Drake Recently Honored His Mom With a Face Tattoo and 2 Simple Words
Drake has continuously mined his personal life for stories and inspiration for his dozens of hit songs. The 35-year-old’s extensive tattoos are similarly self-reverential to his family history.
The rapper already has several pieces of artwork related to his family members on his body. Drake recently added another one in an area of his body that was probably the most painful given where he chose to get it.
Drake’s tattoos honor his artistic and personal heroes
Drake currently has over 30 tattoos. The artist’s body art collection is primarily a visual summary of his biggest influences, famous friends, and the loved ones who mean the most to him.
One of his biggest pieces is a portrait of Lil Wayne on his left arm, according to Body Art Guru. The “6 Foot 7 Foot” rapper was one of Drake’s earliest supporters as he transitioned from “Wheelchair Jimmy” to a legitimate rapper. Lil Wayne signed him to Young Money Entertainment and made several collaborations over the past decade. Drake also has tattoos of Sade, Aaliyah, and a logo for British grime collective BBK (Boy Better Know).
Drake also has two tattoos referencing Rihanna: a camouflage shark and a picture of her eating ice cream. Both artists acknowledge their one-sided on-off relationship rather than her artistry. He also has other tattoos signifying his most popular friends. Drake has the jersey numbers of Steph Curry and Kevin Durant from when the duo was part of an unstoppable Golden State Warriors team a few years ago.
It wouldn’t be Drake without some egocentric self-mythology. He has a tattoo of himself as a child, multiple references to Toronto, two owls in honor of his October’s Very Own imprint, and an image of him waving at The Beatles after breaking their chart records in 2019.
Another throughline in his tattoos involves his most important personal connections. Drake has images of his dad’s mugshot, uncle Steve, grandma Evelyn, OVO affiliate Anthony “Fif” Soares, and son Adonis.
Drake’s new ink is a tribute to his mother
Last month, Drake showed the world his latest ink: the initials “SG” just below his eye. The letters were imprinted by LA-based tattooist Nal, who posted an Instagram reel of him working on the design while Drizzy keeps his eyes closed.
The initials are the latest ode to his mother, Sandra Graham. Drake already had her portrait placed on his back. He’s discussed their relationship in many songs, notably Scorpion cut “Sandra’s Rose.”
But this new tattoo, despite being smaller than the previous, had to be a more painful display of affection. Your head has a lot of nerve endings and not much fat to cushion the needle. So face tattoos are much more likely to cause severe pain than body modifications on other pieces of your body. When Drake announced his new tattoo on Instagram, he simply caption the photo: “Sandra Gale.”
That brief discomfort is nothing compared to the love between the two of them. On the eve of the release of Certified Lover Boy, Graham wrote her son two notes congratulating him on his new release, as People reports.
“It’s finally come, the countdown has reached one, with each new album my heart skips a beat, being your mother has been my life’s greatest treat,” began the first letter. “It’s been a long hard road together, now there’s one more day to go. I wanna celebrate you son, more than you’ll ever know. “Love you more now and forever.”
Drake’s dad’s new tattoo led to an online roasting instigated by his son
Drake’s dad, Dennis Graham, attempted to follow suit in getting a tattoo of his celebrated child. However, given how the ink turned out, he would’ve been better off saying “honestly, never mind.” Graham got an image of Drake tatted on his arm in 2017 by an artist named Money Mike. The tattoo looks like Drake earlier in his career. But the entertainer took umbrage at the slightly-warped design.
“@TheRealDennisG I was just sitting here thinking why you do me like this we family,” Drake captioned the post he shared on August 8. His dad seemed to agree that the tattoo was not up to standard. Dennis revealed in the comment section that he’s tried to get it fixed many times. “Hahaha I had 16 people to try and straighten this out, they’re hurting me,” he said. “I love you and miss you.”
Drake and his dad had a complicated relationship due to Dennis’s intermittent presence in his life during his childhood. But they’ve gotten closer over time. Now, they can make jokes about each other online and get tattoos to honor their bond.
