FAMILY JEWELS
How a Cantonesespeaking shopkeeper came to be crowned the rap world’s golden granny
CHINATOWN granny Eva Sam is a real gem in the eyes of her rapper customers. For nearly three decades, the Macau native has been selling custom bling to hiphop’s biggest names, starting with Cappadonna of the Wu-Tang Clan in 1989.
Since then, she’s made necklaces for dancers on Beyoncé’s “Formation” World Tour, jewels for A$AP Rocky’s “Multiply” video, and earrings for Playboi Carti and model Ashley Graham. She’s sold gold chains to Macklemore as recently as last week and a gilded Jesus pendant to Travis Scott.
And she’s got the photos to prove it.
Snaps of the petite Sam, beaming from behind her glasses and flanked by rappers throwing hand gestures and flaunting their new jewels, cover the walls of Popular Jewelry at 255 Canal St.
Just as Cappadonna turned the established rap community on to Sam’s store, A$AP Rocky and his Harlem-bred A$AP Mob of fellow rappers can be credited with attracting the newest generation of upand-coming hip-hop stars, Sam says.
A$AP Rocky visits the shop two to four times a year and drops up to $100,000 each time. Sam’s motherly relationship with the young rapper has even earned her the nickname “A$AP Eva” among family members who help her run the shop, as well as a shout-out in an A$AP Rocky song: “Hit Canal Street, real as a gold medallion/smokin’ blunts in front of public housing,” he raps.
Sam treats her hip-hop patrons like her “own sons” and gives them tips on how to cleanse their bodies of marijuana toxins.
“I tell them to drink hot water with honey and lemon and eat green-bean soup,” she says. “I say, take a Chinese cookie, don’t smoke.”
Eva’s son, William Wong, is his mom’s right hand at Popular and a cultural liaison for the Cantonesespeaking grandmother of two. The first time A$AP Rocky visited the store, William informed his mom a celebrity was in their midst.
A rap fan since Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” came out in 2008, Wong makes sure the music at Popular is fresh and knows all the rappers’ personal styles. He and his cousin Kevin also run Popular’s social-media feeds; the store’s Instagram page boasts more than 32,000 followers.
“[Rappers] like to lean toward bespoke pieces; some also like vintage,” Wong says. “Ayo & Teo — they did the ‘Rolly’ song — like flooded diamonds, and the rapper Gold-Link actually does like gold jewelry.”
Sam’s tale is also one of rags to riches — she moved here from Macau in 1982 and began working in the garment industry with her brother before opening Popular Jewelry in 1988.
Now that she’s socialmedia-famous in the rap world, posting photos with Sam has become a rite of passage among on-the-rise rappers and the fans who mimic their style.
New Jersey resident Jose Berdejo bought a necklace and ring from the shop last week. Dressed in an outfit that looked like it belonged in a Kanye West fashion show, the 23-year-old snapped a photo with Sam for his Instagram account.
“That’s Mom,” he said of Sam. “Of course, I had to get a photo.”