Ben Baller Episode 6: Pete Wentz's Custom 18kt Initials for his Designer Bag Line

BEN BALLER: My name is Ben Baller.
And you probably recognize me, pushing fantasy whips,
stunting in nightclubs, or sitting courtside
at the Laker games.
But the rest of the world knows me as the
jeweler to the stars.
Ben Baller.
[PHONE RINGS]
BEN BALLER: Doctor Darren Romanelli.
DARREN ROMANELLI: Yo, what's up, Baller?
BEN BALLER: I'm good.
Just been driving around the city, waiting for a
phone call from you.
DARREN ROMANELLI: I've got a super good friend of mine,
who's been a client for me.
And I was hoping I could connect you guys today.
BEN BALLER: Is it Madonna?
DARREN ROMANELLI: [LAUGHS].
It's not Madonna, but he's a fan of yours.
I just wanted to see if you could meet me over so we could
all hook up.
BEN BALLER: Yeah, man.
DARREN ROMANELLI: So I'll leave my office in 15, I'll
meet you up there.
BEN BALLER: All right, peace, bro.
The best jobs come from, someone saying,
come to me right now.
That's how Bieber happened.
The same scenario happened with Arnold Schwarzenegger,
but I couldn't meet him.
I do have a feeling, though, that I'm
meeting a white person.
Hey, what's going on man?
It looks like this is definitely a white dude's
house though.
[DOORBELL]
[HEARTBEAT]
DARREN ROMANELLI: What's up, sir?
BEN BALLER: Ah, man.
[LAUGHS].
DARREN ROMANELLI: You know Ben.
PETE WENTZ: Long time no see, bro.
BEN BALLER: Shit.
DARREN ROMANELLI: You guys know each other.
PETE WENTZ: Travvy, and we chill at the table over here?
DARREN ROMANELLI: You know, once every few
months I get a call.
Saying, DR , I got this idea, this is what I'm thinking.
PETE WENTZ: It's always real crazy.
DARREN ROMANELLI: This one was a bit of a challenge.
Because he wanted to do a tile-print, luxury bag
collection.
PETE WENTZ: I'll go grab them, real quick.
BEN BALLER: OK, yeah.
Let me see.
DARREN ROMANELLI: Hands full.
BEN BALLER: Oh, shit.
Jesus.
PETE WENTZ: Watch out, Jesus.
DARREN ROMANELLI: I was talking to you about a
collaboration.
And I kind of thought it could be fresh to do some sort of a
Baller accessory feature on the bag collection.
So why don't you look at it and tell me what--
BEN BALLER: I actually have something in mind.
DARREN ROMANELLI: You do?
BEN BALLER: So I'm thinking, because this is like a
distressed like copperish-gold, I
want to do a PW.
And it'd be a P and then a W. So when you're carrying the
bag, and you're like this, it's a really bright, like 18
karat looking gold, off this.
DARREN ROMANELLI: Nice.
PETE WENTZ: It's going to look sick.
Yeah, I like that.
Time frame, I'm going to Europe in two weeks.
Is that crazy?
BEN BALLER: I mean, I'm pretty busy right now, because I'm
making some crazy shit.
But it's my first thing for a bag.
PETE WENTZ: How much will it end up being?
With the homeboy hook-up.
The extra homeboy hook-up.
BEN BALLER: The homeboy hook-up?
PETE WENTZ: The double homeboy hook-up.
BEN BALLER: This is probably going to cost me somewhere
close between $7,500 to $9,000.
So whatever my cost is would be right there.
PETE WENTZ: Cool.
BEN BALLER: So let me start on it tonight.
PETE WENTZ: Cool.
Sure.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN BALLER: Earlier today, I get a phone call from my boy,
Darren Romanelli.
He told me he had a special client for me.
I meet up with Pete Wentz, from Fall Out Boy.
So that was really cool.
He's a white boy and white boys, they
don't give me no trouble.
I love doing rock star shit.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN BALLER: Yo, what's up?
JEFF: What's up, bro?
Hey, you got my watch on, fool.
BEN BALLER: Hey, I just got back from Pete Wentz's though.
JEFF: Who's Pete Wentz?
BEN BALLER: Just don't worry about it.
Listen, he's a rock star.
When you see him, you'll be like, oh it's that white guy.
He's got a baby with Ashlee Simpson.
My boy Darren Romanelli makes these custom bags.
JEFF: We're going to make a bag?
BEN BALLER: Hey now, listen dumb [BLEEP].
We're going to do this.
We're going to put a custom P and a custom W. We're just
going to do high-polished gold.
On the back, we're going to laser "Bronx" on there.
JEFF: How much?
BEN BALLER: I think I said $7,500.
So we'll make a lot of money.
[LAUGHS].
JEFF: You got to make it look official.
BEN BALLER: No, we'll make it look official.
We'll make some money, easy money.

[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN BALLER: Now, the process of making Pete Wentz's piece
is a little different.
It's actually quite simple because we're not setting any
diamonds in it.
The font that we are using is called River Avenue.
Print the font out, and give it to Jimmy.
From there, Jimmy cuts the wax.
And Jimmy has to cut two different waxes to make sure
everything is perfect.
After that, send to casting.
From there, I inspect the gold to make sure it's OK.
And then, give it to Jimmy.
He gives it a high polish, dips it in the rhodium, and
ready for delivery.
JEFF: What's up, Ben?
BEN BALLER: What's going on?
JEFF: Nothing.
Chilling.
BEN BALLER: Where's the Pete thing?
JEFF: It's in your box.
See?
You all right?
BEN BALLER: [BLEEP]
you.
JEFF: OK.
[CHUCKLE].
Found it?
BEN BALLER: Nice.

Why do I smell [BLEEP]
in here, dude?
It smells like [BLEEP].
It smells nasty.
JEFF: Do you like it?

BEN BALLER: So my team came together.
You know, everyone made their free throws.
And I love when I do rock and roll shit.
I'll head up there.
Drop off this piece.
And kill all the white people.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN BALLER: I'll head over to go see Pete Wentz real quick.
I'm excited because I think it's going to
be a dope-ass piece.
Everything is good, smooth.
But the best part about it is, I get paid.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
PETE WENTZ: What up, bro?
How you doing?
BEN BALLER: I'm doing good.
DARREN ROMANELLI: Stash bag.
PETE WENTZ: How'd it turn out?
BEN BALLER: [LAUGHING].
PETE WENTZ: That's like a real evil laugh.
BEN BALLER: You guys ready for this here?
DARREN ROMANELLI: Take it out.
BEN BALLER: Why waste any time, right?
She came out super, super fresh.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN BALLER: Look at that [BLEEP].
That's so [BLEEP]
dope, dude.
God damn, bro.
Do you like it?
PETE WENTZ: I love it.
It looks awesome.
It looks awesome.
BEN BALLER: I sent you an email about the cash.
You saw everything?

PETE WENTZ: You're not going to count it?
BEN BALLER: I already did, buddy.
DARREN ROMANELLI: Sir.
Pete Wentz, Ben Baller, Darren Romanelli.
It's a wrap.
PETE WENTZ: I think the piece is really rad.
I'm not really like a big jewelry guy in general.
So to find a way to do a cool collaboration that fits in
with my personality is really awesome.
He's really smooth, really fast.
He's really funny.
I think it would be great if I could figure out some kind of
Pete Wentz crest or something like that.
Yo, Ben I like how you knew how much cash that was, just
by holding it in your hand.
You're a madman.
Take me to a Mayweather fight, please.
Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN BALLER: Me and Darren been trying to work for 10 years.
And that's a true story.
Just executing this was just a taste of what could happen
between me and Darren Romanelli.
Pete was happy, which is great.
Pete paid with cash.
We're a wrap, man.
On to the next thing.
[MUSIC PLAYING]