Tricky : Inked Magazine

CREATE AN ACCOUNT | LOGIN

FEATURES

Featured Articles, Ink on the Street, Fashion

LIFE

Inked People, Inked for a Cause, Travel, Drive, Drinks, Fashion, Inked Girls

SCENE

Inked Spots, Icons

05.17.13 | BLOG
Angelina Jolie- Sex icon with tattoos to Mastectomy

Always being an empowered woman and inspiration to others, Angelina Jolie shares some intimate information ... more>

05.16.13 | BLOG
Cara Delevingne's First Tattoo!

Cara Delevingne is the model-of-the-moment and now the latest gossip of the moment. Last night, ... more>

05.15.13 | BLOG
Inked Magazine teamed up with Steadfast and Dropkick Murphys to Support Boston

Steadfast Brand, Inked Magazine, and the Boston-based punk band, Dropkick Murphys ... more>

LOCAL GUIDES

Search Local Services and Information

Browse by state

» All Local Guides
» Alabama
» Alaska
» Arizona
» Arkansas
» California
» Colorado
» Connecticut
» DC
» Delaware
» Florida
» Georgia
» Hawaii
» Idaho
» Illinois
» Indiana
» Iowa
» Kansas
» Kentucky
» Louisiana
» Maine
» Maryland
» Massachusetts
» Michigan
» Minnesota
» Mississippi

» Missouri
» Montana
» Nebraska
» Nevada
» New Hampshire
» New Jersey
» New Mexico
» New York
» North Carolina
» North Dakota
» Ohio
» Oklahoma
» Oregon
» Pennsylvania
» Rhode Island
» South Carolina
» South Dakota
» Tennessee
» Texas
» Utah
» Vermont
» Virginia
» Washington
» West Virginia
» Wisconsin
» Wyoming

03.02.11 | INKED PEOPLE Tattoo , Celebrity Tattoo , Music , Horiyoshi , Tricky

Tricky

WRITER Jonah Bayer , PHOTOGRAPHER Chris Shonting

If you think you’re old-school, meet Tricky. The 43-year-old musician and actor grew up in Bristol, England, surrounded by inked family members, and he got his first tattoo—a vampire on his leg—done by a friend when he was just 14. “My great-grandmother had tattoos, but it was more of a community thing back then,” he explains. “My great-granddad was in the military and a couple of my uncles were in prison, so it was less decorative and more a way of life.”

Tricky’s ninth full-length, Mixed Race, is as eclectic as his genetic makeup, with a collection of songs that spans genres from Jamaican dub to traditional French music. “I’ve always acknowledged my race but I don’t think I’ve ever put it into a record,” Tricky says. And although he insists that making Mixed Race in Paris was a laid-back experience, you wouldn’t know that by listening to downbeat songs like “Ghetto Stars.” “People have been saying my music is dark since Maxinquaye,” he says, mentioning his breakthrough 1995 album. “I’ve tried to make a pop song, but it’s difficult for me—this is just the way my music comes out, and I don’t really think about it.”

That same instinct carries over to his tattoos. When Tricky goes to Japan to get his left sleeve finished by the legendary artist Horiyoshi III, he has no plans to interfere with the master’s process. “If an A&R guy has a band and he tries to make them something they’re not, that means he has no trust in his artist,” Tricky explains when asked about his confidence in Horiyoshi’s traditional Japanese work. “If I like your tattoo work and you’re working on me, I have to trust you.”