deep in an underwater cave on Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula team of archaeologists
make a groundbreaking discovery the
skulls of ancient Maya ruled over 4,000
year old civilization and perhaps most
surprising was that these skulls that
grills the ancient history of grills is
a little-known story which modern-day
fans are mostly unaware when grills in
your mouth you get a sense of power
dignity
what people don't know is that grills
have an unexpected history one that goes
back literally thousands of years these
grills they want to demonstrate status
is like saying i am successful in life
that I can just all my chief now I have
money so look at my teeth doesn't sound
so different than which will stand for
today
so why do they get such mixed reactions
when grills first emerged in the US and
the early eighties it was through
immigrants from the African Diaspora who
were going through tough economic times
ironically gold is one of the cheapest
ways to fill the cavity so many black
neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the brog
suddenly had all these people with gold
teeth native new yorker start to get
gold teeth as a fashion statement and
the rise of hip-hop in the eighties led
to a reclaiming of what they could
represent turning a sign of poverty into
proof of empowerment
grills find what mainstream around 1996
when Vietnamese immigrant Johnny dang
began making his own blinged-out version
of them my name is Johnny day they call
me the king of playing aka the grill
master i will say that a lot of people
out there they have a misconception of
grills it's been a big part of our
culture
ok so I remember being very small and
seeing my grandma flow with gold cap
right here in my and simona gold cap
right here educated I have no felony
criminal history just because somebody
chooses to show them by putting it in
their mouth makes them no different from
the person that has eight cars is but
cheap so you got to be a hard worker to
get something like this you know I'm
saying yeah not cleaning the grill can
cause bad bread so make sure you still
brush teeth two to three times a day
keep it polished keep shining keep
smiling
[Music]
