There are a few pretty obvious reasons to compete on The VoiceThe winner will receive a cash prize of $100,000 and a recording contract with Universal Music Group. The runners-up will have the opportunity to grow their audience week after week on one of the world’s biggest stages, while being mentored by industry professionals.

Those are just the stakes, but sometimes contestants get bonus perks from their chosen coach, a trinket or piece of memorabilia that symbolizes their shared goal (taking home the crown) and their time together. In the past, John Legend has handed out Team Legend jackets , Chance the Rapper has handed out hats , Dan + Shay have handed out custom baseball jerseys , and Reba McEntire is always tempting performers with tater tots, chicken strips and other goodies.

In Season 27, Snoop Dogg has joined the ranks of the Coaching and he shares what might be the coolest artifact in the history of The Voice: Death Row Records chains.

A Brief History of Death Row Archives

Death Row Records was founded in 1991 by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, The D.O.C. and Dick Griffey. The label was instrumental in defining West Coast hip hop and putting several big names on the map. Early on, the label inked a deal to provide music for the soundtrack of the 1992 film Deep coverageThe title track was Dr. Dre’s first release after leaving NWA and featured a young Snoop Dogg.

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Shortly after, the label released Dre’s first solo album, The chronicSnoop Dogg’s Doggystyleand 2Pac’s All eyes on mealbums that remain defining to this day. By the end of the decade, the label was struggling under the weight of Tupac’s murder, various legal battles, and the departure of its key artists, including Snoop Dogg. Death Row filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was purchased by WIDEawake Entertainment three years later. It bounced from one corporate entity to another until Snoop purchased the label from MNRK Music Group in 2022.

That same year, Snoop released his third Death Row Records album, 26 years after the release of his second in 1996. This time around, he wasn’t just the label’s darling, he was its owner. A few decades ago, Snoop was given a Death Row necklace by Suge Knight, and now, 30 years later, he’s the one handing them out.

The Unspoken Meaning of Bling

Jewelry and other aesthetic adornments have been a part of human culture for hundreds of thousands of years, as long as we have been human. Through hip hop, we can see the importance and cultural symbolism of jewelry on a grand scale.

Early hip-hop artists were known for wearing simpler jewelry, often purchased at local stores, as a way to display success. A performer might pick up a ring or necklace to celebrate an accomplishment or to symbolize reaching a new level. Over time, the role of jewelry in hip-hop culture evolved, with each new artist upping the ante until it reached the many different forms we see today in modern-day “bling.” Artists wear their successes not on their sleeves, but on their wrists and fingers, on grills and around their necks.

In addition to signaling wealth and success, bling also symbolizes connection and found family. In 2002, Kanye West was a relative unknown when he signed with Roc-A-Fella Records and received a Roc-A-Fella necklace in front of an audience in his hometown. Roc-A-Fella co-founder Dame Dash, who gave a young Ye the necklace, said, “I just wanted to make him stronger. And that’s why I gave him the necklace in front of everyone in his hometown,” according to Time .

In the right circles, the right necklace (or other jewelry) actually carries power and respect. They can’t be bought or requested; they must be given, and the criteria for earning one is variable and vague. Rapper and radio host Roxanne Shanté was part of the Juice Crew, a hip-hop collective from Queensbridge, New York in the 1980s. She is the only female rapper to have been awarded a Juice Crew ring, a gold ring with a diamond-encrusted letter R.

“Back in the day, someone with Juice had respect and control over their neighborhood and situations. So if you saw someone with the Juice Crew ring, you knew that was someone you could trust. You knew that was someone you could go to with your problems. So you had to earn it. The Juice ring could never be bought. It had to be given to you,” Shanté told NPR.

Shanté’s Juice Crew ring is one of the more subtle pieces on display at Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry , on view at the American Museum of Natural History through January 5, 2025. The exhibit chronicles the history of hip-hop from the ‘80s to the present. Features include Run DMC’s Adidas pendant, Nicki Minaj’s bejeweled Barbie necklace, a grill made for Lil Nas X and a bell necklace made famous by Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav.

Now, half a century after the birth of hip-hop, collectors are busy buying up the bling of yesteryear. In 2023, a pair of Death Row Records pendants went up for auction, alongside artifacts from Tupac’s 1996 Saturday Night Live performance and other hip-hop memorabilia. The chains were commissioned by music mogul Suge Knight and were intended to be loaned to artists. There were a few different types, including a “Fully Iced” pendant made of gold and encrusted with diamonds, worn by top artists such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac. That same year, one of Tupac’s rings sold at auction for over $1 million.

Pendants, rings, grills and other bling are more than just fashion accessories, they are a means of communication. They allow the wearer to communicate their affiliations, philosophies and successes. And they provide a visual thread, a constantly evolving yet culturally regulated collection of artifacts that tell the story of an art form. In context, Snoop’s chains in season 27 of The Voice are more than just necklaces, more than just souvenirs, they are unique, special gifts that only Snoop can give.