Kendrick Lamar Is the King of Rap & Diamonds: A Look Back on His Best Jewelry Moments
All about the diamond bling Kendrick Lamar brought to the 2025 Super Bowl and beyond.
It’s been a big year for Kendrick Lamar. 2024 saw Lamar’s thunderous triumph over Drake in one of the more venomous rap battles in memory. The official K.O. came in the form of Lamar’s song, “Not Like Us,” which remained at the top of the charts for months. Then came the release of the musician’s sixth critically acclaimed album, GNX, in November.
“Not Like Us” garnered Lamar Grammy nominations for Song of the Year, Best Music Video, and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. He was even double nominated in categories like Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for “Not Like Us” and is a featured credit on Future and Metro Boomin’s track, “Like That.” Sweeping the 2025 Grammy Awards, Lamar took home five golden gramophones for the beloved diss track.
Lamar has been known to embed symbolism throughout his jewelry choices. With his knack for thematic references, Lamar’s creativity knows no bounds.
For his victory lap, Lamar performed at the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime show on February 9. He took the stage at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome alongside Samuel L. Jackson, professional tennis player (who happens to also be Drake’s ex) Serena Williams, and frequent collaborators like SZA and DJ Mustard.
Kendrick Lamar Wore a Diamond ‘a’ Chain Necklace at the 2025 Super Bowl
Styled by Taylor McNeill, Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl ensemble was filled to the brim with subversive Easter eggs. The rapper wore a hefty diamond lowercase “a” chain necklace, rendered in the same font as the logo for his production company, “pgLang.”
The “a” pendant is suspected to stand for “A-minor,” in homage to his lyrics from the chart-topping Drake diss track, “Not Like Us.” The piece has been designed by one of Lamar’s go-to jewelers Eliantte. The brand also designed the diamond eye ring Lamar wore on top of his black gloves, referencing Lamar’s GNX track, “Peekaboo.”
Lamar wore bootcut Celine jeans and a plain black tee, with a bespoke leather Martine Rose varsity jacket, emblazoned with “Gloria” across the front (a nod to the song on his latest album, GNX.) The performer topped off his look with a black cap, worn backwards and embellished with diamond brooches. Lamar wore two pins from Rahaminov Diamonds, including the Marquise-Cut Diamond Angel Wing brooch clipped to the side and the Half Moon Sunset Diamond Pin on the back of his head.
Kendrick Lamar Wore an Eliantte Jesus Piece at the 2025 Grammy Awards
No stranger to religious iconography, Lamar has been known to embed spirituality and symbolism throughout his jewelry choices, from Jesus pieces and diamond crosses to a crown of thorns. The rapper sported a double-denim Maison Margiela Canadian Tuxedo (a potential callout to his Toronto-born rap opponent, Drake) and a massive diamond necklace at the 2025 Grammys. Lamar wore diamond chain infinity links with an impressive Jesus pendant by jeweler Eliantte & Co., encrusted with over 200 carats of colorless natural VVS diamonds.
Depicting the face of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns, a “Jesus piece” is typically a pendant rendered in gold or diamonds, suspended from a chain. An essential jewelry staple throughout Hip-Hop history, the “Jesus piece” has been worn by the likes of Rick Ross, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, and more.
Eliantte & Co. explained how they wanted their necklace to “stand out from what has been done previously.” The brand explained that while they implemented classic pavé diamonds throughout the face, they took an “avant-garde approach” with the hair, using graduating diamond sizes to highlight the details.
The most iconic example is thanks to the Notorious B.I.G. Also known as Biggie Smalls, who commissioned his own Jesus pendant from Tito Caicedo of Manny’s New York. Tito reportedly made three copies for Biggie, all cast from the same mold. According to Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry, “Many others wear reinvented versions of the pendant today, a sign of faith, struggle, opulence, and success.”
Kendrick Lamar Pinned Diamonds Brooches to His Cap for the 2023 Grammy Awards
Lamar accepted the Best Rap Album award for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers at the 2023 Grammys, wearing a natural diamond, emerald, and sapphire brooch from the Tiffany & Co. Archives (circa 1970-1971), pinned to his blue pgLang baseball cap. Paloma Picasso “Scribble” Graffiti brooch, circa 1983–1988, was also clipped to his hat, along with a Paloma Picasso “Gold” Graffiti brooch from 1988.
Kendrick Lamar Wore a Diamond Crown of Thorns
Throughout his 2022 Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers Era
People have long looked to musicians to quench their thirst for bling, but Kendrick Lamar’s custom Tiffany & Co. diamond crown of thorns broke the mold and exceeded expectations. The songwriter released the album artwork for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, featuring Lamar wearing the crown and holding his daughter, while his fiancée Whitney Alford cradles their infant son in the background.
Custom designed by Lamar, his longtime creative collaborator and pgLang co-founder Dave Free, and Tiffany & Co., the pavé diamond and titanium crown boasts 50 thorns and 8,000 cobblestone micro pavé diamonds set by hand, totaling a whopping 137 carats. The crown of thorns was brought to life by Tiffany’s most skilled artisans at its New York City workshop over the span of ten months and 1,300 hours of work.
“Kendrick Lamar represents the artistry, risk-taking creativity, and relentless innovation that has also defined Tiffany & Co. for nearly two centuries,” said Alexandre Arnault, Tiffany & Co. Executive Vice President of Product and Communications in a press release. “We are proud and incredibly excited to work with a visionary like Kendrick in realizing his vision for the crown.”
The 22-time Grammy winner then wore the crown to the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2023 runway show during Paris Fashion Week, when he rapped the refrain “Long live Virgil” over the beat to “N95” from the front row.
He wore the diamond headpiece again to headline the 2022 Glastonbury Festival. For the finale of his set, Lamar performed the song, “Savior” from his 2022 album. As he rapped, fake blood began to trickle down his face, staining his white button-down shirt. After the instrumentals ended, the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist continued to rap a cappella, repeating, “I wear this crown. They judge you, they judged Christ, godspeed for women’s rights.” Just two days before the performance, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, lifting federal protection for abortion rights in the United States.
Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang Chain by Eliantte
While performing at Rolling Loud Miami in 2022, Kendrick Lamar continued to wear his custom Tiffany & Co. crown of thorns with another one of his favored diamond jewelry pieces: Lamar’s custom pgLang Chain from Eliantte.
Paying homage to Lamar’s own media company with filmmaker and close collaborator Dave Free, pgLang is an acronym for Program Language. The diamond chain spells out “pgLang” and features the pgLang logo in diamond-encrusted cubes throughout.
The rapper has been seen wearing the jewel on several occasions, including his music video for “N95” from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. Most recently, Lamar wore the chain over the summer for The Pop Out: Ken & Friends in Los Angeles. A celebration of Juneteenth and Black Music Month, the one-off concert was Lamar’s first major performance since his rap feud with Drake began. There, he paired his pgLang Chain with a $600,000 Ben Baller diamond cross necklace.
Kendrick Lamar Wore Tiffany & Co. Diamonds at the 2022 Super Bowl
In 2022, Lamar made a special appearance with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, and more. The Compton-born rapper stole the show with an electric performance of “Alright,” wearing a custom suit from the late Virgil Abloh’s last collection for Louis Vuitton.
He covered himself in Tiffany & Co. diamonds, including a set of three Patriotic Clip floral brooches from Tiffany’s archives. Lamar wore a black bandana tied around his arm, pinned with a Schlumberger Maltese Cross brooch. With one black leather glove, his bare hand adorned a dazzling diamond assortment of Schlumberger and Tiffany T rings.
