PopularLemonade

At some point in the late 1980s, rappers transformed from the smooth, Run DMC look into the suave, Cross Colors Fresh Prince steez, and as soon as the West Coast invasion took over ala Dre, Snoop, NWA style, the influx of rappers who delved into the body art genre expanded to an almost ridiculous level.  Always fascinated by tattooing and moderately tattooed myself, I’d like to spotlight some of the best (and more importantly worst) tattooed rappers in the game.

Weezy sports tattoos on his eyelids which read, “fear” on his right eyelid, an ‘&’ sign on the middle of his forehead, and “god” tattooed on his left eyelid.    “M.O.B.’ adorns his chest, which means “Money over Bitches,” he has “Hot Boy” tattooed between both of his hands.  Above his eyebrow it reads, “I am music” in red ink.  Right around his hairline he has “Misunderstood” printed in jail-type ball point pen & a needle script.  I can’t leave out the played out, gang related tears on his cheek either.  While most of his body is tattooed, my favorite is the AK-7 he has tattooed on his palm.  That has to be kind of awesome when bitch slapping some hoes.

Just like his raps, The Game’s tattoos pay homage to West Coast legends including NWA (on his chest),   Tupac appearing as an angel (upper arm),  Eazy E (right forearm), and a G-Unot (yes, U-not) on his forearm.  Perhaps most well known by the huge LA tattoo on his face, it’s clear to me that jocking past rappers to the point of complete annoyance by his listeners has caused dude to lose his mind on some Mike Tyson shit.  Maybe that’s just me.

Pharrell dons tattoos of angels on his neck and forearm.  I got word last year that he’s trying some new scientific tattoo removal which involved growing his skin cells and replanting them over his tattoos.  Dude must be too diva to handle laser tattoo removal.  Isn’t there something weird about removing angel tattoos anyway?

50 Cent is definitely no stranger to the needle either (funny how ironic that is, really).  With a big ass back piece carrying his name, as well as tattoos of Jesus (neck), the head of the devil, his mother’s name with the text “Ghetto Angel” (arm), the name “Beau” (neck) and a posse of angel images adorning most of his upper body, he’s sure to regret some of that shit when he’s 80.

My favorite asshole pretty boy, Kanye West is locked in for life on his left forearm with a Maya Angelo poem.  All I can really say is how very ‘Kanye’ of him.  He also rocks a dragon tattoo, which I’m sure he got when the whole tribal / dragon shit was actually popular.

It seems to me that Eminem had like, 3 tattoos and then the next time I saw dude, he had multiplied that number by 90.  2006devistated Em the death of D-12 group member, Proof so much that he dedicated his whole arm to him (pictured).  Other tattoos include “D / 12″ spread across both arms (I bet you’re regretting that one, eh, Em?), the infamous “Rot in Peace” tattoo above his belly button (in dedication to his ex wife, how romantic), a portrait of his daughter, and the words, “Slit me” on his wrist.

HONORABLE MENTIONS :: Paul Wall, Eve

Bonus video :: Nas ruins Brandon Bond plans with an Ak-47 / Malcom X tattoo: