Is the forehead diamond era drawing to a close? That’s been the recent assumption of several fans of Lil Uzi Vert, who famously had a piece worth millions attached to his head earlier this year.
In a number of recent Instagram posts, including the short video below featuring JT of City Girls, there is indeed no diamond present on Uzi’s forehead. There also appears to be no sign of there ever having been a diamond on his forehead, though the IG filter used in the post obscures the accuracy of what’s being seen:
And in a recent Instagram Story update, Uzi was again seen forehead diamondless:
It’s worth noting that these instances don’t mark the first time over the past few months that Uzi has been seen without the diamond, which is a $24 million pink piece that was commonly (if, ultimately, inaccurately) described in headlines from earlier this year as having been “implanted.” During a video shoot with Kidd G in May, for example, the diamond was nowhere to be seen. That same production, however, did result in fans spotting what appeared to be a JT tattoo on Uzi’s left hand.
And while the exact specifications for the forehead diamond piercing were originally a mystery to the press and fans alike, a Rolling Stone feature from Jeff Ihaza back in February confirmed that the stone was from Eliantte & Co, known for their extensive history of work with a number of high-profile figures. In the feature, Simon Babaev—speaking on behalf of Elliot Eliantte—said the piercing required to hold the diamond on Uzi’s forehead was “as safe as” any other type of piercing.
“We engineered a specific mounting that clips and locks in place,” Babaev said at the time. “There’s a whole mechanism involved, it’s not a standard piercing. A specific piece and part were both engineered with millimeter precision to get this put on him.”
While a number of fans have taken a deep dive into the pool of Instagram comments to wonder if Uzi has permanently ended the forehead diamond era, that remains to be seen. It’s just as likely that Uzi has simply not been seen rocking the piece in public as of late and will return to it in the future.
Amid the news coverage spurred by the diamond’s debut earlier this year, Uzi urged fans to “relax” when it came to questioning his forehead piercing decisions.
“It’s only a piercing, guys,” he said in February. “I done had 10,000 piercings in my face. And when I had my piercing in my face last time, y’all was going in on me. … Relax. That’s why y’alls face don’t have nothing on it and that’s why my face has everything I ever wanted to put on there.”
Forehead diamond or not, fans have plenty to look forward to from Uzi in the seemingly near future, including (hopefully) the official release of a long-teased track with blink-182 and Pharrell Williams.
