#TatTales Week 3: Vinny Cha$e
Loyalty is royalty. Who would you be without your crew? Behind every rapper is a team of likeminded individuals bonded by common values and goals. Each member of the crew plays a part in writing that artist’s success story. From producers, to directors, to stylists, in-house is always in. This “keep it in the fam” mentality is what allows today’s young artists to carve out independent roads to success on their own terms now more than ever.
For this week’s installment of #TatTales we caught up with rising NYC rapper Vinny Cha$e to discuss two of his own tattoos that symbolize that quintessential crew love. A native of Harlem, Vinny’s knack for the extravagance was influenced by the style mecca that is uptown New York City as well as his time spent in the company of the notoriously flashy rap collective, The Diplomats.
This past year Vinny landed himself and his Cheers Club movement on rap fans’ radar’s with several mixtapes and cinematic music videos. Thanks to the high fashion MC’s confident rap style and lavish visuals including “Harlem Roses” and his single, “Biggie & Jordans”, eyes and ears are locking in on what the game’s been missing from Uptown again.
Hit the jump for the story behind some of Mr. Cha$e’s more meaningful ink and download his Golden Army mixtape which features fellow Cheers Club comrade Kid Art.
Vinny Cha$e:
DipSet Tattoo
The DipSet tat is a tat I got when I first got down [with The Diplomats]. I got it out in L.A. and Juelz [Santana] was there. It was a pretty prestigious spot in L.A. right off of Sunset & La Mancha that did it. I think it was called Shamrock or something like that and it was quick, it took like two hours. I think I paid $300 or $400. You know, back then that was money for me.
I got a camera on it cause everybody had their own thing. Juelz had the gun and the mic, Freaky Zeeky had the gun and the AK, Cam had the gun and some other shit and I had the gun and the camera. That was my part. I was down from ’05 to present. I remember being so hype when that shit came out cause it was like if you had that shit for Harlem it was like the stamp of all stamps. You could be anywhere, doing anything. DipSet was the college I went to. It was the school that I couldn’t pay for. The shit I learned being around DipSet is shit I value to this day.
Cheers Club Tattoo
This other tat I got out in L.A. too while I was recording tracks for Golden Army. I was in a crib that had a studio in it. Some people came over from France to lace me up. They got a major shop out there; I can’t even pronounce the name in English. It was La something. Sound like French fries [laughs]. They did my CHEERS tat and the Murakami flowers all over. They didn’t charge me; they just wanted to do it. That shit took two days and it was technically 13 tattoos. That one took the longest and it was a pain.
Cheers Club is my label, my brothers, and my company. And that’s what Cheers Club means to me. It’s an amazing venture and there’s a lot of shit that we’re about to announce. Shout to Hov, Roc-A-Fella, Jay Brown and all those dudes.
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Check back in next Wednesday for more #TatTales and let us know in the comments section below what you think of Vinny Cha$e’s ink. Who do you want to see on #TatTales? Email me photos of your favorite artist/producer’s tattoos that you’d like to see featured at Nate@TheSource.com
