Slick Rick, Museum Consultant

“Ice Cold,” curated by Vikki Tobak, the author of a 2022 book of that title, surveys the evolution of jewelry in hip-hop. More than forty artists, including Walters, loaned pieces. Taking in the first items, Walters said, “We come from the era of Mr. T”—multiple “small” gold chains—“and took it to the next level: one big chain.” He examined a spotlighted Run-DMC rope chain with a gold Adidas-sneaker pendant the size of a Twinkie. “They made rope chains famous,” he said. “This was Jam Master Jay’s.” Beneath one of Flavor Flav’s more modest clocks (“That’s from their first album”) was a Biz Markie pendant. “Biz Markie had a really nice ring, pretty advanced for the time,” Walters said—a cursive “BIZ,” in diamonds, nearly the size of his hand. This was the first hip-hop commission for Jacob Arabo, the legendary Jacob the Jeweler; soon, creative medallions flourished. “I got my biggest plates from Canal Street,” Walters said. One, with a Libra design, mesmerized him for two years. “It must have been a drug dealer’s plate he couldn’t come back and get. I’m not even a Libra, but I had to have it.” As “the money began to flow,” over the years, “the jewelry game changed—it went to ice, diamonds. It evolved, it grew, so I had to grow with it.”