Wiz Khalifa Explains The Dangers Of Rappers Wearing Excessive Jewelry

Wiz Khalifa has revealed the reasoning behind his decision to stop wearing large amounts of jewelry, pointing to his own personal maturation, as well as the shiny trinkets marking people as a target for robbery or worse.

While on DJ Whoo Kid’s Whoo’s House podcast, the Pittsburgh native expressed the lack of importance he places on being iced-out at this time in his life, advising that it’s okay to not have the largest piece of jewelry to validate one’s worth.

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“You grow out of that sh*t and you place value in other things at certain points,” he explained. “It’s cool to have that mind frame as well or it’s cool to have the little joint too. You don’t have to have the biggest, craziest situation going on.” The 35-year-old also touched on the recent uptick in incidents where rappers have been murdered for their jewelry, including PnB Rock and Pop Smoke. “And with all of these murders and sh*t going on, it’s inviting f**king energy that you don’t really need. And people look at you like they get excited when they see that type of sh*t.”

The hitmaker, who has been seen wearing ostentatious pieces of jewelry himself in the past, also attributed his decision to protecting his own safety, as well as those around him. “Me, I’m the type of person that thinks about my safety first. So if I could walk into a room and not excite those people who are gonna feel like that when they see those things, I’ll do you the favor because I don’t want anything to happen to you, I don’t want anything to me, so I’ma just calm down the situation for all of us. I’m gonna give us something not to look at.”

This isn’t the first time Khalifa has downplayed the importance of jewelry, as he recently shared the sentiment following the death of rap star Takeoff, who was killed in Houston earlier this month.

“All that jewelry goin outta style,” he wrote in a post on Twitter at the time. “Ni**as feel lame wit out it anyway. Says a lot.” He had previously warned his followers of the risk of wearing all of their jewelry at once, alluding to the possibility of it all being stolen in a single instance, resulting in thousands and even millions of dollars being lost in the process.

Read Wiz Khalifa’s tweets below.

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