Kansas City hip-hop artist Alan Wayne “The Pradagy,” now 41, has been rocking stages since he was a teenager. Still, having his new apparel brand as an official sponsor for the 19th Street Mainstage during monthly First Fridays in the Crossroads feels unbelievable.
“It's really an ineffable experience,” Pradagy said. “So to have our banners out here for the whole city to see on a monthly basis, during this celebration of the arts, is really what we want the brand to represent.”
Russ Hill, a program manager for Englewood Arts Center in Independence, was walking near the Mainstage on the hot afternoon of July 5. Wearing a Namaste & Brand hat, Hill said he was drawn in by its eccentric colorways and the outreach to the arts community.
“When I first saw the vibrant colors, they really popped and caught my eye,” said Hill. “I really enjoyed all the fine details of the clothing and hats with the embossed pins and stamps. The patchwork is super high quality.”
Pradagy and business partner Andrew Beck officially launched Namaste & Brand at the beginning of this year. In Buddhism, namaste (nah-mah-stay) is a Sanskrit word that has several meanings, such as: “The God in me honors the God in you,” or “I recognize your inner light,” “I bow to you.”
Their idea is to expand beyond Pradagy's hip-hop roots and leverage the principles of Buddhism to transcend cultures.
The brand’s original name didn't sound quite so spiritual. “Namaste & Sh!t” was inspired by a fan who greeted Pradagy with those words outside a venue in Bastrop, Texas, about 40 minutes west of Austin.
Pradagy said the fan's translation was obviously her own variation of namaste's meaning, yet it worked.
“She basically said, 'The good in me sees the good in you.' That's where the inspiration of it comes from because that's how I try to see people,” he said.
The act of encouragement from a stranger and the phrase’s novelty was captivating — and immediately gave him a sense of inner peace at a time he was dealing with bouts of depression.
“It came to me at probably the lowest point of my life,” Pradagy said. “The rhythm of the word just sounded good when the young lady said that to me and told me what it meant, I smiled like, ‘I get it. Namaste and shit.’”
Although Pradagy isn't a Buddhist in the traditional sense, he said he’s been learning and weaving principles of the non-theistic religion grounded in moral discipline into his life and career from that moment forward.
“When I said it, it kind of had a ring to it and it became a strike of inspiration. It changed everything for me. I meditate when I am the best version of myself,” he said.
Initially, he relegated the phrase to tour merchandise like T-shirts, since entrepreneurship is fundamental to being an independent artist.
“They started selling and doing good enough that when I would go out on the road for stretches of time, I usually would come home empty," he said. “Eventually, the slogan became more popular than me or my music. That stuck with me.”
Spirituality rekindles friendship
Andrew Beck said he was first introduced to Buddhist philosophy a few years ago, when a close relative who noticed he was struggling to maintain his mental health sent him a book of Buddhist teachings.
The Catholic teachings of his upbringing made him skeptical of Buddhist principles initially. It wasn't until after a few readings of Jack Kornfield’s book “The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology” that Beck chose to lean in.
“It broke down meditation and made it more understandable for Westerners who don't get it,” said Beck, who runs Beck’s Tessellation, LLC, a family owned company specializing in custom tile installation. “Meditation is now a way of life for me, whether it's five minutes or 20 minutes a day.”
So when Beck saw a picture of Pradagy in an original Namaste & Sh!t shirt on social media, he immediately recognized the phrase and reached out to his former Lincoln College Preparatory Academy classmate to buy one.
“He brought me one for free,” Beck said.
A decades-old friendship was rekindled.
“When we started hanging out again, I felt like I finally had someone that understood me spiritually,” Beck said. “He was willing to grow and be open to other things outside of how we grew up.”
As someone who’d already started his own business, Beck was inspired to turn their spiritual journey into something bigger. But to do so he wanted to massage the name.
“Namaste & Sh!t is catchy. But it's kind of aggressive and in your face. We can put Namaste & Brand on anything,” he said. They now sell merchandise with both versions of the phrase.
A new frontier
At The Bunker KC in Westport, people from all walks of life shop for high quality streetwear.
When Beck came in wearing a Namaste & Sh!t hoodie on a shopping trip with his teenage daughter earlier this year, the staff’s reaction changed everything.
“Both buyers happened to be there that night. They said they really liked the shirt and asked me where I got it from,” he said. “So right there I did a pretty small pitch, kind of showing them some stuff on my phone that we had been working on.”
The buyer, Drew Barr, is The Bunker KC’s general manager. He said he instantly fell in love with the shirt since he shares similar views about life.
“Everybody should take a deep breath and calm down a little bit, live their life and relax,” Barr said.
Barr said Namaste & Brand has been on the store’s shelves for a few months now even with the recent changes of the logo and branding, customer reception has remained impressive.
“They've done a good job with the product and the art on the product itself,” Barr said. “People just walk by and they're like, ‘I love that so much.’”
The positive reception has Beck and Pragady excited about the future of the brand.
“We’re looking at branding bonsai trees, doggie bowls and we just had some yoga mats come in,” Pradagy said.
In true Buddhist fashion, Pradagy said he takes little credit for the early success.
“It feels like I am the vessel who was just able to bring it to life,” he said.
