Ben Baller's 10 Favorite Chains
The jewelry mastermind shares which IF & Co. pieces he's most proud of.
Image via Complex Original
Ben Baller is on fire right now. The go-to jewelry designer for rap's biggest names has a successful online reality show and a newborn baby to celebrate. When he's not flossing iced-out Rolex watches and Bentleys on Instagram, he's educating the masses on the diamond life. He's already broken down The 50 Greatest Chains in Hip-Hop, but he stopped by Complex again to share the best chains his company IF & Co. has ever made. Click through to see Ben Baller's 10 Favorite If & Co. Chains.
RELATED: The 50 Greatest Chains in Hip-Hop
10. MC Chain
Made for: Mariah Carey
"My top ten starts with Mariah Carey’s 'MC' piece, simply because it was the second piece [IF & Co.] ever did. Plus, it was her MC logo. We did it in 18-karat gold, used all VVS1 diamonds, F-color. It was heavy and it was a really nice, majestic piece. We did an 18-karat Franco chain and to this day, I’ve never done another 18-karat Franco because it's impossible to find. She’s worn it here and there. She wore it in some video with Bone Thugs, which is kind of funny."
9. L.A. Fitted Cap and Jordan 11 Chain
Made for: Non-celebrity client
"I did an L.A. fitted cap with diamond Jordan 11 Concords and everyone freaked out. The sneaker blogs went crazy. We did a piece before with these diamond-encrusted Chuck Taylors and a blue San Diego hat, but this was a black New Era L.A. fitted. 50 carats just in the hat alone, and another 25 carats in the fully three-dimensional, real air Jordan 11 Concords. It’s a cap and hat and it's such a unique piece. It was one of our own original designs and pieces and you know people have tried to copy it."
8. Koi Fish Chain
Made for: Justin Bieber
"Number eight would be Justin Bieber’s koi fish. The detail that went into making that mold was fucking unbelievable; it’s so specific, so excellent, so detailed. It was super tedious, the micro pavé. That shit is gorgeous. It’s just beautiful. We did two canary diamond eyeballs. The lines and the texture in there are all VVS diamonds, of course. 14-karat yellow gold. It’s just beautiful. Gorgeous. People freak out when they see that piece in itself. Let alone its ties to a celebrity, it’s just a gorgeous piece."
7. Loso Chain
Made for: Fabolous
"Number seven would have to be Fabolous' 'LOSO' chain. It was also 50 carats. Loso was his new moniker to promote his new album, Loso's Way, and it was crazy because we never, ever did this before: on one side we had 'LOSO' in the Carlito's Way font, and it was fully iced-out white-on-white diamonds, raised up letters, three-dimensional. It was ridiculous. But when you flip it over, it was exactly the same but with yellow gold and canary diamonds. Then, we put a Cuban chain on it and we made it Cuban white gold on one side, and yellow on the other side. It made a lot of press, including the cover of XXL, and it was one of his favorite chains so that meant a lot to me, too."
6. "N" Chain
Made for: Nas
"The Nas 'N' chain was 50 carats. Unfortunately—well, fortunately—it was to promote his N-word album, which they ended up changing the name of, but it was a real controversial thing. But I was a part of his project and to be with a hip-hop legend like that was a big deal, so you know this chain is definitely one of the top pieces."
5. Keys Chain
Made for: Pusha T
"Number five, I definitely have to say Pusha T's keys. We did the trinity; rose gold, yellow gold, white gold. All 14-karat. All VVS diamonds. We flooded it out on both sides. It's just a beautiful set. Those keys really do fit in his door. One is Pusha T's house key, one is really his mom's house key, and the other is his actual safe key. It's iconic, it's different. It's so dope, I even made my own set."
4. Cali Chain
Made for: Himself
"Number four, I’d have to say is the Cali chain, which is my personal chain. It's the state of California, it's 330 carats, and weighs 2 kilos. It's ridiculous. Like I said, it's 330 carats of invisibly set canary diamonds. I did the Pacific Ocean on there. I even have waves on there in glacier blue diamonds and it's 18-karat gold. I mean, it's probably one of the most ignorant chains in the game."
3. Jonas Piece
Made for: Jonas Bevacqua of LRG
"At number three is the 'Jonas' piece, which was a piece of his face. We replicated the Jesus piece and it was huge—enormous. It was heavy as shit as well. It was made with yellow gold, and note, this was before Rick Ross made his face piece. People made fun of it. It even had sunglasses on it. This was truly three-dimensional. We did three different sides of CAD (computer-aided design) on his face. We did his haircut, too. It was just incredible."
2. Panda Chain
Made for: Jonas Bevacqua of LRG
"My second favorite chain would be the LRG panda that I made for Jonas, and that was about a kilo of gold. It was solid with diamond arms, diamond legs, and it had black diamond eyes and ears. It was so big. It was bigger than the size of a soda can, and again, it was in solid gold. The fact of what it represents was nuts, but the cartoon panda was just crazy."
1. LRG Cycle Chain
Made for: Jonas Bevacqua of LRG
"The LRG cycle chain is my number one. Number one because it was 100 carats—it was heavy as fucking shit—it was the first time someone actually incorporated a real link. Usually you create your own link—Cuban link, a Figueroa, a Franco chain, a curb link—there are so many types of links in necklaces. Bottega Veneta has recreated some of the old links, so Jonas created his own LRG cycle link, which as you can imagine has cycles on it. He made it completely iced out; the sides and the top. It was yellow gold, all VVS diamonds, and this was in 2006 or 2007 so it was around $150,000 back then, which is like $300,000-something now. It was crazy. It was super detailed and that is my favorite chain."