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In January 2012, Rihanna showed off her new tattoo in a photoshoot with Terry Richardson – a bust of the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. The meaning to Rihanna is unknown, but the tattoo is private and hardly ever seen due to it’s placement. Queen Nefertiti was an icon of beauty and had many titles including Hereditary Princess; Great of Praises; Lady of Grace and Sweet of Love. (more…)
Toni Romiti has a cross tattoo bellow her chest in the middle of two lines of ink “Life goes on” on the rigth and “God’s Plan. Not Yours.” on the left.
Rihanna has an Arabic tattoo on the left side of her ribcage which says “Al Hurria fi Al Maseeh.” It translates to “Freedom in God.” (more…)
In December 2009, Rihanna got her personal motto “Never a failure, Always a lesson” tattooed along the right side of her chest. It’s written backwards so she can read it in the mirror. Artist Bang Bang said:
“I asked her why she wanted that and she said, ‘It’s kind of my motto in life for everything.’ Instead of considering things to be mistakes, considering them lessons…. She said that she wanted to do it in gray, rather than black, because she wanted it to be more subtle…. She didn’t want it to draw too much attention.”
Rihanna got a small handgun tattooed below her right armpit in March 2009. She flew her favorite artist Bang Bang out to Los Angeles to give a tattoo to her friend as a birthday gift and decided to get one for herself at the same time. She was considering a few different designs but it was actually Bang Bang’s suggestion to get a gun. He showed her a picture of a handgun that he thought would look good and she loved it. He’s not sure why the image resonated with her, but told Life & Style “if I had to say why she got it, it’s because she kicks ass and everybody supports her!”
Rihanna had wanted a pair of guns above both of her armpits, but Bang Bang convinced her to put one gun on her rib cage instead. He was concerned that having weapons inked in such a prominent place would detract from her face and could jeopardize her endorsement deal with CoverGirl cosmetics. The deal with CoverGirl was already strained by concerns that Rihanna’s recent reunion with her abuser Chris Brown made her a bad role model. A few day before the tattoo session, TMZ revealed that competitor Revlon was conducting surveys to see if consumers felt that she was an appropriate spokesperson.
Regardless of the reasoning, Rihanna is thankful that she changed her mind about where to put the tattoo. She always listens to Bang Bang’s advice because she trusts that he knows what’s best. In the intro to his book, she wrote:
“The thing I value most about Bang Bang is his honesty. He will never tattoo a bad idea—like EVER. That is the best thing about him—he has shut down so many of my crazy ideas. Or he’ll correct them, tweak them, and turn them into something great. Like my gun tattoo—I was sure I wanted two of them on my collarbones, but he talked me out of it and I’m so glad. Bang is invested in his art—it’s not about the money. That’s really rare and very special.”
Jamie King gets a new ink on her body at the West Hollywood based tattoo parlor.
“You always call me when I’ve given all my love away, I find your ocean in its place, by loving you I find your grace”, Jaime’s tattoo read, which was placed along her rib cage. The two lines script are the lyrics are of Jsu Garcia’s song, The Master Calls.
She wrote on her instagram “For you JR. There is no one else I’d rather have do this piece. Thank you for your beauty and talent @dr_woo_ssc xx”
In June 2008, Rihanna got the date “11-4-86” in Roman numerals (XI-IV-LXXXVI) inked on her left shoulder. It’s her best friend and assistant Melissa’s birth date, and Melissa got the same tattoo with Rihanna’s birth date as well.
Keke Palmer has a tattoo on the right side of her ribcage of a butterfly on a flower. The butterfly is mostly in black ink while the flower is in lighter shades of gray.
Tommie Lee has a script tattoo on her left side.
In 2007, Rihanna got a Sanskrit prayer going down her right hip. The tattoo was supposed to translate to “forgiveness, honesty, suppression and control”, a quote from the Sanatana Dharma. Unfortunately, the tattoo was misspelled and translated to “long suffering, truthfulness, self-restraint, inward calm, fear and fearlessness” instead. In addition to the incorrect translation, the text of her tattoo is also missing the rest of the original prayer, which reads “pleasure, pain, birth, death.”
This was the first time tattoo that she got from Bang Bang, who has since become her go-to artist. He credits Rihanna with introducing him to a slew of celebrity clients and launching his career to the next level. But before she was the jewel of his portfolio, she was just a girl who walked into his shop off the street and asked a lot of questions about piercings and tattoos. He didn’t recognize who she was and didn’t treat her any differently, and she loved that he was honest with her. In fact he was so brutally honest that he told her it was a bad idea to get the Sanskit text on the back of her leg where she wanted it.
“I remember thinking, this guy is gangsta as fuck. He doesn’t give a fuck about me—he doesn’t know who I am and that is brilliant. So that’s why I wanted him to do my tattoo. I knew he wasn’t going to try any funny shit or act crazy; he was just going to do my tattoo.”
“I was surprised when he wouldn’t put my first tattoo where I wanted it to go—up the back of my leg—but I was so shocked that I was actually open to his idea of moving it, and I’m glad I did. I was still early on in my tattoo game, so I trusted him as an expert more than I trusted myself because I didn’t know. When you’re well known, it can be hard knowing who to trust, but I trusted Bang Bang from the first time he tattooed me.”
