Rick Ross “The Boss” is a huge fan of making these types of purchases and then integrating them into his rap lyrics and videos and for this quality, I elected to use a music video of his.  For those who do not know, Rick Ross has a trademark piece of jewelry that is a replica of his face. In addition, they even have a copy of his original pendant available for the public to purchase at reasonable price, which makes him a true boss in his fans eyes.  The creation of this single pendant cost him well over a hundred thousand dollars.  This desire for excess is blatantly promoted in Rick Ross’ music video MMG Untouchables which was released in February of this year.  The video is straight forward in its attempt to show its viewers the attributes of Rick Ross’s lifestyle.  In the video, Rick is standing  beside a pearly white Mercedes in a large brown fur coat with shades and multiple chains on, while constantly blowing smoke from something implied as illegal.  The video may have been low budget, but the props were coincidentally not.  Although, Ross does not refer to buying clothes, he does consider the other areas of consumerism within hip-hop.  For example, “I’m buying real estate, and I’m buildin’ my plans, can’t name a realer place, goin’ gram for gram”, and “just bought another car, had to drop that top, for 200 dollars, she’ll suck that cock” (Ross).  Rick Ross sticks to his same theme and boasts about buying cars and homes but it doesn’t end there.  Bragging about having more than one lawyer, he raps, “Just beat another charge, made 'em drop that case, my lawyers goin’ hard, a nigga versus the state” (Ross).  This lack of respect for finances and laws is viewed by multiple audiences and mimicked in a similar way, due to the fact that Rick Ross projects himself and proclaims to be wealthy and happy as a result.  These explicit examples have no positive affect on society under any circumstances.  

     According to the comments by viewers of this video, they all seem to agree that Rick Ross and the entire MMG record label is taking over the rap and hip-hop game as of the past year.  Contributors of this recent success are Wale Folarin and Meek Mill.  Arguably, Meek Mill is the hottest rapper in the game as of 2012 and has released a song on his latest mixtape called "Audemar".  Coincidentally, Meek Mill names this song after the recent hype of the Audemars Piguet, which is a more than expensive watch that rappers cannot resist.

Audemars Piguet: The Royal Oak

Most scholars would agree that consumerism in general is the desire to purchase goods and services in abundance or when it becomes a problem, such as a shopping addiction.  In terms of hip-hop and rap, consumerism is the purchasing of the most valuable homes, jewelry, cars, and apparel, just to have it. To add, another source from the East Bay Express suggests that hip-hop has become so involved with consumerism because every rapper and hip-hop artist’s goal is to obtain “baller status”, which apparently means to own a Rolex or a Maybach.  Some scholars might argue that it has just evolved this way in accordance to the commercial preferences, this being what the audience prefers or likes.  The confusing thing about obtaining this “baller status” is that there is no limit, finish line, or group of people to determine that they have accomplished this mission.