Before Johnny Dang would be seen hanging out and making custom ice for the biggest names
in entertainment including Kanye West, Jay Z, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Cardi
B and more.
Before The King of Bling would clock in over 1.5 Million followers on Instagram, over 200K
on YouTube, over 38K on Twitter & more...
Before Johnny Dang would get his name dropped in dozens of rap songs, from award winning
artists like Migos, Gucci Mane, Lil Pump, Chief Keef, and more.
The Grill and Rapper Jewelry game existed before Johnny Dang, in fact historians can
trace gold fitted teeth back between 800 and 200BC.
With that said, Johnny Dang is the founding father of bringing Grillz to the mainstream
in the 21st century and definitely deserves his title as The King of Bling.
I mean some fan has even had the man tattooed on their body...
Dang is said to be the inspiration behind Nelly’s 2006 hit song, Grillz, which was
the top song on the Billboard charts in 2006 and brought Grillz back to the mainstream.
You can actually see Dang dancing around in the background of the video if you watch closely.
Here we are nearly 15 years later and Grillz have only become bigger and bolder with Johnny
Dang leading the charge in creating one of a kind designs.
. Today he's hanging out with the best of the
best and it seems you haven't arrived in the rap game until you've copped some fresh ice
from Johnny Dang.
He's now got a team of 50 jewelers in-house and his 16,000 square foot shop resembles
a small palace.
Not bad for a guy who came to America from Vietnam with little more than the clothes
on his back and even then, he still didn't even know what hip hop was.
What's going on guys?
It's your boy Michael McCrudden back at it again with another Before They Were Famous,
this time on the King of Bling – Johnny Dang.
This video was requested by you guys and we've been pulling in some major views over the
last couple months or so – so thank you all for your continued support.
If you are new to the Fame Gang be sure to Subscriber, turn on them post notifications.
Drop a comment for who we should feature next, aright, now – let's get into this video.
Johnny Dang was born Tuan Dang on November 21st, 1974 in Dak Lak Province, Vietman just
before the end of the Vietnam War.
Which looks like a pretty picturesque place but lacks opportunity.
He grew up in a small village in the central Vietnam highlands with his 4 siblings.
His father had fought for South Vietnam who were allies with the American's in the war.
1987 his father fled to America by boat in search of a better life and told Johnny to
learn to make jewelry until the two would eventually reunite.
There he set up a small jewelry shop.
The two would keep in contact and Johnny would realize the major differences between the
style and technologies being used in America versus Vietnam and from afar he was educating
himself on the size and opulence American's had for their jewelry.
It would take another 9 years before Johnny, his mother and his siblings could afford the
trip to Houston, Texas to join his dad and have their chance at the American dream.
When he first laid eyes on America he was in disbelief.
He told NBC News:
After landing, I couldn't believe my eyes because I saw a two-level freeway
In an old post on Instagram Johnny Dang recalls:
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByKAJQWgYxc/ #StartedFromTheBottom.
My brother and I did some jewelry in the mall in 1997 ! ( when I just came from viet Nam
) . I always carried my tool with me
Johnny got to work at a flea market repair stall, earning about $100 per month while
living out of his car or when he was lucky, in a house of 15 people.
By 1998, he had his own mall store named TV Jewelry, not because he had his sights set
on fame just yet but because T was his birth name initial and v was for Vietnam.
Around 2000, Dang met rapper and entrepreneur, Paul Wall.
Wall was impressed by Dang’s ability to make grills which didn’t require the filing
of teeth, which was the common practice at the time, and Wall had the connections and
insight in the industry that helped Dang break into the hip hop scene.
And so their partnership began, and continues to this day.
The two teaming up was a perfect match.
Paul Wall was ready to embark on a solo career after working with Swishahouse Records and
collaborating with artists like Chamillionaire, DJ Screw & Mike Jones.
He knew everyone in the Houstan rap game and Johnny, well he needed someone to vet for
his work because a lot of people were having a hard time understanding him.
The two started to show up at hip hop nightclubs like the Coco Loco and Johnny would pay DJ's
for promotional shoutouts.
His next customers were Paul Walls boys Chamillionaire Slim Thug and Mike Jones and all of a sudden
he had a new line up of clientele.
By 2002 business was booming.
From the get go, Johnny tried to make things unique for each of his rapper clients, using
things like round diamonds, different colored diamonds, and various embellishments that
would make them look one-of-a-kind.
From there it spread via word of mouth.
No pun intended.
In 2005, Wall had his big break with the release of his second album,The Peoples Champ.
Regularly sporting Johnny Dang Grillz, the pair were suddenly getting requests from the
likes of P. Diddy and Kanye West.
Next up was Nelly and his banger appropriately titled Grillz with Paul Wall spitting a verse
and Johnny Dang even got featured in the video.
The song his number 1 and the video which featured more than 70 close-up grill shots,
introduced mainstream America to the wonderful world of mouth jewelry.
All of a sudden they were selling more than 400 grillz a day for at least $500 bucks a
pop.
It wouldn't be long before they were be opening up a new location.
Finding all this new found success he was happy to show off just how far he came via
instagram with a post that read:In VN vs in USA lollll the American DREAM !
Johnny Dang was never a man to slow down.
When opportunity stuck he dedicated 18 hours a day, 7 days a week to stike while they iron
was hot in pursuit of his American dream.
Him and Paul Wall cooked up a few other crazy ideas to get some further media attention
surrounding their business.
During the 2014 NBA All Star Game in New Orleans they promised their customers a full refund
on any watch they bought a week before the game.
Their team lost and they were forces to shell out $200K but the free press paid off in the
long run.
Next up they started making custom grillz for celebrities outside of the world of hip
hop with some unusual choices including Olympic Swimmer Ryan Lochte and then Kobye Bryant
who led USA to a Gold victory also in the Olympics.
From there business took on a whole new list of clientele.
There isn't a celebrity Johnny Dang hasn't been photographed with and has made a grill
for practically everyone in Hollywood.
From Katy Perry to Paris Hilton.
DJ Pauly D, Shaquel O'Neil, Tony Hawk and more recentley Jeffree Starr.
Johnny Dang & co currently has three locations: the original, in PlazAmericas formerly the
Sharpstown Mall; a bigger store on Richmond Avenue, close to the Galleria area; and an
outpost in Vietnam.
He employs about 75 workers 42 of whom are jewelers.
& Dang can now enjoy the perks of his success mainly overseeing his business.
He rarely hand crafts the jewelry himself these days but when some customers request
it, like Travis Scott Johnny Dang get's to work showing the world he's still got it.
A quick google search pulls up a net worth of $20 Million dollars.
He also has a wife and two kids and enjoys spending as much free time as he can on the
golf course...
The man is also generous and gives back to the kid in Texas with regular charity giveaways
and helps children in his native Vietnam under the brand Johnny Dang Charities.
Speaking of which, I'll be heading to a NELK food drive this weekend in Mississauga just
outside of Toronto if any of you guys are in town.
Johnny keeps upping his game bringing the world never before seen grill designs like
the famed “invisible baguettes” that he did for Quavo, earlier this year.
We actually talked about that in one of our Rapper Grillz videos from a couple weeks back.
As for the rest of the story, well we are just gonna have to wait and see because this
is before They were Famous.
Many name is Michael McCrudden – you guys requested this video.
Be sure to let me know who is next in the comments down below BOOM!