Without a doubt, when the word “hip-hop” is brought up or comes to mind, our minds quickly drift to the hard gritty honest bars rappers spill out without regard to human life. If that’s not the case, then it is without doubt that we think of known figures like JAY-Z, late 2Pac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G, Lil Wayne and Eminem.
If we are new to to Hip-Hop/Rap as a genre of music, then our minds quickly drift to icons like Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole.
But gradually becoming a custom in these era of hip-hop and rap is the art of tattoos rapper use represent various things – gang affiliations, notable occurrence in their lifetime, as a memorabilia of a family member, relative, close associate – or for whatever other reason they got it, tattoos has been a common feature on rappers body and with the latest trend of face tattoos, head tattoos, we can say the trend of tattoos will never die.
Name your top rappers and you notice one recurring feature apart from them being able to spit bars and that’s tattoos. You want to give it a try at naming your best rappers? Is it Eminem, JAY-Z, 50 Cent, 2Pac, Biggie, Lil Wayne, Andre 3000 (of Outkast), any members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Drake, Kendrick Lamar? Boy! We can keep naming them and a common denominator keeps being present and that’s tattoos.
Yet some rappers have chosen to defy the custom of getting tattoos just to feel among or improve their rapper’s aura and decided to just stick to the art of rap. Some you might know off the dome but trust some on this list are shocking as they come
1. J. Cole:
This might not come as a surprise to nobody as J. Cole has always proved to be that man who don’t follow customs by his antisocial kind of aura, stay off social media rapper, writes and mostly produces his songs himself and don’t get caught up in no drama. So, yes, Jermaine Lamarr Cole being on this list is not quite a shock to anybody. Or am I wrong for the assumptions?
2. T.I:
Tip “T.I” Harris might come as a surprise to some, not only because he’s an OG rapper without any tattoos but for the fact that wife popularly known as Tiny and stepdaughter Zonnique Pullins all spots tattoos in parts of their body. Speaking on Tattoos, Tip has said he’s scared of needles and hasn’t found any thing he wishes to commit to his body for eternity.
3. Big Sean:
Another rapper who has decided to keep his body spotless from tattoos is Sean Anderson a.k.a Big Sean. With regards to getting tattoos, Big Sean made known that he’s too “indecisive” as to what to get so he has no tattoos.
4. Lil Baby:
This is the ultimate moment to apply that Broda Shaggi’s “E shock you meme” because off rip, Lil Baby is associated with the new generation of Trap rappers or better modified as Trappers and if we have learnt one thing from these new generation of rappers and trappers is they are not scared to talk about drugs, guns and get tatted all over their bodies. It’s even more surprising when you consider the fact Lil Baby has been to prison and admitted to selling drugs before the fame.
According to the 4PF rapper, not getting tattoos is a tactical move as he said when he’s in meetings they’d (the business executives) would easily want to judge him based off appearance (and possibly criminal records) but him showing up all nice and no tattoos might pull them back from their stereotypes. A smart, yes indeed!
5. Megan Thee Stallion:
Receiver of 3 awards at the recently held BET HipHop Awards, for her hit single and collaboration with Queen Bee, Megan Thee Stallion a.k.a Hot Girl Meg has also chosen to keep her body tat free.
Other rappers who have kept their body free of tattoos are: Cordae, Rapsody, Lupe Fiasco, Common amongst some few others.