What you hold in your hands is what we have affectionately dubbed "the baller issue." What does that mean? Well, to those uneducated in hip-hop slang, that means big wheels, usually chrome and no less than 23 inches, big audio systems, and big suspension drops. However, as little as five years ago, when the term "dubs" flooded the wheel market, it seemed no one knew what these were, but everyone wanted "dubs" despite not knowing what the term actually meant. I believe now everyone has heard of "dubs," and there is even a magazine devoted exclusively to the "dub" culture, coincidentally or not, named simply DUB Magazine. A quick lesson in review of what dubs actually means is this. Dubs are street or urban culture slang for doubles, or in this case 20-inch wheels. Twenty-two inch wheels became known as double deuce, and 23s were soon dubbed "Jordans" after ex-basketball great Michael Jordan because that was his jersey number.
Today, making a truck lay out on 22s or 24s or larger does take some extensive frame modifications, possibly some fender modifications, and most definitely lots of suspension modifications, but I can tell you it appears as if this is where the market is going. Even the lifted truck crowd has been running larger and larger wheel and tire combinations. As the suspension lifts grow taller, the wheels and tires have done so as well. It is quite common ground to see a 6-inch lifted truck or greater running 35-inch and taller tires dressed in 20 or 22-inch wheels.
So are these style of trucks and SUVs the future wave of what is cool and custom? Time will tell, but I can tell you, over the course of the past couple of years as wheel and tire companies have pushed the market to go to larger and larger, the consumers have eaten up this trend. Even Detroit has seen the so-called "baller light" when you consider Dodge Rams come stock with 20s, all 1/2-ton General Motors trucks and SUVs can be special ordered with dubs, and the new Lincoln Mark LT comes standard equipped with 20s. Come summer 2007 when the new Cadillac Escalade is finally released to the public, it too can be had with special order 22-inch wheels.
The aftermarket wheel business is alive and well in the baller-style wheels. Quite possibly the ultimate baller wheel currently out is the Asanti Forged Series, which will set you back a cool $1 million. Yes, you read that correctly. Fitted with over 12,000 diamonds, 800 sapphires, and 1,100 carats of genuine diamonds handmade by world-renowned jeweler to the stars ICELINK, Asanti will even throw in a brand new $200K Bentley Continental GT just as an extra, added incentive. So for $1 million, you can get a screamin' $1.2 million dollar deal. Think that is super crazy? Guess what. At SEMA '04 Asanti debuted a one-off, gimmicky set of $250,000 wheels featuring genuine 60-carat, hand-cut cubic zirconia. Speaking to Asanti's parent company (Lexani Wheels) owner Frank Hodges at this past year's SEMA Show, I was told they eventually sold three sets. Are these $1 million wheels that far off?
Man, I am just simply trying to make a house payment every month and some jokers are out there with the cash to afford a $1 million set of wheels that come in 20 through 26-inch sizes. I can't wait to see who will be the first truck owner with the balls big enough and pockets deep enough to (A) buy a set of the Asanti's and not put them on the "free" Bentley GT, and (B) swap them out onto a body-dragging Escalade EXT or Hummer H2. That, folks, is the true definition of a "baller." What are you?