Aug 17, 2026 · 2 hr 46 min · 20 segments
This episode has multiple rants! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@WeLoveHipHopNetwork416 Intro Music: Tyga mix Topics: - Having visible tattoos - The Red Pill is dead - Drake…
Friday Ricky DredHost
Dusty WallaceHost
DJ CzarHost
DJ Natural WavHostPanelistPanelistPanelistPanelistPanelistPanelist
One Take JakePanelistA one, a two on the side would be hard, but for like, get your whole head tatted, it's like, what are you going through, dog?
Okay, so you got tattoos, like, in places where it's visible when you put on, like, a long sleeve shirt.
Right? What was the thing that made y'all take that plunge? And you got ...
In a place where it's like once you put on a long sleeve or whatever, it's still ...
Like, what made y'all say, "You know what? Fuck it." Because in these days and times, now you could might be able to get a job, but-
And then when, when I'm like, okay, I think I'm just gonna be bald, like, I'm just gonna keep shaving my head, then I, then I, I flirted with the idea of, like, a neck tat or, like, at the back, but I want it kinda more on, on my head part, you know?
And then from there I was just like, you know what? Like, I already have a visible tat technically, and even my neck tats, if you can see, like, if I wear, like, a ...
Okay, a man will post like, like, um, like, let's say he has, like, RIP, like, on his neck, whatever, right?
So but at the same time, like, it's giving a little bit of gang member, you know what I'm saying? So-
I'm talking about the person who, you know, you might wanna go get a nine to five from.
So a lot of the chefs I was around were already fucking, sorry, not to swear, but criminal.
Back in the day, but that was the only job a guy with tattoos and shit could get.
Well, I would say, like, okay, um, a tatted up chef would be able to, like, work at, like, a mom and pops, but, like, they wouldn't be able to work at, like, a pres- a prestigious restaurant.
No, I'm saying, like, back in the '80s and shit when mandems still had, like, the preconceived notions and shit.
But it was still, like, if you wanted to go into a corporate office, like, that's my whole thing.
Um, like I was already getting tats, I was in the streets or whatever, whatever, but when ...
I always had in the back of my mind, if this shit don't work out and I need to get a nine to five-
I need to be able to go to the interview and they don't see, like, I don't know, all the shit on my arm.
Like, there was a certain point, like, I had so many jobs and I was just like, none of these are working out.
... once I realized I, I was most likely just gonna stick to, like, DJ-ing, photography, videography, whatever-
That, that's, that's the same thing, 'cause I was al- I was also like, I wanna be a rapper.
And that's what made me do it even further, because now I was like, oh shit, I got tattoos on my forehead and my, on my face.
So it's like at that point you know, all right- I'm gonna be outside of the fringe.
I, I, I still got tattoos on my face, but you get back your car, and your car is done properly.
Yo, we've seen the, we've seen the transition of, like, the perception of tattoos.
But if you had to credit one pop culture icon to the popularization of, like, tattoos and being fully tatted, like, who do you think kind of started that wave or, like, made it cool?
Uh, I think a lot of rappers now when we look at it, those times, they were still, they were still old school.
... 'cause you don't know if this rap shit's gonna work, and you might have to get a job."
I feel like prior to that, tattoos were almost exclusively for gang affiliation.
Even Japanese people, even, like, when you look at, like, the Yakuza tats, like the Japanese style, like, that was part of, I guess, an initiation.
But a lot of reasons why you didn't see a lot of Black people with tattoos is because it was a way for, uh, the police to identify us.
Oh, when I first came in the house with them, my mom was like, "What the f-" And then she just ...
And my mom then seen the older guys branding up their bodies, and my mom was like, "What the hell?"
I got f- I started with the arm tat and then went to the next arm, and then it just started taking over.
'Cause Dusty was saying that normally they were, like, tied to gang affiliation, but I remember when I was in the bin and, like, they strip you and shit.
Read the full transcript.
Create an account to read the whole episode, search across every transcript, and follow the shows you care about.
