Rapper Paul Wall Designed Ryan Lochte's Patriotic Grill

According to XXL Mag, the diamond-encrusted grill that Ryan Lochte flaunted after winning gold in the 400-meter individual medley last Saturday was actually designed by the rapper Paul Wall.

After posing for pictures with the glamourized mouthpiece and his well-deserved gold medal after the race, Lochte was told that he would no longer be allowed to wear the grill throughout the rest of the Games.

Now Wall, also known as The Peoples Champ, is stepping forward to claim credit for the infamous Olympic bling. Wall told XXL Mag, "The grill he's wearing is all hand-prong set, all VS diamonds and custom red rubies. What he has in his mouth is all hand crafted. Every diamond is set by hand-one by one, prong set and all custom red rubies."

Wall wittingly added, "Of course we gave [Lochte] an Olympic discount."

The grill fashion, which kicked off in the early 1980s, was popular for a while amongst the rap and hip-hop scene. Grills have been worn by stars such as Flavor Flav, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Kanye West, and of course one of the jewelry items biggest fans, Wall. And now, evidently, 27-year-old Olympic gold medalist Lochte joins the fad.

Wall, who is currently working on a mixtape with DJ Whoo Kid, says that such mouth bling can cost anywhere from $15,000-$25,000. He's happy to see someone outside the hip-hop industry like Lochte reppin the not very popular style.

"For him to represent us and our culture, the grill culture, it's just shining a light on hip-hop in the Olympics. Everyone's talking about it...it's just an incredible thing to be part of. I'm just honored to be part of it. There's not too many world-class swimmers wearing our grill."

According to USA Today, after swimming Saturday's race Lochte was told by a USA Swimming representative that if he wore the grill on the podium that night he wouldn't receive his gold medal. So instead, Lochte saved the grill photos until after he had recieved his award. Not too bad.

Take a look at Fox Sports coverage of the "grill scandal" below.