Hip-hop artists are getting very mouthy about their bling

Before Nelly's "Grillz" (featuring Paul Wall, Ali & Gipp) became a radio hit this month, flashy dental jewelry was a phenomenon seen in hip-hop videos and magazine pages but seldom heard about in rap songs. Nelly's ode to the removable gold- and diamond-encrusted tooth ornamentation commonly known among rappers as grills has helped shift hip-hop's latest fashion trend into high gear.

"I put my money where my mouth is and bought a grill," Wall raps in the song, " ... I got my mouth lookin' like a disco ball."

Grills, which typically cover the upper and lower front teeth, are becoming ubiquitous among the Southern hip-hop artists currently dominating the pop and rap charts.

As it turns out, most of them purchased their million-dollar smiles at the same place -- a small shop in Houston's Sharpstown Mall that's owned by ... Paul Wall.

The rapper -- whose own album "The Peoples Champ" debuted at No. 1 on the national album sales chart in September and features a cover image of Wall's extravagantly begrilled mouth -- says he has made custom mouthpieces for Kanye West, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Lil Jon, Omarion and Bow Wow, among a constellation of hip-hop stars.

Wall's shop, TV Jewelry, also does a booming business with Houston rappers, including Slim Thug, Mike Jones and Bun B.

"It's definitely abstract," Wall said about the appeal of the oral adornment. "It's an alternative piece of jewelry."

Hip-hop has had a well-chronicled love affair with conspicuous consumption. Gold "rope" necklaces and "iced out" wristwatches covered in precious stones have become standard issue within the field. And over the years, rap paeans similar to Nelly's "Grillz" have been devoted to sky pagers, Adidas sneakers, chrome hubcaps and the diamond affluence of "bling-bling."

But according to Bun B, whose grill spells "Trill," the title of his recently released album, across six top teeth, dental jewelry is more than simply an assertion of rappers' purchasing power.

"Gold teeth have evolved from being just pieces of metal on your tooth," said the hard-core rapper. "For some people, it's an expression of who they are: their 'hood, what they represent.... It's marketing, a promotion."

Long a fan of rappers Slick Rick and Public Enemy's Flavor Flav, who are considered hip-hop's pioneers of the gold-tooth look, Wall met a visiting rapper known as Crime who had a sideline making and selling grills in 1996. They were the first removable models Wall had seen. The rapper taught him how to design and mold them, and Wall set up temporary shop selling his jewelry at a Houston record store.