[Shameless Plug] Steven is the founder of ‘Bacon Gang’ (don’t laugh, it’s a real thing). He sells T-Shirts (Here). If you love bacon, represent yourself. Alright, enjoy the piece. And follow him when you’re done (@2Stripz – yes..more Bacon references)

1. The Army girl

Life’s a war, if you stop fighting another soldier will shoot you down. The idea of my army girl stems from a lot of things. Both negative and positive. By the look of her you can she’s been through her fair share of battles and have even obtained wounds from her fights. Recently I switched up my whole character and focused on what needed to be done. “So did you need to get a girl tattooed on you?”. Yes, yes I did. In my opinion females are much stronger than males and you can learn a lot more from a females experience rather than a males. Females seem to let things make them who they are, which is rather motivating. Everything happens for a reason right? So why not learn from it and let it build your character. She’s a symbol to never give up no matter the battle. She makes me remember my own wars and battles with not only myself but with others too. The sight of her every morning makes me realize what I’ve fought for and what I’ll continue to fight for. It’s one of those tattoos to look at everyday and say “Keep on going.”

2. The Black Rose

“Every rose has it’s thorn.” I recently got a black rose on my wrist. The detail in my rose is to make it more rustic and old. Like its been through a war. Most people put the black rose beside death but I did the complete opposite. Black roses can also mean rejuvenation and rebirth. Which in my case was perfect. I am a strong believer that we’re never really down and out. As long as we never instill that into our thought process we can  rejuvenate ourselves to think new and positive thoughts, exactly what this rose did. The correlation between a rose and a person for me is a combination of everything we are. Beautiful, sensual, and last but not least defensive. The thorns on a rose are there to stop people from picking it out of the garden. Just like our defense is to take a stand to people trying to uproot us. So similar.

3. S & L

The typical white boy tattoo. Which is true, because I know a lot of white people with they’re calves tattooed just like mine. These were my first two tattoos. Both have significant meaning to me because they are my parents initials. “But why would you tattoo it on your legs?”, I did this because if you think about it you’re parents or loved ones will always hold you up. They won’t let you fall down to the trials of life. And on the plus side it looks pretty cool too. My older brother took the “S” from Styles P’s album cover and I designed an “L” for my other side. Family wasn’t always a big part of me, I always wanted to do my own thing. But now, I’m grateful for every lesson my parents have taught me, and I’ve made it my goal to keep them standing now.