“I’m about to double up I mean triple up / Watch a pimp get his bitches up / Two teardrops that’s a double-homi / But ever nigga with ‘em ain’t really catch a body.”
–Tony Yayo “Tattoo”
Another week, another dumb ass rapper tattoo. This week’s fuckery comes courtesy of Yung LA. Readers often say they want more positive news. Yet when we cover a rapper donating to a good cause or speaking on politically relevant events, those stories get less than one fourth of the views your typical Gucci Mane ignorance does. You say you want substance. We don’t believe you, you need more people. And it’s not just here either. You can look at the charts and watch the same thing happen.
The Top 10 Hip Hop/R&B Songs In The Country, Based On Radio Play And Sales:
1. Nicki Minaj “Moment For Life”
2. Lil Wayne f. Cory Gunz “6 Foot 7 Foot”
3. Jamie Foxx f. Drake “Fall For Your Type”
4. Trey Songz “Love Faces”
5. Keri Hilson “Pretty Girl Rock”
6. Chris Brown “No Bullshit”
7. Trey Songz “Can’t Be Friends”
8. Rihanna f. Drake “What’s My Name”
9. Waka Flocka Flame f. Wale & Roscoe Dash “No Hands”
10. Rick Ross f. Drake & Chrisette Michele “Aston Martin Music”
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For the life of me, I can’t seem to find all of the positive songs. And now back to Yung LA, because for a story so damned ignorant, this had a lot of layers.
LA Ink
First, Atlanta has clearly undergone a transformation from the days of Freaknik. Through a rather myopic, Hip Hop view of the ATL, many of us outsiders only see a lot of snapping, trapping and bouncing. But the Soulja Boy, Travis Porter, Yung LA crowd isn’t just a blip on the radar. Atlanta has been eclectic. Andre 3000 and Big Boi were dressing weird as hell back in high school. They’re current looks are actually tame compared to how they looked back in the days. And the same can be said for Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse. Do the Dungeon Family members put better lyrics behind their weird costumes? Yes. While none of the young artists above have shown any real staying power, they all individually represent a growing contingent of fans interested in various, eccentric sub-genres of Hip Hop. We may not like them, and we may not like what they represent. But they support their favorite artists through legal music purchases and buying tickets to their shows. That’s a lot more than you can say for our generation right now.
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Second, the pink duck in question is actually the logo for Duct Tape Entertainment. I’m not going to pretend to know the whole back-story nor waste time figuring it out. Yung LA’s a grown man with a damn duck on his face! There’s really no questioning the fact that LA’s ink looks exactly like the Duct Tape Entertainment logo. The only problem is that LA apparently isn’t part of Duct Tape Entertainment, which makes this even more of a fail. Even if LA, Alley Boy and the rest of Duct Tape were as tight as Lil Wayne and Birdman, this would be a bad look.
Third, after we all stopped laughing at LA, there’s the issue of this man possibly needing some serious psychological help. Any decent tattoo artist will tell you drinking and inking don’t go together. Aside from the questionable judgment that comes with walking into a tattoo parlor shitfaced, alcohol thins the blood, which can lead to premature fading of your tattoo. Yung LA should only hope he’s lucky enough to have that tattoo fade. This issue is even worse because LA was drinking what appears to be lean. So at some point, dude will emerge from his codeine-induced haze only to realize he got a logo of a label he’s not signed to on his face for life. This incident could easily be a cry for help. When was the last time you heard a story about a rapper and codeine that had a happy ending? Pimp C and DJ Screw are most likely dead because of their use of lean. A mix of lean and a few other choice drugs landed T.I. back in prison. Last year, even Z-Ro caught a felony drug possession charge for his love of the purple stuff.
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Tattoo You
Finally, In a context much larger than LA, this also points out the issue of how so many rappers and their young fans are influenced by prison culture. Be it getting teardrops tattooed on their faces, cornrows or sagging pants. By all accounts, Yung LA is from the suburbs–Thomasville, Georgia to be exact. There hasn’t been a murder in Thomasville since 2001, so I’m going to go out on a limb and assume young Leland hasn’t had to kill anyone on the mean streets of Thomasville, thus requiring his teardrop tattoos. I was born in Flint, Michigan. And there’s really no need to scream “I’m from the hood,” when the 35 homicides in 2010 (seventh highest in the nation) and the fact that 26.4% of the population is living below the poverty line say it better than I ever could. But just about anyone with the slightest bit of common sense from a similar environment weren’t trying to emulate prison inmates and/or Lil Wayne, as Yung LA can be seen doing prior to getting his ink. We were trying to better ourselves or get the fuck out of that negative environment. So when I see someone who had a single in the top 50 wearing Brian Pumper jewels and putting a duck tattoo on his face while drinking lean, I can’t help but wonder why he would throw away a perfectly good opportunity to never have to live in the hood.
