I regret 98% of these tattoos, 97%,
almost all of them.
[upbeat music]
Like core philosophies I rooted my life in
when I was 17 and now I'm 40,
I'm like, what the f*ck was I thinking?
[upbeat music]
I don't know, I don't like, I mean, I hate 'em all.
I don't know where to start.
Maybe the baby smoking the blunt
was a little excessive.
You know what I'm saying?
[chuckles] Maybe that was a little bit much.
A lot of these are coverups.
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 T in it,
so it said surviving the sruggle.
The sruggle.
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 Veda Newcomb,
and she passed away of AIDS when I was like 14
and I got this tattoo when I was 14.
I don't 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 cross.
It's this 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 and there should be a little one over here
and a teardrop on one of 'em. Them three were the first.
The pairing of the two crosses of 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 need to carry my own cross as the Good Book says,
so that was kind of a constant reminder.
Did you get any when you were locked up?
Ton, I got tons of 'em 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 'em 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 a cross.
And let me tell you how bad it is
that the first time my wife seen 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 wanna be bound to these old tattoos anymore,
I want them to be reflective of who I am.
And I was like I think I'm gonna 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'm 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 gonna get a camera tattooed on us.
I'm in.
We're doing it as a tribal moment.
Me and a bunch of camera dudes, y'all call me,
I'm in, 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 quokka me
and like 10 people got this drunk on the beach
in Miami and Fort Lauderdale once.
Get this quokka camera, man.
I wanna remind people in life
this is the happiest animal on the planet.
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 sleeves,
it is stoned, they're always high.
And when life starts throwing me curve balls,
I look down at my little quokka and I go be a quokka.
Be a quokka.
That's my quokka.
My advice for first tattoos are
don't just think about what your 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 until 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 thousand dollars iPhone on a payment plan
and not think twice about it.
We would spend all this money on stuff
that we're gonna upgrade next week,
but as soon as a tattoo dude is like,
I want a thousand dollars an hour,
we're like, get away from me.
It's crazy how we look at tattoos
and how much we undermine the art they're putting into this,
so I would say find incredible tattoo artists.
Pay the money and take your time
and let them build something for you that's beautiful.
I tell people I regret my tattoos,
but I would not not get tattoos.
If I could do it all over again,
I'd have went from the tip of my finger
to the back of my head,
but I'd have got with the best artist on earth
and took my time.
