Migos is producing a new YouTube Originals docuseries that explores the relationship between hip hop and jewelry.
The four-part series, titled “Ice Cold,” gives the Atlanta trio, known for flashing gaudy diamond-embedded chains, a platform to discuss their expensive accessories. It also features insight from Lil Baby, Slick Rick, Lil Yachty, A$AP Ferg, and French Montana among others. Art historians and the celebrity jewelers that provide the bling are also included in the docuseries.
“Ice Cold’s” director Karam Gill recently explained to WWD what makes his new project so unique. “Hip hop’s been looked at through the lens of fashion before tons of times, but it hasn’t been looked at through the lens of adornment and jewelry,” said Gill. “As you start to peel back the layers of the relationship between jewelry and hip hop, it starts to get really deep about our culture and our society and how people from different socioeconomic backgrounds have different versions of the American dream.”
Gill, who has also directed a documentary on G-Funk, started filming the project before he enlisted Migos. Adding the YRN rappers and Quality Control executives Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “Pee” Thomas ultimately helped shape the direction of “Ice Cold.”
“These are dudes that have managed, built, grown the biggest artists in the culture and are probably the two biggest hip hop executives that I think are changing the culture,” said Gill. “And they were able to provide that stamp of authenticity, but also steer the ship.”
Quality Control, via its TV and film division Quality Films, has also tapped Gill to create several upcoming scripted and unscripted projects in the near future. Migos and Quality Control certainly helped with attracting high-profile artists for the docuseries, but Gill believes discussing the historical and cultural context of the jewelry made more artists interested in opening up.
“I think that allowed us to get a lot of the really big talent that’s in the project. They were excited to be part of an exploration of culture that was deeper than just numbers and stats and money and flamboyant pricing — not saying that’s not a part of it,” Gill adds. “When you’re making and designing million-dollar pieces, it’s like an art piece.”
“Ice Cold” premieres on YouTube July 8. Check out the official trailer below: