Jelly Roll Shows Off His Tattoos | GQ

I regret 98% of these tattoos 97% almost all of them like core philosophies I rooted my life in when I was 17 and now at 40 I'm like what the was I thinking I don't know I don't like I mean I hate them all I don't know where to start maybe the baby smoke and the blunt was a little excessive you know what I'm saying maybe that was a little bit much A lot of these are cover ups the ones that were really bad have already been covered up so this is the Nashville Skyline I got this to cover up I had

surviving the struggle but we had forgot to put the tea in it so it said surviving the struggle the struggle the first tattoo I ever got is up here on this arm it's this cross right here this lady named Mama V was in my neighborhood her name was Veta Nukem and she passed away AIDS when I was like 14 and I got this tattoo when I was 14 I don't know know if I really remember my first face tattoo I know it's probably strange to say but there's been so many now but I'd say it's probably the little c

ross it's just eye I'm always look I see it backwards in the mirror so is this the eye with the little Cross or no this one there should be a little one over here and a teardrop on one of them them three were the first the pairing of the two crosses in the teardrop probably my most meaningful tattoo as cliche as it is is probably the big cross it was symbolic of a change in me it was symbolic of a kind of a new beginning understanding that I need to Bear my own cross I to carry my own cross as t

he good book says so that was kind of a constant reminder did you get any when you were locked up T I got tons of them when I was locked up there are some really good tattoo artists in jail I just could never afford one I even had to get the cheap tattoo artists when I was in jail couldn't even afford them then when they were two packs of cigarettes I only had a can of coffee I got a tattoo on my back that was what they call a pick and poke where they just pick and poke it and it's Jesus on the

cross cross and let me tell you how bad it is that the first time my wife see me without a shirt she asked me did I have Elvis tattooed on my back and I had to let her know close but not Elvis it's Jesus very close Jesus music man's really important to me believe it or not so my wife has married a music man tattooed on her leg from the Elton John lyric I realized that almost all of my tattoos represent who I was none of them represent who I am and quite a few years ago I looked at my wife and I

was like I don't want to be down to these old tattoos anymore I want them to be reflective of who I am and I was like I think I'm going to put music man on my forehead and my wife is just the perfect kind of person in my life to be like go my tattooing now is limited to coverups or tour tattoos I a sucker for a tour tattoo or a group tattoo cuz I've got so many if we're all in this room right now like we're going to get a camera tattoo on us I mean we're doing this a tribal moment me and a bunch

of camera dudes y'all call me I I'm down I'm a homie and I'll throw a little camera on me somewhere you know what I mean so I love that like I got a quaca me and like 10 people got this drunk on the beach in Miami at Fort Lauderdale once get this quaca camera man this is I want to remind people in life this is the happiest animal in the plant it's native to one Island it has no Predators there it lives off eucalyptus leaves and it has a constant smile because it lives off eucalyptus leaves it i

s stoned they're always high and when life starts throwing me curve balls I look down at my little quaca and I go be a quaca be a quaca that's my quaca [Music] my advice for first tattoos are don't just think about what you're tattooing on your body think about who is tattooing on your body pick one artist spend as much money as you can on the greatest artist you can afford if you can't afford the artist you want right now start putting money in a coffee can till you can do not cheap yourself I

think about it all the time we will buy $200 pair of Jordans and not think twice about it we'll buy a $1,000 iPhone on a payment plan and not think twice about it we will spend all this money on stuff that we're going to upgrade next week but as soon as a tattoo dude is like I want $1,000 an hour we're like get away from me it's crazy how we look at tattoos and how much we undermine the art that they're putting into this so I would say find incredible tattoo artist pay the money and take your ti

me and let them build something for you that's beautiful I tell people I regret my tattoos but I would not not get tattoos I could do it all over again I I have went from the tip of my finger to the back of my head but i' have got with the best artist on Earth and took my time