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"The Takeoff piece on my back took eight hours, one session." Offset breaks down his tattoos in this episode of Tattoo Tour. The rapper started going crazy with tattoos when he was only 15-years-old. From his ten face tattoos to the portrait of his late best friend on his back, Offset shares the stories behind his ink.

Director: Robby Miller
Director of Photography: Francis Bernal
Editor: Paul Isakson
Talent: Offset
Creative Producer: Arielle Neblett
Line Producer: Jen Santos
Production Manager: James Pipitone
Production Coordinator: Tania Jones
Talent Booker: Ernesto Macias
Camera Operator: Bradley Wickham
Sound Mixer: Rachel Suffian
Production Assistant: Ashley Vidal
Post Production Supervisor: Rachael Knight
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Rob Lombardi
Assistant Editor: Lauren Worona
Transcript
00:00 When I tatted my face, as a grown-ass man,
00:02 my mama slapped me.
00:02 "Like your face too beautiful, son,
00:04 and you gonna mess it up."
00:05 She like, "You think you grown,
00:06 you think you da-da-da-da-da just 'cause you grown?"
00:08 Like, "Mama, grown as hell."
00:10 She was mad about that shit.
00:11 (hip hop music)
00:13 On my first face tat, I got was a cross.
00:18 I got that shit in jail, too, on some crazy shit.
00:20 Like, hitting my shit with a, like, one by one,
00:24 like, like a, you know, a charger box.
00:26 It's like something in the inside,
00:27 they made it out of that, so it just go slow,
00:29 like, that shit hurts so bad.
00:31 My face was big as hell when I got that shit done, too.
00:33 And I had to get it redone 'cause it faded,
00:35 started fading on me.
00:36 I got my daughter's name on my face,
00:38 on the biggest hill on my face.
00:39 I got my son named Cody on my face.
00:41 I got an Angela playing a guitar.
00:43 I got my grandmama name on my face.
00:45 What else I got on my face?
00:46 Oh, I got 100 right here.
00:49 Gotta keep it 100.
00:50 Dig.
00:51 I got blessed over my eyebrow.
00:53 Yeah, I probably got like 10 on my face, though.
00:55 Guwop and Lil Wayne,
00:56 first rappers I seen with face tattoo.
00:58 I was a big Guwop fan, like Gucci fan, and Wayne.
01:01 You know, Tune really gave us the game.
01:03 He was starting to hit the face crazy,
01:05 and they were like, "We gotta hit the face."
01:06 I'm a do that, can admit that, that's no cap.
01:08 I got a hand with the globe on the inside of it,
01:12 and it say, "The world is mine," around the front.
01:15 I got my girl's name on my neck.
01:17 I got Powerpuff Girls on my neck.
01:19 It's my girl's favorite cartoon little character.
01:21 I got a dove bird on my neck.
01:24 That's it for the neck.
01:27 What was the first tattoo I ever got was,
01:29 well, I got like a couple at one time.
01:31 So my ex-boss, I got my mama name,
01:33 I got my grandmama name, and I got my granddaddy name.
01:35 'Cause I feel like when they see it,
01:37 I got your name, at least I got your name, but yeah.
01:40 It was like three of my homeboys,
01:41 we got tattooed, the dude tattooed us up.
01:43 He gave us enough for us to get like two, three a piece.
01:46 Names, though.
01:47 I started at 14, but by like 15, I started going crazy.
01:50 16.
01:51 Next big one I got, it was this big
01:53 Alana Braves A right here on my left arm.
01:55 That was the biggest one I got after that.
01:57 And then I just started going crazy.
01:58 Like, I was addicted then.
02:00 It was like, damn, I need to get a tattoo every week.
02:02 You know, you young.
02:03 I was young too, so I was like 15, 16.
02:05 They weren't even good either.
02:06 I was like, I'd be mad now that I got 'em so early.
02:09 I was trying to be on some cool shit, really.
02:11 You know how it be.
02:12 I got my first tattoo, I'm like, ooh.
02:14 I just kept going crazy.
02:15 I got these bullshit ass alien spaceships.
02:17 It look like a 10 year old boy droid.
02:20 I got my brother name and my older brother name,
02:22 which you can't see it 'cause the ink faded.
02:24 I ain't never retouched it up.
02:26 I got a lot of bullshit.
02:27 I got the Gucci Gs and they all different shapes and sizes.
02:30 They put the Gucci Gs.
02:31 My homeboy stole his mama's laptop, right?
02:34 And we thinking he didn't came up on the laptop.
02:37 And when he steal a laptop,
02:38 he sells the laptop for the tattoos.
02:40 I'm in there talking about the laptop on the phone.
02:43 Like, I think I'm talking to A-Rod.
02:44 My boy A-Rod, I'm like, bro, we just got tatted.
02:47 He like, what y'all do?
02:48 I'm like, yeah, we had a little silver laptop.
02:50 Man, this man, his mama was right there.
02:51 He like, no, no, no, no.
02:53 His mama like, you stole my shit?
02:56 Kick both of us out of the crib.
02:57 [laughs]
02:58 Kick both of us out of the crib and then shit.
03:00 I was like, bro, that's crazy, bro.
03:02 You set me up.
03:02 He like, why you say something?
03:03 I'm like, nigga, you stealing from your mama?
03:05 It's crazy.
03:06 Yeah, that was a crazy time.
03:07 I got Virgil, RIP my brother V, man.
03:12 I got Virgil on my undercalf.
03:15 I got the movie "Dead Prisoners"
03:16 when they got the white paint on their face
03:18 and they robbing the banks.
03:19 I got Basquiat on my right leg.
03:21 I got Malcolm X when he looking out the window
03:23 with the shotgun.
03:24 I have all my kids' faces on the back of my legs.
03:27 I got five kids,
03:28 so I got all their faces on the back of my legs.
03:30 I got Michael Jackson on this left leg.
03:32 I got my favorite cartoon, "Freakazoid."
03:34 I got "Cars Dolls."
03:35 I got Takashi Murakami pillow on the kneecap.
03:38 I got the Eiffel Tower on my face
03:40 'cause my friend Paris, he got killed.
03:42 But I got his face tatted right here too, though.
03:44 I got "The Night Before Christmas."
03:46 That's one of my favorite movies tatted on my leg.
03:48 I got the demon, like the Dodge Demon
03:50 'cause I'm a big Dodge fan.
03:52 No rats.
03:53 Shh.
03:54 So I got a dude showing his grill
03:56 with Rolling Stone across the top.
03:58 I got Frankenstein tatted on my thigh.
04:00 Yeah, that's all the leg tats.
04:02 I got thriller Michael Jackson right here.
04:04 This still thriller Michael Jackson too,
04:06 but that's when he regular, so it's the transformation.
04:08 That's the good and the bad, you dig?
04:10 And then I got Scarface holding a stick.
04:14 Big as hell right here.
04:16 I got "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," Michael Myers.
04:19 Damn, what else I got?
04:20 I got M.O.B. across my chest.
04:22 I got an angel holding a chopper on this side,
04:24 and I got a skeleton holding a .38 Special on this side.
04:27 This was a cover-up 'cause his tattoo was trash can juice.
04:30 I had two money bags.
04:32 And for the smoke, he was supposed to do smoke,
04:34 but he did some swirly shit between the bags.
04:37 This shit look like it was some clouds.
04:39 I got it covered up with the angel with the stick
04:42 and the skeleton with .38 Special.
04:44 - You got 007 also.
04:46 Are you a James Bond fan?
04:47 - Yes, sir.
04:48 Before I was playing Call of Duty, I was playing 007.
04:50 (upbeat music)
04:52 So for the back piece, you know,
04:54 I got my brother Take on there.
04:55 I just covered my whole back with it.
04:57 I feel like he just got my back.
04:58 It was kind of like my message to myself.
05:00 That's what the kids, too, you know?
05:02 I feel like all my shit's meaningful, though.
05:03 All my tattoos are meaningful.
05:05 I remember all the times I was getting it
05:07 and how it meant to me during the time.
05:08 I got a lot of people that mean a lot to me,
05:10 chatting on me.
05:11 The Take Off piece on my back took eight hours, one session.
05:14 - Were you out for that?
05:15 Like, what was that experience?
05:16 - I was out.
05:17 I'm out for all my sessions.
05:19 You know, you gotta get in that zone, man.
05:21 That's a long time you didn't tat it, though.
05:22 You know, I'ma tell you the worst pain,
05:24 most painful ones, though, is the thighs.
05:27 (whistles)
05:28 When I got out of there, I had to go wheelchair.
05:30 Couldn't really sit down.
05:31 I'm in the car, like, trying not to sit down.
05:34 That shit hurt, like, in the inner thighs.
05:36 And it stayed swole for so long.
05:38 Like, I woke up, and this shit was just like,
05:40 (exhales)
05:41 red on fire.
05:43 I was scared to look.
05:43 I had to call the tattoo artist, like, "Bro."
05:45 He like, "Oh, yeah, yo, your inner thighs so sensitive,
05:48 "it ain't never doing nothing.
05:49 "It don't never have no action.
05:50 "The outside of your legs get action, lay down, fall.
05:53 "But right there, it usually don't never get touched."
05:55 He like, "It's like hot water getting on your back
05:56 "when you get in the shower."
05:57 So it was real sensitive.
05:58 That shit had my shit swole, though, yeah.
05:59 I ain't gonna lie, I don't know, man,
06:01 that behind that kneecap, too.
06:03 That shit hurt, too, 'cause the healing process hurts.
06:06 I was, like, trying to keep my shit just straight in the bed.
06:09 Then, like, when you hit them legs,
06:10 it's like, when you stand up, all your blood
06:12 just be rushing to the bottom.
06:13 That shit be hurting for a little minute.