The story behind the Drake forehead tattoo
“You get the tattoo you deserve.” Kevin Campbell, Will Rise Tattoo
The Drake tattoo raises important questions about the rights and wrongs of tattooing, and the tattoo artist – Kevin Campbell – who created the now infamous ‘Drake tattoo’ highlights some of the key issues about consent and informed decisions.
In his interview with Vice magazine he states that people get the tattoos that they deserve. Here’s a snippet from the interview:
Wow. Do you feel sort of bad about it after the fact? My whole deal with people wanting completely outrageous and potentially life ruining tattoos is this: I’ll ask them 3 times if they really think that it’s a good idea, I tell them what the potential consequences of getting a tattoo on their face might be, and after that, the bad decision is on them. I believe that people get the tattoos that they deserve.
Visibly high?
I am not sure I agree with Kevin, and the girl with the Drake tattoo was clearly high when she came into his studio, as Kevin states in his interview with Vice that she was visibly coming down by the end of her experience. (She had also shaved her head and eyebrows in preparation…)
However I do think the quote about getting the tattoo that you deserve is interesting…and I do believe in freedom of expression. I also believe that is important for a tattoo artist to have a big amount of input into the tattoos they create for their customers. At the end of the day, tattoos are art and there is a reason why not everyone can sit behind the needle. When I get tattooed I want the expert advice of an artist and I want something that is going to look as amazing as it can possibly be.
I also hope that no one would ever tattoo me if I was clearly drunk, or my judgement was in any way impaired.
What do you think? Do people really get the tattoos they deserve? And is anyone in contact with the girl with the Drake tattoo? Does she regret it or is she loving life with a forehead tattoo? And I guess we should ask how Drake feels about this, too…
Photos taken from Vice. Full interview here.