It’s been a few days since Lil Uzi Vert publicly debuted the $24 million pink diamond that was implanted onto his forehead. Fans have been questioning how the process came about and now their inquiries have been answered by his jeweler.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Simon Babaev of New York-based jeweler Eliantte & Co’s spoke about how it went down. He said the “You Was Right” emcee approached him about the diamond in 2017. “Once he saw the stone, he really fell in love with it and said he’d think about what he wanted to do with it,” the jeweler said.
Babaev also said this was the first time someone asked for a jewel to be implanted onto their forehead, although they have done other facial implants for people. “In 2016, Young Thug had a diamond implanted on his face,” he said. “He had a pear shape, like a teardrop, I believe. He had it on his face for a while, but then I think he lost it.”
Babaev reassured everyone that the implant was not dangerous. “…It’s as safe as any other piercing,” he added. “As long as you maintain it well and have good upkeep, it’s perfectly fine. We made sure that prior to getting anything done that Uzi brought someone in to consult on everything. We didn’t just do this randomly.”
Uzi’s diamond is secure because the jewelers created a “specific mounting that clips and locks in place.” Instead of using stainless steel or surgical-grade steel, Babaev said the team did everything with precious metals. “There’s a whole mechanism involved, it’s not a standard piercing. A specific piece and part were both engineered with millimeter precision to get this put on him,” he said.
Check out videos and pictures of Uzi’s multi-million dollar implant below.