If you watched the Grammy’s last week you saw LOTS of face tattoos. It made me curious. What’s going on here?

 

Post Malone and Tekashi 6ix9ine are the two I’ve been most familiar with (the latter got on my radar through Citizen app for a shooting involving his entourage at a swanky restaurant uptown!).

• I spent hours this week researching what this shift to face tattooing is all about
• It led me to a surprisingly melodic, catchy and new (to me) subgenre of music
• It goes by various names: SoundCloud Rap, “mumble rap” or “emo rap.”
• Based on my visual search, it reminded me a bit of updated rave kids – albeit with face tattoos. It’s very colorful – from attire to hair to teeth!
• But for context, this description from Ben Madden on music blog, Cool Accidents, is especially interesting: “If rappers are the new rockstars, SoundCloud rappers are the new punks.” 

For the last few days, I’ve been listening to SoundCloud Rap non-stop (definitely giving Alexa a workout and I’m impressed by her familiarity with all these convoluted “Lil” names).

So far, my favorites are Post Malone (he’s the most melodic), Lil Pump, Gucci Mane and Lil Xan (who is white, recently in rehab, apparently sworn of Xanax, he’s also made a few enemies for calling Tupac “boring”).

This weekend in Paris, at the Mondial du Tatouage (the World Tattoo Expo) the trend to facial tattoos is expected to be on full display.

I’m anticipating we will see lots more of this which is why you need to read on below.

 

So what is this SoundCloud/Mumble Rap thing all about?

Here’s what I’ve discovered so far:

• The term “mumble rap” was first coined in 2011 to describe rap songs that started shifting to grittier DIY production and what some describe as “incomprehensible” lyrics.
• However, Wiz Khalifa is credited for getting the word out on “mumble rap” when he mentioned it as the newest thing in rap during a 2016 interview.
• The lyrics often touch on mental health problems and their consequences – drugs, meds (especially Xanax) and lots of sex (the “bitch” talk, btw, is so boring).
• Words are slurred and sometimes sung. Xanax and fentanyl overdoses are not unusual.
• There’s much debate about who first popularized the genre.
• Lots of names get bandied about from Future whose album “Pluto” supposedly kickstarted the subgenre in 2012 to Yung Lean, a young Swedish rapper who made waves in 2013 with his ‘vaporwave’ music videos and spacey, out-there beats.
• Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, Lil Yachty, Playboi Carti, Gucci Mane, Ski Mask The Slump God and Chief Keef are all prominent names in this new subgenre.
• Grammy-nominated Post Malone is, however, the current poster boy.
• Nearly all mumble rappers have face tattoos

 

FACE TATTOOING IN MUSIC

• In the mid 2000s, the trend of getting a facial tattoo emerged among celebrities, starting with Mike Tyson’s large tribal tattoo in 2003
• Early rappers with face tattoos included Birdman, Lil Wayne and The Game.
• The influence of artists like Lil Wayne for face tattoos wasn’t fully realized until the mid-2010s when the “SoundCloud rap” scene emerged.
• Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, 21 Savage and Migos all got facial tattoos between 2014 and 2016.
• Facial tattoos are often used by these artists as motivation i.e. they talk about how their so-called “job stopper” facial tattoos forces them to focus 100% on their music careers since their tattoos preclude getting regular jobs.

 

Bottom Line.

As someone who has no tattoos, I find this whole face tattooing thing fascinating. I anticipate we’ll see quite a bit more of it before it invariably gives way to a new look. Thankfully, tattoo removal has come a long way.

In the meantime, I do recommend you check out Post Malone – he’s definitely joining my list of frequent-plays.