treasure these days. For the biggest names in hip-hop, chains and signature gemmed items are proving to be serious investment pieces.
According to an expert from luxury resale marketplace FashioNica, Drake’s US$1 million purchase of Tupac’s crown ring “is the clearest signal yet, a piece whose cultural value far exceeds the gold and diamonds in it. It’s the same appreciation curve we see in vintage handbags and watches, where provenance compounds value over time.”
From Kendrick Lamar’s Tiffany & Co. diamond crown to Drake’s US$10 million lariat-style necklace, here are the five hip hop stars with the most expensive jewellery collections, as per a 2026 report by FashioNica.
5. Kendrick Lamar, US$4.8 million
Kendrick Lamar has a number of exquisite pendants, crowns and watches in his US$4.8 million jewellery collection. Photo: AP
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Kendrick Lamar, 39, comes in at fifth on this list with a jewellery collection worth US$4.8 million. The titanium Crown of Thorns he wore at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival is a custom Tiffany & Co. masterpiece featuring over 8,000 micro-pavé diamonds set across 50 individual thorns, which took 10 months and four craftsmen to complete. The statement piece cost US$3 million, the rapper told YouTube channel The Unknown Vlogs in 2022.
Then there’s the US$1.2 million lowercase “a” pendant Lamar rocked at last year’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show, designed by New York-based jeweller Eliantte & Co. The “A Minor” charm doubled as a not-so-subtle hint at his beef with Drake, who Lamar had famously alleged was grooming teenagers in his diss track “Not Like Us”, with the lyrics “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably a minor”.
4. Rick Ross, US$8.5 million
Rick Ross is known for having some of the most expensive watches in his collection. Photo: Reuters
Rick Ross, the owner of hip-hop’s most expensive watch, takes fourth place, with his entire collection totalling US$8.5 million. His “iced out” Jacob & Co. Billionaire III timepiece is worth a whopping US$3.1 million. But the 50-year-old rapper doesn’t stop there: his extravagant collection also includes a US$3 million Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch encrusted with emeralds, plus a yellow diamond self-portrait face pendant valued at US$1.5 million. Ross confirmed in a 2024 interview with Robb Report that several pieces were given to him as gifts by jeweller Jacob Arabo and producer Dr. Dre.
3. Jay-Z, US$12.9 million
Jay-Z, a collector of the extravagant timepieces, sports a Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime 6300g at the 65th Grammy Awards in 2023. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
In third place is Jay-Z, with a collection valued at US$12.9 million. His most sentimental piece is also his priciest: a 1,282-diamond Hublot Big Bang that wife Beyoncé gifted him for his 43rd birthday in 2012. We’re talking over 100 carats of baguette-cut diamonds and a US$5 million price tag. The rapper, now 56, also owns two custom Richard Mille watches by Alex Todd: a US$3 million green sapphire tourbillon and a US$2.5 million blue sapphire model named after his 2001 album The Blueprint.
