Over time, the public's tolerance for tattoos has been increasing, but when this calligraphy and paintings appear on the skin of the face, they can always become the news, even if the person who is the main character of the news is not at all doing such things It's surprising that whenever we talk about things like Gucci Mane, Migos, 21 Savage, and a series of rappers, people still think of this accessory outside their field of expertise first.
"After the face tattoo, they can only make music seriously, otherwise it will be difficult to find a job." Such a mocking joke seems to be the most reasonable explanation for facial tattoos by rappers, but facial tattoos really do what we remember. Is it bad?
Facial tattoo origins
The first communities to have tattoos on their faces were the Punk of the time and the subcultures associated with it. They show their dissatisfaction with society in the form of tattoos. For political and economic reasons, people at the bottom of society such as Punk, Skinhead, Goth, New Romantic, and Teddy Boy have become marginal figures in society, and they refuse to The way society generates social relationships is by tattooing on the face, because this is where everyone can see it at first glance.
Derek Ridgers, a photographer who recorded the youth subcultures of that era with a camera, once said in an interview, "At that time, young people expressed their antisocial emotions in this way, and this was their only way. They used The tattoo on the face conveys the message to the community, "I will never be a compliant social person, and I will not disdain."
Facial tattoos influenced by gang culture
I once wrote a blog about removing facial tattoos from gang member(After removing the tattoo, the style of previous Gangsters changed)Facial tattoos are symbols that distinguish different gangs and symbolize the loyalty of the gang members to the organization. Similarly, investigations have shown that another purpose of facial tattoos is to intimidate opponents in "fights." Unlike the tattoos of Punk's backstreet workshops, prestigious gang tattoo artists will perform facial tattoos for gangsters if they have tattoos on their entire bodies, otherwise, they will be rejected.
So before people like Lil Wayne and Birdman had tattoos on their faces, the rest of their bodies were basically covered with various patterns. The "Cash Money" tattoos on them are also considered to be related to the most notorious gang Blood. Lil Wayne and Birdman are also the earliest mainstream faces that have left their mark on the face.
Facial teardrop tattoos by Lil Wayne, The Game, Birdman, and others are a very common gang tattoo. A more common interpretation is: hollow teardrops represent the murder of one's relatives and friends by other gang members, while solid teardrops have died from events other than murder, and half-filled teardrops represent that the tattooer has died for himself Revenge of murdered relatives and friends ... Sometimes the tears stabbed by these inks can also reflect the criminal law that these gang members were subjected to in prison.
In addition to teardrops, another more common gangster facial tattoo is "MS-13". It represents Mara Salvatrucha, an international criminal organization that originated in Los Angeles. MS-13 and 18th Street gangs have transformed the North Central Triangle into the highest homicide rate in the world. Facial tattoos have also become synonymous with thugs because of various gangs. In the movie "SUICIDE SQUAD", the corner of Joker also has the word "Damaged" and the letter "J" representing his identity.
Facial tattoos in pop culture
In 2003, King Tyson became the most well-known facial tattooer in the early 21st century. The totem pattern surrounding Mike Tyson's left eye is not the same as the gang tattoo mentioned above, and his original idea was A heart-shaped pattern was placed on the entire face but was rejected by the tattoo artist. In the 2008 documentary "Tyson", Mike Tyson also interpreted his final totem tattoo, which is similar to the earliest traditional Maori tattoo. Tyson hopes to use this tattoo to deter his opponents, while at the same time another reason It's "This pattern is cool."
The pattern on Mike Tyson's eye sockets became one of the most famous facial tattoos in the 21st century that has nothing to do with gang culture, and it also changed the public's perception of facial tattoos to some extent. After 8 years, another person who opened a new moment in the history of hip-hop because of facial tattoos is Gucci Mane. In 2011, the ice cream on Gucci Mane's face made almost all the media scramble to report on this musician from Atlanta. Before that, Gucci Mane had rarely reported from outside the music field. , This ice cream pattern has nothing to do with the gang. Gucci Mane reads in his autobiography that "any other person's evaluations and thoughts about me have nothing to do with me." And this "IDGAF" attitude and concept also became the credo of rappers who later tattooed their faces. The rebellious Post Malone struck "stay away" on his forehead just to anger his mother.
As a pioneer of "SoundCloud Rapper", this move by Gucci Mane opens the door to a new world for young people who are either a member of "SoundCloud Rapper" or an audience of "SoundCloud Rapper". The Blueface on the XXL 2019 Freshman Class tattooed Benjamin Franklin's avatar on his face, as well as the SoundCloud logo on his arm. Of course, there are exceptions. Kerwin Frost (founder of creative group Spaghetti Boys), who is not a member of "SoundCloud Rapper", just puts a long pencil on the cheek for "fun".
After that, the rapper of the new era has much more tolerance for facial tattoos. Even after the death of Lil Peep, many relatives and friends put the "Crybaby" pattern on his brows on his face in memory of him. Such a story also happened after the death of XXXTentacion. These tattoos that appeared on the musician's face after leaving the gang background are no longer scary, and even with temperature.
Facial tattoos on fashion shows
In addition to the gangsters and musicians mentioned above, facial "tattoos" are also constantly appearing in the fashion field. In Gucci's Spring / Summer 2017 show, Alessandro Michele asked the Latvian Asian model Lorens to show the face of British romantic poet William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience", a move that even made facial tattoo pioneer Gucci Mane himself I was surprised when I saw it.
At the Givenchy show in 1997, John Galliano also allowed models with "tattoo" makeup to participate in the spring show of the year.
In the 2013 Chanel holiday series, a female model with a black "double C" logo on the corner of her eye also appeared. Interestingly, this part is usually marked by gang members with teardrops with a more extreme meaning. These events are all showing that the facial tattoo culture from the marginal communities at the bottom of the society is being repackaged by fashion brands and accompanied by their "output" of luxury products worth 10,000 yuan to the public.
But unfortunately, the behavior of "face tattoo" on the show did not seem to be bought by these subcultural communities. Justin Bieber told GQ in an interview shortly after the cross tattoo on his face. People's acceptance depends on whether they have the right purpose. Obviously, the fashion brand's misappropriation of marginal subcultural communities is open to question.
In 2016, models with exaggerated facial tattoos also appeared on the HBA's spring and summer show, but unlike the former, Shayne Oliver and his HBA were not dubbed "appropriating subculture" for using this model. The accusation, because the birth of the HBA brand, arises from marginal communities and subcultures. The model who appeared on the show field just represents this community.
Even if facial tattoos have a higher tolerance and audience nowadays, just as Justin Bieber, who has grown up, said, "whether it has the right purpose" is an important criterion for evaluating a facial tattoo. Of course, you can also write the silent "IDGAF" on your face with ink, just like Gucci Mane.