Lil Skies Tattooed His Mother’s Name on His Face — His Tattoos Explained

The up-and-coming Lil Skies has tattoos going from his calves to his temples and a few more scattered across his face. In conversation with GQ, the young artist revealed that although his mother understood his love for ink, she was initially against his face tattoo. 

The rapper carries artistic representations of his personal experiences on his body, along with a few (tattoos) that don’t really mean anything. 

He Got His First Tattoo at 16

Skies began the candid interview explaining how his early tattoos looked funny because of where they were. The rapper had tattoos on his hands and face but next to nothing on the rest of his sleeves. 

With time, the rapper added pieces to his body. The first time he ever got inked was when he turned 16. One of the rapper’s friends had contracted meningitis, and the doctors had to amputate his leg. As for memorabilia, Skies got a tattoo that read:

Tomorrow’s another day, but it’s not promised

His Mother Disapproved of Face Tattoos

Talking about face tats, the ‘Dead Broke’ singer got three tattoos at the same time because, for some reason, they did not hurt as much. 

Because tattooing on the face was not as painful, the rose tattoo on his left cheek was also done in a single session. Probing more into it, Skies revealed he got his mother’s name, Shelby, on his face because she kept trying to stop him from getting a face tattoo. 

She kept tryin’ to get me to stop gettin’ face tats, but then I was like imma get one more, so she really couldn’t say nothin’.

Shelby had always known about her son’s obsession with tattoos and music and how he would pursue them regardless of her opinion. So in due time, she became accepting and loved the young rapper for who he was. 

The ‘Take 5’ singer also has a lot of meaningful things inked on his hands. As he puts it, he wanted an everyday reminder of the things that mattered, things like sacrifice, music, love, life, and most importantly himself. 

Wiz Khalifa Is Lil Skies’ Tattoo Hero

Further in the interview, Skies admitted that Wiz Khalifa was a huge influence during his growing years. He admired how the ‘Black and Yellow’ singer had tattoos all over his body. 

Khalifa donned tattoos that told his stories — those that impacted the Pennsylvania native. 

From a relatively young age, Skies decided he was going to be just like his idol. He admitted that even though he had a lot of ink on his body, there were still spaces between them. 

Apart from the already discussed tattoos, the Nowadays rapper has musical notes, buildings, favorite number 16, and a bust of the Queen of Egypt Nefertiti tattooed across his torso.

The last one on the list was an ode of sorts to the hip-hop legend Tupac’s necklace. 

Not All of His Tattoos Are Meaningful

He also has a few meaningless tattoos. For instance, he has a yellow chicken hatchling on his left forearm because a guy came to his residence and offered to do it.

There is a smiley on his wrist, a locker on his calf, and a Playboy lighter on his other leg to add to that list. However, a few tattoos on his body are yet to be completed.  

Among all his body inks, the red dragon koi on his right arm is his favorite. 

Although Skies enjoys making it through the ordeal of bearing the pain of getting a tattoo, he is not always comfortable. Nevertheless, he expressed his intent to get more colorful pieces on him in the future.