So I’d been watching the NBA playoffs on the high def TV I picked up back in December. One of the first things that I noticed with all that resolution are the players tattoos. What used to be a smudge on a players arm is now easily readable in close up. I find the growth of tattooing to be interesting. Ten or fifteen years ago you hardly saw any players with tattoos. Now players don’t look right without them. This is a phenomenon that seems to be embraced more by the African American players than the white or foreign ones. I’m not sure why this is but I have a theory.

The current generation of players are part of what the music industry and Madison Avenue has termed the “Hip Hop generation.” I’ve read that the hip hop lifestyle originally (back in the 80s) consisted of three things: break dancing, graffiti art, and rap. Rap certainly lives on as an art form. So does break dancing. Graffiti not so much. There is certainly no shortage of spray painted scribblings on a walls, RIPs,  and gang signs, but I’m thinking of well thought out art. Can you name a well known graffiti artist? Are there many galleries displaying graffiti art? Do you see graffiti being used in commercials or as the subject of videos and film? I don’t. What I do see are players scawling messages on their own bodies. Shouting out to their neighborhoods, their children, or their dead homies. Sometimes I see well thought out and designed body art, but in too many instances it’s unrelated scribblings with no visual rhyme or reason. Just like a forgotten wall in a forgotten slum, in a forgotten American ghetto. So maybe what we’re looking at is mobile graffiti. The body is not a canvas but a wall to be painted over again and again.

One of the earliest tattooed players that I remember was Dennis Rodman who played with Chicago and Detroit.  The other was Allen Iverson. Neither one of these players could be described as mainstream.

Rodman came out in the early 90s before tattoos were popular, and he used them to great effect. He was the baddest boy on a team of bad boys (Detroit). He realized that by being outrageous, he could capture the media’s attention and become a celebrity regardless of whether he had talent or not. He did have talent, but he would be long forgotten by now if he hadn’t turned himself into a walking freak show, complete with piercings, neon hair, and the like. The full body, illustrated man look also set him apart from the crowd. He was definitely playing on the fact that, at that time, mostly only sailors, bikers, and outlaws were inked. Here we see Rodman with a pretty full palette punctuated by the nipple rings. Nice touch Dennis. He gets big points for being symmetrical and for following the contours of his body. I don’t know what these images stand for but he seems to have thought out what he was going to do visually in advance.

Allen Iverson was different than Rodman. Joining the league in the late 90s, he is a bona fide superstar. He is also one of the first prominent players of the “hip hop generation” and tends to have an attitude that is informed by growing up on the street. On his shoulder it says “Only The Strong Survive” which may be his personal credo. His tats, I believe are not for shock PR value. Indeed his overall persona, including his dabbling into “gangsta rap”, have probably diminished his marketability. He has certainly had his share of run-ins with authority.

He is also one of the first players I noticed who had a neck tattoo. I tend to dislike facial tattoos. The tats should stop at the collar if you ask me, so points off. Beyond that, from what I’ve seen, Iverson’s ink seems to be pretty much slapped on. I’m not to impressed with the artwork or the placement, though his messages may be strong.

I saw an ad on TV that explained the meaning of Rasheed Wallace Tattoos. It’s an Egyptian-themed family design with a king and queen and three children with a stylized sun above. This is my favorite tattoo on a player. How can you go wrong combining family and Egypt. This is a fine example of the (short sleeve) shoulder design that many players use since it shows perfectly in their uniforms. Tight.

Kenyon Martin is guilty of some butt ugly neck tattoos, but here he displays an extremely well done cross on his back. It says “I shall fear no man but god”. I like the sentiment, but God isn’t really a man is he? It’s still pretty impressive though.

By now tattoos are common place. No one looks at LeBron like a thug just ’cause he’s sporting a little ink. LeBron is doing OK with his tats. For the most part LeBron appears to be trying to make the art work together. Up top you can see one of his shoulder designs. I’m not crazy about the L and J on his triceps though, looks like he was running out of ideas. “Chosen 1″ works alright on his back and it takes a rather broad one to accomodate 7 uppercase characters. On my back it would probably just say “Chos”.

Next up is Kobe Bryant, captain of the world champion Los Angeles Lakers. You see his picture at the beginning of this article. Here is a closeup of his most prominent tattoo. When Kobe first came into the league he didn’t have any tattoos. I think it was because he was raised in Italy to an upper middle class family. He also may have thought it would hurt his endorsement potential and wanted to appear squeaky clean. That all changed one night in Denver when he had a fling with some floozy who later accused him of rape. He got out of the case but his reputation waas besmirched. Next thing you know I’m seeing these tattoos on his arm. I figured that since he could no longer play the choir boy, he decided to embrace his inner thug. On closer inspection we see that he has a crown, a halo, angels wings and his wife’s name on his arm. I guess the huge rock he bought her for her loyalty wasn’t enough. This isn’t a matter of branding it’s just a brand. Like you would put on a cow. We know who’s wearing the crown in this family. A fairly average design.

Last but not least (well maybe least) are Mike Tyson and Chris “The Birdman” Anderson. Mike’s not in the NBA and Chris is not African American but their body art deserves a mention. I said before that I don’t like facial tattoos but Tyson’s is well done. I like the way it frames his eye. He’s working with the terrain. The design itself, with its sharp points, also seems to fit Tyson’s personality. Not bad.

After all these monochrome tats we finally see some color. Not the skin but the tattoos themselves. Here’s one advantage of having white skin. With all that ink can we call the birdman a “person of color” now? Just sayin’. So when are they going to come out with opaque ink for the brothers? Chris has gone all out, but with the good sense to stop at the neck. In fact he’s made a nice collar of it. Those wings under his arms are a trip and if you’ve seen him play you know that he also likes to spike up his hair like a rooster. Hmmn. Covered with tats, wigged out hair, known for rebounding and defense. I think he’s channeling Dennis Rodman. We’ve come full circle.

I’m out.

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