#hours!

Forgive me if anyone's done this shit but like i am losing my mind noticing new details every time i watch so im just going to compile my studies thus far of his tattoo symbolism (bear with me it’s hard to get good screengrabs of them with all the movement) 

I will def miss a few (esp as some you can only see the edges of XP), and there are some that i just dont know the significance of but hey maybe someone else will ;)

First I’d like to point out that the only tattoo he has (that we can see anyways) before going to prison is the butterfly on his neck:

in general, butterflies usually represent a change or metamorphosis.  I think butterflies are sometimes used as a symbol in the lgbt community in that way, kind of likening the butterfly emerging from its cocoon as someone coming out of the closet (at later points in the video you can see aBUNCH more butterfly tattoos on his body as well!)

they can sometimes also be used to represent femininity and purity as well as hope. butterflies also make me think of the butterfly effect ;) (how a tiny butterfly fluttering its wings could cause a hurricane 100s of miles away)  the butterfly tattoos are actually the ones that made me go holy shit symbolism first ♥

The next one I screengrabbed was the crescent moon on his shoulder:

so like the moon in general usually represents femininity but like evidently the crescent moon is like EXTRA femininity and sometimes also represents change, growth, and creativity. it can also represent cycles and the changing of tides ^-^ its also a symbol thats used in a bunch of diff religions so it can have a fewwww different meanings as a result.  im not sure if the addition of the face to the moon adds any extra layers to the symbolism other than like.. the man in the moon but im sure it does so if anyone knows that lemme know! ;)

ooo interesting two tattoos so far alluding to femininity but i digress let us continue!

I next went back to grab these two tattoos bc i wasnt sure id they would be grabbable later (sorry they hella blurry):

first: the sun!  suns have a ton of different meanings too! for one: the rays of suns form the halos we all love and so can represent the influence/prescence of god/the divine.  I was able to find a bit more info about suns with faces than moons in that it relates back to the renaissance and became a symbol then!  scholars link it to the greek sun god helios :D  helios, as many greek gods, was supposed to be a mega hottie and also low key also represented creation... wowow lots of imagery about femininity and change and creation and were only three tattoos in :D

the second tat i circled in this screengrab is the lil celtic knot design of the tree of life on his shoulder! the tree of life symbolizes a link/connection in all living things (the avatar movie’s world is based all around this ay ay ay) it also represents like our own intrinsic connection to mother earth. the history of the symbol relates back to its celtic origins and a lot of the celtic mythos surrounds trees and all kinds of cool shit i dont know about. i think (like all symbols) they can also have several meanings but in general: conection, communication, knowledge, love, etc... ill talk more about like celtic knots specifically cause theres another of those :P

the next tattoos that caught my attention were the ones on the back of his neck:

so nas has three chakra symbols on the back of his neck. its hella hard to make out but i BELIEVE they are the sacrum (represents creativity), the heart (represents love), and i cannoooot tell if the last ones the throat or the crown chakra. the throat represents articulation/the voice and the crown has to do with like a higher conscious (and honestly feel like either could be true but i want to say its probably the throat chakra!)

so here we have nas telling us his mission: creativity, love, and a voice.

and then funnily enough below the three chakras is a little snek tattoo! this is fun cause later in the music video when he is given the book, the cover is of the chakra chart and you see a little animated snake coil up through them!

i started to wonder if in this context the snake is still representing the devil, but now the devil is the music industry.  the snake is on its way to coil around and snuff out his creativity, love, and voice (ooo shitt i see you nassss you slick motherfucker I SEE YOU)

also on his back is a red aum symbol:

the aum is the symbol of that last chakra, the crown.  its what people say when they meditate and again, is related to that higher, spiritual thinking (this solidified my thinking that the third chakra on his neck is the throat cause then it would be redundant right? :0 )

next screen grab:

so in this shot you see hes got a lil koi boi and a yin yang symbol!

yin yang symbols are hella ez: balance, harmony, particularly the balance of light and dark and the masculine and the feminine (oh my another symbol about femininity ohohohoho) basically any dichotomy!

koi fish are a fun one, i didnt initially see this one i was actually after the yin yang tattoo and realized that was a koi XP

BUT koi fish can represent: tolerance, good luck, strength, serenity, persistence, will, and ambition (that is so sexy of him tbh fuckin amaze) the og japanese mythology of the koi fish says that a school of them turned into a dragon (thats the insp for magikarp/gyarados!)

koi tattoos can have some specific meanings depending on the orientation of the koi and the colours/patterns used! (alas i do not know the specifics about what the positioning means here so again, feel free to add if you know!) (there may actually be another koi opposite on the other side of the yin-yang which then makes another specific koi symbol which would also change the meaning but i cant tell)

quickly back to celtic knots for the next grab:

i thiiink i saw another one too aside form this one and the tree of life not 100 on that tho BUT: ooo celtic knots! so there are a bunch of diff celtic knot designs and they all mean different shit! im pretty sure this one here is the one called the dara knot! (again correct me if im wrong here) but these guys are used to represent inner strength and also relate back to the same kind of root imagery from the tree of life ^-^ 

i just happened to spot this little one in this shot too (there are so many that i like can see the edge of the fuckin tattoo but idfk what it is 😡) 

oh shit also just noticed on his arm in this one: 

thefuck is that? the illuminaughty symbol?? all seeing eye?? idfk if you do lemme know

he also has this fucking constellation on his neck i cant get a full view of so idfk which one it is TT^TT

heres the two grabs of it i got (sry this one was rlly hard to grab)

i waaaaant to say its orion?? that the closest one i was able to find from what i can make out but pls pls pls lemme know if u know XP if it IS orion: this constellation like all of em has a lot of mythos behind it.  orion is like the hunter of all hunters and in that way probably represents a more masculine energy? again not 100 on this one it might not even be a constellation maybe its a chemical equation wtf do i know

and then finally his chest: 

there are two main parts i wanna talk about on his main chest tats SO:

first of all i tried so hard to find some good grabs but god hes always so damn shiny and theres always glare on the main tattoo XP

so start off with the easy on: the red star. im pretty suuurrreee that this is supposed to be the northern star? if so this would represent a path to follow, or just symbolizing guidance in general.  i believe that the fact that it has 8 points also gives it several different religious connotations as well! this means it can also represent spirituality :)  hes following his own path babeyyyy!!

ok now onto the big one. i will admit this is the one that has me stumped!  (and its the biggest one >:V) i have spent over two and a fucking half hours scouring the internet for old renaissance paintings because i feel like this is a painting i have seen before!!  this ones driving me up the wall! im pretty sure it is a greek mythology scene. it initially reminded me of the birth of venus, and then upon closer inspection it looks like possibly a male figure on a boat?  so i just looked at every greek male sea god and did not find. and then it looked like the male was pouring water out of a vase which DEFINITELY makes me think of greek shit, specifically aquarius because hey thats they symbol of aquarius. thats as close as i have gotten! im pretty sure im at least on the right track there but idfk man i cannot find it

if you know what painting/myth his chest tattoo is of please for the love of god let me know cause its like that last fucking puzzle piece and i bet its a really poignant one esp since its right front and center taking up most of the space (if i figure it out ill update too cause u bet ur ass im still lookin)

IN CONCLUSION:

the tattoos in this music video reflect his current spot on his journey to self acceptance.

the butterflies represent that he’s changing or has changed, he's come out and things are different now but hey hes a beautiful butterfly so fuck you.

he has lots of tattoos that symbolize either femininity or the notion of balancing the masculine and the feminine. 

the chakras on the back with the snake are particularly interesting! it seems to speak to his goals of holding up his love, creativity, and voice which are in danger of being strangled by the snake aka the industry (babey!!)

several tattoos speak to the idea of connectedness, community perhaps ;)

lil nas x is stepping out on his journey and he is sprinting so we can walk

anyway yeah... i noticed they all had important symbolism that like... spoke to the message so i wanted to compile my thoughts on some of the tattoos so here they are ♥

pls feel free to add or correct any info i missed i was just googling shit XP

ESP IF YOU KNOW THE MAIN CHEST TAT PLS GOD

so in double conclusion: