Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • - What's good, GQ, this is Jay Park.

  • I have my shirt off again and this is my tattoo tour. Let's get it.

  • My mom did not, and still doesn't like, the tattoos that I have.

  • Just because like, I think Korean people, they relate tattoos to kind of like gangsters and the mob people.

  • And so it's like they kind of correlate that together.

  • Like tattoo means crime, it's bad.

  • Like, so for me, since I do have a lot of tattoos and I'm still very active, you know, I always have to cover it up with stickers or wear, you know, like long sleeve.

  • Since I have it on my fingers as well, it's like I have to cut little stickers and put it on each individual finger.

  • So yeah, it's a process, so, you know, hopefully one day they'll allow it on TV in Korea and hopefully I kind of open the doors for the newer guys.

  • At first when I started, I got like little ones.

  • The first one is on the back of my ear, the AOM one, that's the first one.

  • Then I got lettering here and there, and then I think I got addicted to it.

  • 'Cause then you start seeing blank spaces and you're like, "That looks so weird, like what am I..." like, and then you just start filling it up and then, yeah.

  • And then just eventually it turned into a sleeve.

  • H1ghr Music is a label that I founded in 2017.

  • And I was shooting a video with this rapper named $tupid Young.

  • You know, that we were shooting at a tattoo shop and they were like, "Yo, you wanna get a tattoo while you're filming?"

  • I was like, "Shit, alright, let's do it".

  • The healing didn't go too well, so that's why it's like a little bit scarred.

  • So I wanted to get a neck tattoo.

  • I wanted like to get one right here, but then I feel like that would be just too hardcore and like, my mom would disown me.

  • And so I got one right here.

  • And it's like a compass, like, you know, trying to find direction in life, but also it's like the Mariner's logo.

  • So also I got these stars for no reason and that's where, back when people were just getting hella stars and I was like, "Yo, Lil Wayne has a star, so let me get a star".

  • So I got these stars for no reason.

  • And then I was like, "Let me cover it up with something more meaningful".

  • And so that's why I got the compass is, you know, finding direction in life.

  • And then I also have the JWalkerz on the upper spine.

  • And Jwalkerz is like the name of like, my fans.

  • 'Cause I'm Jay Park.

  • Yeah, word play, I know, genius, I know.

  • I have a big angel with the rings wrapping around my skull.

  • And also it's like, you could cover it up 'cause your hair grows.

  • So I was like, "Oh, that's very convenient".

  • And so yeah, I got a big head tattoo.

  • That was definitely the most painful tattoo, yeah.

  • Everywhere else was like, you know, I could just be on my phone and get it, drink Henny and get it, you know, shoot a music video while getting it.

  • This one, I was like...

  • The whole, like, for six hours I was just like...

  • At least it was just one session.

  • So that was helpful.

  • And I was a little hungover so it was like, that didn't help at all.

  • So the hands, it's like, you know, heart of a Lion [speaks Korean].

  • You know what that is, yeah?

  • You're nodding your head.

  • Yeah, so yeah, I have this lion.

  • And then "King Life", it's like, you know, I take care of a lot of people.

  • It's not like necessarily like, "Yo, like I'm a king, I'm above all of you".

  • It's more like, "Yo, I try my best to take care of my people".

  • And that's kind of what that mentality is.

  • The good life, you know, you only have one life so make sure it's good.

  • New Breed is the first album that I made.

  • At that time I was a lot younger and it's like, "Yo, yeah, I'm the shit, I'm a new breed".

  • It's like, you know, that type of ignorant mindset.

  • So this is just like indicating I guess my love for music.

  • And you know, I'm a singer-songwriter, so I have a mic 'cause I spend a lot of time singing into a mic.

  • On this side you have Benjamin Franklin, which is on the hundred dollar bill.

  • And then you have loyalty.

  • So for me it's kind of like loyalty over money.

  • And that's another mentality or like philosophy that I have.

  • I got like, piece by piece and then it was at this time where it's like, "Why does it look weird?"

  • Because there's like, just to me, at that time, empty space on my arm looked weird.

  • Like, "What do I need to do?"

  • And so I looked at a bunch of like other rappers and other, you know, actors and models, like how they did it.

  • And so they had like a lot of like filler in between, like shading in between.

  • And so I just asked my tattoo artist, I was like, "Yo, like let's try to make it like some like cloud or smoke or...."

  • And then, so I just got a bunch of shading.

  • This is like a caricature of myself.

  • And then on the left you have Seattle.

  • This is where I was born and raised.

  • And then you have Korea.

  • This is where I'm, you know, my blood and my DNA and where I live now.

  • Then you have a heart and inside I think it says "Family, friends and music" if I'm not mistaken.

  • So Art of Movement is my B-boy crew.

  • And you know, I still identify as a B-boy dancer.

  • It's where I basically got my group of friends from, basically what started off my career.

  • Because if I was never a B-boy, if I was never a dancer, I would've never became a singer basically.

  • And that's why, you know, I have "B-boy life", "Hip-hop", you know, very grateful to the hip-hop culture.

  • Just because it gave me everything I have right now.

  • So that's kind of like a salute, an appreciation for hip-hop.

  • And then on here you got "God's son" and then you got "Strength".

  • "Strength and faith", just 'cause I do believe in God and you have to have faith in order to have hope.

  • And hope gives you strength to, you know, get through whatever you're going through or to achieve whatever you need to achieve.

  • Find that motivation.

  • And then, yeah, this is kind of like another one where it's like I was young,

  • "Yo like the world is in my hands", like a ignorant "I'm the shit" type of mentality.

  • So yeah, I'm just like, the world in the palm of my hands.

  • And this is all art from a artist named Mina Quan.

  • Tan-Li did the tattoos, but the actual like art came from Mina Quan, this one and this one.

  • And then, yeah, this is another one where it's like, I was a very big 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' fan when I was growing up.

  • And so it was like "Fresh Prince of S" and that could be Seoul or Seattle.

  • And then on the back of my arm right here, it says "Live free", if I'm not mistaken.

  • I haven't seen the tattoo in a while 'cause it's on the back of my arm.

  • Does it say "Live free"?

  • The lion inside, it's like my family's birth dates and then I think it says "Always come proper".

  • That's kind of like another, like little philosophy one.

  • Like "Yeah, need to hustle and grind and always come proper", like that type of mentality.

  • And the lion is like that mentality, like heart of a lion, you know, I have to stay strong because I am accountable for a lot of people.

  • I run two companies, I have a lot of employed, my family, friends,

  • I do take care of or support a lot of people.

  • And so I can't be weak mentally.

  • That's something like, "Yo, you, you got this".

  • Like, even though I feel overwhelmed sometimes I have to remind myself like, "You got this, like you..."

  • You know, give myself confidence, self boost.

  • Oh yeah, so I would say it's like "Passion" and then upside down, it says "Pleasure".

  • Yeah, you didn't know that, right?

  • Yeah, passion and pleasure, yeah.

  • She was like, "Yo, like there's this thing where if you read it one way it could say something else" and I was like, "Oh shit, that sounds cool".

  • You have to have passion, but you also have to enjoy things sometimes.

  • On this side, "See no evil, speak no evil, do no evil".

  • Right, and it's like angels.

  • Like I said, I do believe in God,so I don't like evil, and I don't, you know, I think a lot of people don't like evil, but like there's a lot of evil things in this world.

  • It's very easy to get engulfed in that type of stuff.

  • So, you know, I try to like remind myself, like to try to stay away from that type of shit.

  • Everything I get is, except for the piece from Bok, which is on my leg, I wanted to get the AOMG, which is another label that I founded.

  • And then he finished so quickly he was like, "I got another hour, like, you wanna do something?"

  • So I was like, "Shit, okay".

  • And then so he did the other side of my leg and he just free-styled that one.

  • So besides that one, everything else is just things that I wanted to get.

  • Yeah, so it's AOMG, "Artists only money getters" or like "Above Ordinary Music Group".

  • It stems from AOM "Art of Movement", my b-boy crew.

  • And then I turned it into a label.

  • So he finished this in like an hour and a half and then he was like, "Yo, you want something else?"

  • And I was like, "Alright, cool".

  • And so he did this.

  • So it was like a rose, feathers, another mic, some notes and a eye, you know.

  • I didn't ask particularly like why he did the eye, but you know, I was like, "Yo!"

  • He just free-styled this as well in an hour and a half.

  • So that just goes to show how talented he is.

  • He did it like breathing almost.

  • I have another piece, I got it like seven, eight years ago.

  • It's like an angel and I haven't finished it yet.

  • So it's been unfinished for like seven, eight years and I don't think I'll ever finish it, to be honest.

  • Well, I'm not getting a lot of tattoos anymore, but I love my ink and I still, you know, am on TV so it's all good.

- What's good, GQ, this is Jay Park.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it