A project four years in the making, Lil Uzi Vertβs forehead diamond made its public debut earlier this month, inspiring a wave of memes and praise from many as a potential trendsetting move.
Given the location of the diamond, some fans have questioned the process behind itsΒ installation. Now, thanks toRolling Stone, we have a bit more insight on how this all came together for the Eternal Atake zeitgeist-shifter. At first, as Eliantte & Coβs Simon Babaevβspeaking on behalf of owner Eliott Eliantteβexplained, the team wasnβt sure if Uzi was serious about the forehead plans.
βWe didnβt think he was serious about it, but as he started making payments on the specific stone, he made it clear that he was very serious,β Babaev told Jeff Ihaza on Monday.
As for the debated differences between a piece of this magnitude and, say, a diamond implanted elsewhere on the face, Babaev explained how itβs all just a matter of application variances.
βYeah, itβs as safe as any other piercing,β he said. βAs long as you maintain it well and have good upkeep, itβs perfectly fine. We made sure that prior to getting anything done that Uzi brought someone in to consult on everything. We didnβt just do this randomly.β
While most body modification pieces focus on stainless or surgical-grade steel, the application portion of Uziβs forehead diamond was done with precious metals. Per Babaev, the team engineered a specific mounting that clips and locks in place, complete with a βwhole mechanism involvedβ that sets it apart from a standard piercing.
Babaev added that this is βdefinitely the first timeβ something this extravagant has been brought to the Eliantte & Co team. He also joined those who have been pointing to Uziβs forehead diamond as a potential inspiration point for similar pieces in the future.
βUzi is definitely a trendsetter,β he said.Β
In a voice note shared to Twitter last week, Uzi urged critics of the forehead diamond to βrelaxβ and pointed out that this is far from the first piercing heβs ever had done.
βItβs only a piercing, guys,β he said. βI done had 10,000 piercings in my face. And when I had my piercing in my face last time, yβall was going in on me β¦ Relax. Thatβs why yβalls face donβt have nothing on it and thatβs why my face has everything I ever wanted to put on there.β
Not long after that, Uzi and Grimes agreed to βget brain chipsβ together by 2022:
