Rappers come to buy jewelry. Icebox turns on the cameras.

Oodles more hip-hop shoppers followed, many of whom found Icebox more welcoming than other jewelry options in town. “You think of the guy from Atlanta who comes in with a bunch of tattoos, smells a bit of grass, has long dreads – nine out of ten places he goes, they don’t show him any respect,” Zahir said. “We’re here to give them respect from the moment they walk into the store.”

Icebox began to become a safe space and a playground for rappers. Soulja Boy and Wiz Khalifa filmed themselves walking into the store for videos they posted online. In the mid-2010s, as Instagram became ubiquitous as a social documentation tool, “we started to see celebrities posting photos of themselves with other celebrities in Icebox,” Mo said. Each week, the store looked after several stars, many of whom brought their own videographers to create content.

The store began posting its own videos to Instagram and began posting the long-running YouTube videos it is now known for in 2018. It is typical for one or more of the brothers to appear in the clips, but at the Originally, “none of us wanted to be in the picture, we always argued over who would be in it,” Zahir said. “We care more about the family business legacy than our personal name.”

Now they’re regulars, whether it’s helping sell expensive pieces, chatting to put customers at ease, or even sometimes cleaning the jewelry themselves: “Most of the time, you don’t see the car dealership owner detailing the car. said Rafi. “Anyone should be able to do anything.

The videos are largely unscripted, although there are usually themes or settings, especially with rappers who have appeared in several. Interspersed throughout are glamorous and vigorous photos of necklaces, rings and watches. For some rappers, an Icebox video has become a semi-official part of their press tour, arriving at the store a few weeks before an album’s release to shop and film the extravagance. On YouTube, Icebox videos typically receive between 500,000 and 2 million views, depending on the popularity of the guest.

Artists receive informal approval on videos. “It is our responsibility to make sure they feel comfortable with the content being broadcast,” Mo said.