Gangster Tattoos

Gangs have always used tattoos as a way of identifying members. Some members will have more than one tattoo, particularly if they have spent any time in prison and these tattoos can include more than one symbol that has been adopted by the gang. Some members of gangs will have their name tattooed in big bold letters so as to intimidate rival gang members.

Gangster tattoos have now been popularized by rappers and they are usually black and grey designs. They usually depict firearms, bullets and secret letters and numbers in old English and Gothic script. They often have a tattoo on the back of their neck or on their chest.

Some gangs try to use tattoos to separate themselves from mainstream society and it has had an undeniable effect on young hip middle class teenagers. Most teenagers have no idea of the original meaning of the tattoo designs they are wearing.

It is said that tattoos are primarily marketed to the Hip hop and R&B generation. 50 Cent and Eminem have quite elaborate, detailed and beautiful tattoos, although tattoos were always used by rockers and bikers. The rapper Tupac Shakur illustrated the symbolization of a gangster lifestyle in the tattoo he had put across his abdomen which read “Thug Life”.

Tattoos on Hip hop and R&B artists are like a modern day aristocracy, you only have to switch on MTV to see the desire to be covered in tattoos by Hip hop and R&B artists. Rappers are both insiders and outsiders and the tattoos they wear lend themselves to this double meaning. Throughout the history of tattoos, designs have appealed to the more extremes of society, from the criminal to the aristocracy.

Recently more and more people are having a tattoo design that they have seen on their favourite R&B artist simply because they idolize them.

Tattooing is now becoming a massive part of the Hip hop culture and in turn is lending itself to the mainstream culture as you can see by the MTV generation. It is hoped that in time this will lead to the loss of any negative stereotyping that is associated with gangster and hip hop tattoos.