On a recent episode of TV ONE’s “Uncensored” that premiered on Sunday, May 7, 2023 there was an interesting interview that took place. Veteran rapper Lil Wayne was interviewed by his favorite rapper, Missy Elliott.

Way before Lil Wayne stopped physically writing all of his lyrics down, he would stumble while writing and often feel like something was missing. One day while writing a verse for a Big Tymer’s record called “Tell Me”, Wayne was instructed by the late female rapper Magnolia Shorty to throw a sound in one of his lines. She told him to make up a sound the way that Missy Elliott would. Wayne asked Magnolia Shorty what kind of sound a diamond makes. That’s when a line went from “tell me what kinda nigga got diamonds that’ll blind you” to “tell me what kinda nigga got diamonds that’ll BLING blind you.”

This eventually inspired producer and rapper Mannie Fresh to come up with an idea and concept for a song that had a faster beat than the Big Tymer’s record, “Tell Me.” That song would be B.G.’s “Bling Bling” from his album, Chopper City in the Ghetto.

Thanks to the late Magnolia Shorty, Mannie Fresh, and Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne curated the phrase “Bling Bling.” This slang term for shiny jewelry even received an entry in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.