Greene Ave. Tattoo, 212 Greene Ave., Brooklyn, NY, mistahmetro.com

Mistah Metro’s grandfaddah, a painter, passed down the artistic gene to Metro, who decided to use it on skin. “Tattoos can’t be resold without extreme pain and borderline illegal activity,” says Metro of the difference between his and his grandfather’s medium. “It is art that literally becomes its owner. It is also art that the artist loses the minute it is created.” His art consists of bold lines and interesting color pairings. “If I am being commissioned to do a painting or tattoo, I will generally try to give the client what they want, within my taste. If it is something I know will not look good, or something that I know I can’t pull off, then experience has told me to just leave it alone. It is better to not do a tattoo than to do a bad one. If there is no commission and the project is at my will, I’m going to create something meaningful and inspirational—and hopefully it will also look badass.”