Paul Wall, Raekwon explore blood diamonds

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno

      Over the summer VH1 took rappers Paul Wall, Raekwon and Tego Calderon to Sierra Leone, West Africa to explore the effects of the blood diamond trade for the documentary, “Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds and Hip Hop”. Blood diamonds, sometimes called conflict diamonds, were mined and sold by African militia rebels and revolutionary military groups to support their cause and bring terror to different communities throughout Africa. They sold the diamonds in exchange for weapons, food and drugs. Civilians were forced by these rebel groups to mine for the diamonds or risk losing their life or losing a limb if they didn’t meet a quota or worked too slow.

      Even though hip-hop’s interest in blood diamonds are about 10 years too late (there are hardly any blood diamonds on market nowadays), the documentary captures the hip-hop nation’s glorification of diamonds and jewelry and how it could have contributed to the civil wars of the 90’s.

      The documentary also features interviews with Kanye West, Big Daddy Kane, Jadakiss, Juelz Santana, Chris Aire and Mr. T. Look for the documentary to air on February 22 on VH1.