Some of July’s Biggest Jewelry Purchases Like Drake’s $1 Million Tupac Ring, Rick Ross’ $20 Million Watch, and More

Jeweler: Unknown

Drake was not capping when he said "I pull out a million to stare at this shit" in his guest verse on “Meltdown.” At the end of July, Drake promoted his feature on Travis Scott’s Utopia by sharing a photo of a giant ring that resembled a jeweled crown on his Instagram story. Turns out, it was the same ring sold in a Sotheby’s auction last week that previously belonged to Tupac. The ring was estimated to sell for $300,000 and sold for $1,016,000, making it one of the most expensive hip-hop artifacts ever sold at an auction. According to People, Pac designed the ring and was inspired by the crowns of medieval European kings. The ring is historically significant because Tupac wore it during his final public appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996. The ring features a diamond-covered crown and the phrase "Pac & Dada, 1996" engraved on the ring band—”Dada” is a reference to Quincy Jones' daughter Kidada Jone, who was Tupac’s romantic partner at the time. The ring was originally owned by Tupac’s godmother, Yaasmyn Fula, before ending up in Drake’s hands. Clearly, Aubrey has been having a good time wearing it, as shown during his visit to the New York City stripclub Starlets with Sidetalk NYC. 

Jeweler: Alex Moss

ASAP Rocky leaned heavily into a militant look to promote his latest Pharrell-produced single “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n).” The music video showcased Rocky wearing new camouflage Louis Vuitton pieces by Pharrell and even the same Issey Miyake bomber jacket that Robin Williams wore in 1997. But besides clothes, the most eye-catching pieces Rocky put on was his own custom jewelry. One piece that stood out was a pendant that resembled the skeleton of a grenade attached to a chain of crushed-up bones covered in diamonds. Upon closer inspection, the pendant is actually a unique clock that was made in collaboration between Alex Moss and L’Epée 1839, a Swiss watchmaker known for crafting artistic table clocks that cost over $30,000. The diamond-covered explosive was modeled after an MKII grenade and the weapon’s pin doubles as a key to set the time. According to L’Epée 1839’s website, the grenade is currently available for pre-order for $149,000.

Jeweler: Elliot Eliantte

If Utopia taught us anything about Travis Scott, it’s that La Flame took a lot of lessons from his mentor Kanye West. That also extends to Scott’s jewelry, as shown with this Jesus piece designed by Takashi Murakami. Although Kanye was the first rapper to hit Murakami up for Jesus pieces, Scott took it up a notch when he began commissioning Murakami to draw up a new Jesus piece design. In 2021, Scott began producing these Jesus pieces with jeweler Elliot Eliantte as gifts for his crew. Unsurprisingly, the art for these pieces were derived from a drawing that Murakami titled “Melted Utopia Dream." It was only apt that Scott would produce another piece to celebrate the album’s release as a gift for his son, Aire Webster.

Jeweler: Jacob & Co 

Surprisingly, the $1 million Drake dropped on Tupac’s ring wasn’t the priciest jewelry purchase in July. Rick Ross raised the ante by dropping $20 million on a single watch by Jacob & Co. dubbed as the “Billionaire Timeless Treasure.” Originally unveiled at the annual Watches & Wonders exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland this year, this watch Da Boss picked up is no joke. The watch took three and a half years to craft because it is flooded with rare yellow diamonds. According to Robb Report, Jacob & Co. even hired a team of ten specialists to sort, search, and cut the rare gems. The gold watch is covered in 425 fancy yellow and fancy intense yellow Asscher-cut diamonds weighing in at around 217 carats. Additionally, 76 bright green, emerald-cut and kite-cut tsavorites are set into the watch’s timeface. “From my perspective, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s a beautiful moment. This is an amazing timepiece,” said Ross, as he filmed himself purchasing the piece while FaceTime-ing Jacob Arabo. “This cannot be duplicated. This cannot be replicated.”

Jeweler: Gabby Elan

Although it has been a couple years since Big Sean dropped an album, he’s still got it, as shown with his killer feature verse on Aminé and Kaytranada’s song “Master P” earlier this year. It also comes as no surprise that the former G.O.O.D Music signee still has spectacular taste in jewelry. Last month, he hit up Gabby Elan to commission a unique set of grills from the New York City jeweler. The father-son duo crafted a piece that featured blue, green, yellow, and lavender gems arranged like crosshairs. And you know Big Sean and Gabby Elan cooked up something great when it even got Marc Jacobs’ seal of approval with a “🙌🏼” comment on their Instagram post.