Photo: getty images
Body art is full of meanings and symbolism for the individual who gets them, and tattoos have long been popular with musical artists as another way to express the unique sense of style and personality you hear through their music.
Post Malone, 24, who wrapped up the last year as Spotify's most-streamed artist of 2019 following the release of his third album "Hollywood's Bleeding," is just one of many famous rappers/singers/hip-hop artists who've chosen to cover large portions of their bodies with tattoos, with even some unidentifiable tattoos the world doesn't know of.
In June of 2020, Post Malone posted on Instagram updating us all that he shaved his head and got some fresh ink. Since then, he's been adding to the collection on his head and face with a total of about seven new tattoos.
To date, Post Malone has at least 78 tattoos we could identify.
Though it's a safe bet he may be hiding, and soon getting, more.
In 2016, Malone, who got his rapper name by putting his real name — Austin Richard Post — into an online rap name generator, told GQ his tattoos are products of "spur of the moment" decisions.
"Justin Bieber was the guy that inspired me to get tattoos because we was in the studio and I was like, 'Hey, man. Does that hurt?' Because that's when I first had just met him, and he was like, 'No.''"
He went a bit deeper and got more vulnerable about the motivation behind his growing list of face tattoos.
“I'm a ugly-a— motherf—r,” he told GQ. “It does maybe come from a place of insecurity, to where I don't like how I look, so I'm going to put something cool on there so I can look at myself and say, ‘You look cool, kid,’ and have a modicum of self-confidence, when it comes to my appearance.”
If you want to know which tattoos Post Malone has in personal ink collection, you've come to the right place.
Here is a list of every tattoo we currently know exists on Post Malone's face and body, including pictures, meanings, and symbolism of some of our (and his) favorites.
Face tattoos:
1. Small Playboy bunny under his right eye
2. Smiley face under his right eye
3. Small heart on his right cheek
4. Small tattoo of Marshmello's helmet face
5. The number "77" tattooed on both sides of his nose between his eyes
6. Bloody hammer on the right side of his face
7. Claymore sword on the right side of his face
Post joked that this special weapon, "dedicated to his love for medieval props ... would beat out the dagger-happy obsession of 21 Savage," with whom he toured during the European leg of his "beerbongs & bentleys" tour.
8. Blackjack cards on the right side of his forehead
9. A massive skull tattoo on the right side of his head
10. Japanese "etchings" on the left side of his face
Per an article on Beat, Malone had this one done by a tattoo artist in Tokyp known as Ganji.
11. Barbed wire on his forehead
12. “Stay away” above his right eye
Malone told TMZ that he got this tattoo on his face to make his mom mad.
"I kinda just wanted, I don't know, to piss off my mom," he said. "I know she's really upset but I love you so much, Mama. You're the best. I'm sorry."
Other than that, he said the words aren’t literally directed to tell people to keep their distance from him. They're simply song lyrics, he says.
"I figured, how ignorant can I be and just f****** tattooed my face, you know what I mean, and just have fun."
13. "Always tired" on his face
Speaking with Tim Westwood at the Wireless Festival in July 2018, Malone said, "I tried to do something that's relatively the same length of letters [under each eye]. But I guess always is more letters than tired ... but I was tired, so I didn't realize."
"Any more for the face?" Westwood then asked.
"Oh, hell yeah," Malone replied, "Oh, it's coming ... Face for radio, so why the --- not? I figure it makes me interesting. Plus, I live in Salt Lake City, so I like to piss off the Mormons."
14. Gauntlet and flail on his right jawline
Caught on the street by one of TMZ's reporters just before New Year's Eve, Post revealed that this one "hurt like a motherf—er ... It's like a big spiked ball on a chain. It's pretty brutal."
15. Bloody buzzsaw on his left cheek
16. A skull with devil horns and the number 77 over it on the left side of his face
17. A Medusa looking woman on the left side of his head
18. A giant spider on the left side of his head
19. A castle on the back of his head
Hand and finger tattoos
20. Barbed wire on his knuckles
21-27. Portraits across seven of his fingers
Malone has portraits of seven of his favorite artists — Elvis Presley, Kurt Kobain, Dimebag Darrel, John Lennon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, George Harrison, and Bankroll Fresh — on seven of his fingers as inspiration.
Without them, he "wouldn’t be making music right now,” Malone told GQ.
28. Grizzly bear head on his right hand
29. Minuteman tattoo on his right forearm
30. An unidentified symbol with the letters "s" and "f" on his hand
31. John F Kennedy, Jr. on his left hand
Feeling patriotic, Post Malone let tattoo artist Victor Modafferi ink his hand with an image of John F. Kennedy.
Already inked with celebrities that he claims "inspire" him, he believed that JFK "was a guy that everyone should model their Americanism" after. Another reason for getting this tattoo is simply because Malone "loves America."
32. A tiny eagle on his left hand
33. “Rest easy” spread across his fingers
34. Saint Jude and his inner demon on his left hand
35. A knight fighting in a battle on his right hand
36. Cartier Love bangle screw on his finger
The rapper is obviously a fan of the French jewelry company Cartier. He took the initiative to tattoo a screw from the iconic Cartier Love collection design on his finger, calling it "the most painful" tattoo in his life. He felt like it was "tattooing his soul."
37. Palm tattoo of "Nevermind" from tattoo artist "JonBoy" Valena on right hand
38. Palm tattoo of "Whatever" from tattoo artist "JonBoy" Valena on left hand
39. A "Posty Co" tattoo on the inside of his left wrist.
Arm tattoos
40. An M16 encircled by a Gadsden snake
41. A Gadsden 'don't tread on me" rattlesnake on his left arm
This tattoo has to do with the second amendment, i.e., the right to bear arms.
42. Kurt Cobain portrait tattoo on his left arm
43. A samurai skull on his right inner forearm
44. A large sword on the inside of his left underarm
45. Lil Peep's face on his left arm
Rapper Lil Peep died back in November of 2017. He and Post Malone were friends and in honor of Lil Peep’s life, he tattooed a picture of him on his shoulder. Malone said in an interview with TMZ “this man was going to change music forever and his music is going to live on forever."
46. Johnny Cash on his left arm
47. Praying hands with a gun on his right arm
48. A knight stabbing a person on his right forearm
49. The logo for English rock band Motorhead on his left arm
50. Himself as a knight riding on a white horse on his right forearm
Inspired by Steve-O, who infamously has a tattoo of his own face on his back, Malone found a picture of a knight riding a horse online and replaced the man's face with his own.
51. “So far, so good… so what” on his left forearm
52. Stone cold skull with the Texas flag and a gold grill on his left inner forearm
53. A Bob Dylan portrait with harmonica on his upper left arm
54. The Gallenson's Gun Shop logo on his inner left arm
55. A "centurion" design on his left elbow
56. An unfinished "Lord of the Rings" Sauron character on his right elbow
57. Playboy bunny on his left forearm
This was Malone's first tattoo.
"My first tattoo was this Playboy bunny right here. I was playing basketball with Justin Bieber and while it was healing, and he just messed up the whole thing. But it still looks kind of tight. It looks like magma. Justin did apologize but he's gonna have to buy me a new one."
58. One of his songs "Patient" in a sinister font on the inside of his right arm
Leg tattoos
59. Cigarette with a skeleton face in the smoke with the caption smoke sum on his right thigh
60. A skull with police riot gear and a baton with the caption underneath "to serve & protect" on his left thigh
61. Fallout Vault Boy tattoo on his left leg
62. A skull wearing a headdress on the bottom front of his right leg
63. A tattoo Kagome Higurashi from the Japanese manga series "Inuyasha" on his left leg
64. Belle and the Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast on his left leg
65. Gun above his right knee
Neck and upper body tattoos
66. Black eagle tattoo on the left side of his neck
67. White eagle tattoo on the right side of his neck
68. The name of his 2016 album "Stoney" under his chin
69. Bison skull tattoo on his throat
70. The outline of New York state and Texas state behind both ears on his neck
71. A pair of dice with an eye on the left one on his right shoulder
72. Dallas Cowboys helmet under his left collarbone on his chest
73. Dagger through his collar bone
74. Jesus on his chest
75. Skull and crossbones on his left ribcage
76. Master Snake from the animated series "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" under his right ribcage on the side of his body
77. Cold War slogan "kill a commie for mommy" on his stomach
78. "Come and take them" in Greek across his stomach
As explained on Reddit, "It's Ancient Greek. 'Μολών Λαβέ' meaning 'Come and take them' as someone already said before me. It was said by Leonidas when King Xerxes demanded that the Spartans surrender their weapons. The phrase is also the emblem of the I Army Corps of Greece and the Second Infantry Division of Cyprus.
P.S: I just now found out that 'Come and take it' was used in Texas revolution as well, so that explains why Austin has the phrase tattooed on him."
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Shavella St.Preux is a writer with a Bachelor's degree in journalism from the State University of New York at Buffalo.