Mary J. Blige has teamed with LL Cool J’s wife Simone Smith to release a limited-edition jewelry collection for the “Around The Way Girl.”
The collection dropped on August 11 as part of their Sister Love jewelry brand in celebration of Hip-Hop 50. It features classic designs reflecting the women’s upbringing in New York City, such as bamboo door knockers.
“Hip-hop is so important to me because it gave me my identity growing up in the inner city and the projects. It was and still is a powerful way for us to express ourselves and understand other artists and rappers who MC through their experience. Years ago, people thought this genre would be extinct, but 50 years later it is still here and just as big as rock and roll,” Blige said in a statement, Vibe reports.
She continued, “We decided on these earring styles for Hip-Hop 50 because these are the earrings that were the most popular, specifically the triangle hoops (what we call Tri-Bams), and the ones that every girl from the projects and female rappers wore! Hip-Hop culture always influences the designs for Sister Love. These are the earrings we wore growing up and are still wearing today.”
“My husband has the Rock the Bells Festival in August, and so I designed a whole collection of pendants for it,” Smith shared with VIBE earlier this year.
All Sister Love jewelry including the Hip-Hop 50 collection can be purchased on the brand’s official website. Take a look at images from the campaign below.
Sister Love offers a range of styles inspired by the culture of 90s Hip Hop culture.
“What made me want to work with Simone is [that] she already created an amazingly successful jewelry line and all the pieces are things that I love, and she also has an amazing fashion sense,” Blige previously said via press release. “I wanted to add to that by sharing some of my fashion sense with her and creating some things I dream about and I know other women are dreaming about.”