8 things we can learn from lil wayne’s tattoos

so, we all know lil’ wayne has a lot of tats.. it seems like he’s getting a new one everyday.. Tattoos are so personal; they are forever.  So what do Wayne’s tats say about him?  What can we learn about weezy’s life from his tats?

1.     92782 tattoo on his arm: The bold numbers on his arm represent the date September 27, 1982, the day Weezy was born.

2.     Martian Tattoo on his arm, “Misunderstood” tattoo on his face: Lil Wayne says in his song “3peat,” “I am not the same I am a martian”.  His newest song is called, “I Am Not a Human Being.”  He has a song on “Tha Carter III” in which he samples the Animals song “Misunderstood” with the lyrics, “But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good.  Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood”

Obviously, Lil’ Wayne feels a little bit out of place, and he chooses to show this on his face, which is very public.  When he talks about being an alien, a lot of people think that he is just trying to seem weirder to get more fans, but I think that he always felt a little bit left out of the rap world because he was rapping for so long before he got any real attention.  I also think he might feel like an alien because his drug use makes him so unable to relate to other people. 

3.    “Rabbit” on his arm, “BM JR” tat on his chest, “C” between his eyes: Here, we see Lil’ Wayne’s 3 big heroes: his step-father Reginald “Rabbit”, his mentor Birdman, and his mother Cita. 

Wayne’s step-father is the man who first got Wayne into drug dealing as a young man.  He was the only successful role model Wayne had in his life until he met Birdman, who signed him to Cash Money records. When Rabbit died, Wayne says he had to become a man and take care of his mother.  “BM JR” stands for Birdman Junior.  This shows Lil’ Wayne’s feelings toward Birdman, a New Orleans rapper who took Wayne under his arm when he was 11 years old.  Though it has been suspected that they are in a sexual relationship based on pictures of them kissing on the lips, they say they are like father and son.  The “C” between Wayne’s eyes reportedly stands for Cita, the name of his mother.  In the song “Misunderstood,” Wayne raps, “you can see the Cita, see the Cita in my features.”  With a big C in between his eyes, it would be hard not to!

4.     4 tear tattoos on his face:  Possibly wayne’s most controversial tattoo, he says that they represent four people in his family who have died.  They’re controversial because a tear drop on the face usually represents someone you’ve killed.. but Wayne has avoided this fact.  So this one may remain somewhat a mystery.  He recently covered three of them with a “tribal symbol” though.  His explanation was that his mother Cita had told him she was sick of seeing so many tears on his face and wasn’t one enough?  So to honor her opinion, he covered the others.  This doesn’t actually clear up if Wayne killed anybody or not though, because his mom could have been upset to see any representation of suffering on her son’s face.

5.     Number 17 on his stomach: This one’s pretty easy, it represents the 17^th ward of New Orleans, where Wayne grew up. The fleur-de-lis on his face also represents his hometown.

6.    Cross tattoo on his arm, prayer tattoo on his back, “Fear God” Tattoo on his eyelids: This tattoos show that Lil’ Wayne is a religious man, which has been confirmed by him several times although he rarely raps about his faith.  The daily prayer on his back reads:

Give me the patience that I need

To keep my piece of mind,

And with life's cares, I hope, Dear God,

Some happiness to find.

Give me the courage to face life`s trials

and not from troubles run.

let me keep this thought in mind.

"Thy Will," not "Mine," be done.

7.     Pistol tattoo on his neck, “A Gun” tattoo on his hand: Lil’ Wayne feels a connection to guns.  It is unclear whether these two references refer to his arrest and subsequent jail time in 2007 for illegal gun possession, him shooting himself with his mom’s gun when he was a kid, a mix of both of these traumatizing experiences, or something about guns we don’t even know about!  Interesting that the hand tattoo shows him with “a gun” in his hand! (his other hand says “the world” meaning he has a gun in one hand and the world in the other!)

8. Cash Money Tattoo on his stomach: This is Lil' Wayne's first tattoo, and shows how important his Cash Money Records affiliation is, mostly because of how important his relationship with Birdman is.  He started out with Cash Money when he was 11, and the tattoo is a way to show that he will never leave.  It is also reminiscent in its placement to Tupac's "Thug Life" tattoo. 

Any other important tattoos you all can think of?  Some of his are just stupid, like the Rolls Royce and ESPN tattoos on his arm…they seem totally pointless!