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Don’t call it a comeback. Really, they have been on the hip hop scene for years, “blessing” everyone from KRS ONE to Queen Latifah with prolific bead work. They were once known as the Masters of Adornment, then as Level Vibes Productions. “We never felt like we had a name, but it always came back to the Bead Masters,” says Cormac “C-Mac the Medallion Master” McCourt.
McCourt and longtime friend and partner Jamal “Jamalski” Mitchell of Raggamuffin Crew head the Bead Masters, an internationally recognized brand in hip-hop fashion and style.
The Bead Masters have been active since ’89, but their popularity peaked during the ‘90s. “Rap had a very bohemian feel to it,” says McCourt. “We were just in at the right time as far as the fashion goes.” Hip-hop titans like DJ Red Alert, The Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Afrika Bambaataa and KRS One were just some of the Bead Master’s clientele during this time. “They do incredible work,” says Kay Dee of the Universal Zulu Nation. “I am the only one with my piece. I think that’s ill.”
Despite the novelty of the beads, Mitchell and McCourt insist their work embodies much more than a good look. “We both come from art backgrounds,” says McCourt. “Jamalski’s father was a jazz drummer and my mother was an artist. My dad was an actor.” The duo grew up surrounded by art, music and culture. They were also immersed in New York City’s burgeoning hip-hop movement. However, the two did not fully explore bead work until 1988.
“Jamal moved to Portland, Ore. in 1988 and invited me to stay with him. He had some relatives out there and just wanted to live on the West Coast for a while,” says McCourt. McCourt dropped out of college and took made for Oregon. “We lived in Portland for a year and a half. That’s where we picked up this medium,” says McCourt.
Bolstered by the art culture in Portland, the two friends began working on beads. “We started going nuts with this clay,” says McCourt. “We saw the detail that people could do and kept playing with it. We got good enough and started selling [our work] at the Saturday Market. Then we got homesick.”
Right around 1990 the two friends made their way back to New York and started doing the work they are now famous for. They soon came into contact with Akadahmah. “He was the beadical alchemist,” says Mitchell. “[Akadahmah] opened our eyes a lot to the healing aspects of the beads.” Indeed, the word bead is derived from “bede,” a noun in Old English.
The Bead Masters continued to gain popularity over the next few years, helped by Mitchell’s success as a recording artist for Columbia/Sony Records.
Things slowed in the late ‘90s, but the surge of social media brought the Bead Masters’ work back to the fore. “[The internet] is how people started reaching out to us again,” says Mitchell. Around 2006, BBP commissioned several dozen pieces for their artists and promotions. “That got the buzz popping again,” says McCourt.
Now the Bead Masters are out to expand the business. “We’re going to have to start hiring people. We still got a lot of people to get around to,” says Mitchell. They are exploring online retail and store fronts to accommodate the influx of orders, but the plan is to remain true to the art and the brand.
“Bead Masters has been growing organically,” says McCourt. We aren’t forcing it. People have been coming to us because we’re unique. No one else is doing it, not like we are.”