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.
Just before New Year's Eve, he was spotted with some fresh ink — a face tattoo of a gauntlet and flail running from down his right jawline (see the picture in number 10 below). And last month, he added another face tattoo — a bloody buzzsaw on his left cheek (see image in number 11 below).
To date, Post Malone has at least 43 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.''"
But earlier this week, 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. 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.
5. Playing cards on the right side of his forehead
6. 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.
7. Barbed wire on his forehead
8. “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."
9. "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."
10. 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."
11. Bloody buzzsaw on his left cheek
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Hand and finger tattoos:
12. Barbed wire on his knuckles
13-19. 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.
20. Grizzly bear head on his right hand
21. 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."
22. “Rest easy” spread across his fingers
23. Saint Jude and his inner demon on his left hand
24. A knight fighting in a battle on his right hand
25. 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."
Arm tattoos:
26. An M16 encircled by 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.
27. 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."
28. Johnny Cash on his left arm
29. Praying hands with a gun on his right arm
30. 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.
31. “So far, so good… so what” on his left forearm
32. Stone cold skull with the Texas flag and a gold grill on his left inner forearm
33. Gadsden rattlesnake on his left forearm
34. 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."
35. World War I soldier on his right forearm
Leg tattoos:
36. Fallout Vault Boy tattoo on his left leg
37. Skull tattoo with Cherokee headdress on his right leg
Neck and upper body tattoos:
38. Eagle tattoo on the neck
39. Bison skull tattoo on his throat
40. Dagger or sword through his collar bone
41. Jesus on his chest
42. Skull and cross bones on his left ribcage
43. "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."
Shavella St.Preux is a writer with a Bachelor's degree in journalism from the State University of New York at Buffalo.