Genius Interviews
Lil Peep on His Most Painful Tattoo | Tattoo Tour
[Lil Peep]
I got the name Lil Peep because since I was small baby, my mom has called me Peep. I don't know why, Peepers, Peep, just, it's just what she calls me. Pretty much everyone in my life calls me Peep, so, Lil Peep. I was born on Halloween night, November first, so I got the "11-1" also. So I got, like, bats over here, this pumpkin one, I got a lot of spooky shit going on. These things, I fucking hate these things, centipedes. They just seem to find me and, like, bother me all the time so I figured I'd get one tattoed on me. I did not always know I was gonna get tattoos, the first one I got is this big one right here, it's my mom's birthday and her initials so that she wouldn't get mad at me 'cause it was my first tattoo when I was forteen. I got my grandpa, I got my mom, I got friends tattooed on me, so, yeah, I have a weird, you know, definition of family, it's not the same as everyone elses. Like, I got my son right here on my leg, but my son is a doll that I bought at a store, and his name is Meep. I bought Meep a year ago now with my ex-girlfriend, and he is our son, and so I decided I had to get him tattoed on me. Oh, so this is my relationship with my mom, I'm Lisa, just screaming, "Mom." You know, 'cause, whenever something's going wrong in my life, or I'm freaking out I call my mom on the phone, I stress her the fuck out. Underneath here it says, "Hellboy." That's my first mixtape that really caught people's attention, and was very important to me. I read the Hellboy comics and shit, but I just loved him as a character and I love the whole, like, idea of Rama, I think that movie is very underrated. I got the Pink Panther, actually, I had stayed up all night on mushrooms, I took my best friend, we took a Uber to Venice Beach, and I was like, "Dude, what could I do just to make this, like, worth it?" And I went into a random tattoo shop and got this Pink Panther on me. Got "Homesick" tattooed on me right here on my fingers 'cause I travel a lot, you know, as a musician, and I'm twenty years old, so I'm still young, and I still miss my mommy at certain times. I'm from Long Island, New York, fashion doesn't exist there, it just isn't a thing, so that's pretty much where I got my style. People would always copy what I did in high school, and shit, you know, try to dress like me and whatnot, and it really pissed me off so I kept changing. There almost isn't a style because it's just me, you know what I mean? If I'm feeling really punk, like, if like, "Fuck everything," I'll get a weird red Anarchy logo on my face, or fucking, this "Mood" tattoo. I don't think there's really one particular style, but if I had to choose my favorite, it would probably be, like, Cholo style tattoos, like, for sure. 2015, I got this broken heart right under my eye, I was not feeling too well. I'm very just, like, outgoing with it, it was kind of like a push for myself to, like, be successful with, like, the music I was doing because it can make it harder to get a job when you have, when your face is covered in tattoos. This is a lucky charm, it's just a horseshoe, it's just for good luck, working really well, sometimes, you know. Ed Hardy drew this in London for, like, an exhibition, and I decided that I would get it tattooed on me in London as well, right after I shaved my head. That one didn't really hurt as much as this one which I just really recently got, my hair is still kinda fucked up from it. It's like towards the back of your head more, and like, the front of your head really is not that bad, but the further it gets towards the back, just like, whoa. Now my tattoos have kind of become a part of me, and when I look in the mirror I just see my face. Literally, when you get it, it takes about a week to sink in, and then you're like, "This is just part of me." There are people who are, like, you know, get a tattoo on, like, their forearm, and, like, or, like, "I have to see this every day for the rest of my life, like, I'm freaking out." And I'm like, "Dude, I have." I woke up with these tattoos, this says "Get Cake, Die Young." I woke up with that, I had no idea I had even got it I was so fucked up. I literally was just like, "Alright, that's there." This is one of my favorites, this is just my mood, my eternal mood, it's really low quality, but that's because my mood is low quality, if you know what I mean. Most people would regret this, but this is, like, one of my favorite tats, so. I found myself complaining a lot and being very ungrateful for the things that I have in my life, and so, I got the "Crybaby" tattoo on my face to remind me that I have it really good, and, uh, there's a lot of people on earth who would, you know, love to be in the position I'm in, so, it just keeps me really grateful. I plan on going from my feet, covering all the way, everything, as much as I can without it, like, really hurting, you know what I mean? I don't have any, like, secure plans, I just come up with tattoos, like, I'll wake up, I'll be like, "Yo, I wanna get tatted today." I kind of like looking like a mess, and just, like, "What the fuck?" If you're thinking about it, do it, and if you like how people look when they're all covered in tattoos then you should be covered in tattoos, wake up every day and look in the mirror and be like, "Holy shit, this is, this is sick." If I woke up and I didn't have any of my tattoos, I would cry, for like, and hour. Yep, so, pretty much, these are all the stupid, crazy tattoos I got on my body, and I'ma go get a bunch more real soon and then come back and show you them.