No matter what they do, these rappers never cease to project their own story, striving to remain interesting in the ever saturated rap game. From media interviews to advertising campaigns and personal ink style, these performers all know and embrace their role as icons in the hip-hop scene.

From The Game to the non-stop Lil Wayne, there’s no doubt these stars are of the most important in the music industry. But, are their tattoos as meaningful as their lyrics, or is their ink just for the sake of image?

While famous tattoos on Hollywood starlets are undeniably hot, we suspect there may be more meaning on the tattooed rappers strutting down the same streets. Check out the top five most important tattoos in rap music.

The Game

The Game has an LA tattoo just below his right eye, and if you actually listen to any of his music for about two minutes, you would know this by now. When Dr. Dre’s The Chronic hit the streets, Game was in his teens. Luckily, he managed to develop his talent, and have his debut album produced by the good doctor himself. This means he experienced the early ‘90s middle school wannabe rapper from Compton dream fulfilled. If you look at the N.W.A. (Dr. Dre’s first group) tattoo above his right pectoral muscle you can see that he has a substantial respect for the past artists that came before him.

50 Cent

50’s back tattoo is clear evidence of the over-the-top opinion he has of himself. Not that he is alone in his narcissism, but most rappers, that aren’t on his label, think he is an arrogant punk, even in an industry built on self-worship. He doesn’t have much respect for the past, or for anyone competing against him. And as you can see, he has a “50″tattoo the size of a Jansport backpack covering his entire back. This tattoo design appropriately fits a guy who just wants to get rich or die tryin’.

Eminem

30 years from now, no other rapper’s lyrics will be studied more than the words put forth by Marshall Mathers. His words terrified the masses, and his exit from the game has left most fans and critics puzzled and yearning for more material. The reason for his absence can be seen on his right shoulder. There, you can find a picture of his beautiful little girl, Hayley Jade outlined with roses. If he dropped an album today, it would go straight to number one, but he seems to be done with that because of something that is clearly more important to him. Notice the inscription of Bonnie and Clyde underneath her name. That is a reference to a song on his first album written in her honor.

Jay-Z and Beyonce

If Eminem’s lyrics are the most powerful, Jay-Z’s career is the most important. Not only is he widely respected as being the “The Michael Jordan of Recording” and infamous for never writing down a single lyric, he is also now married to one of the most striking women in the world. Earlier this year, Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles tied the knot.Instead of dropping a diamond the size the size of a grapefruit on her finger, they both decided to get wedding band tattoos. What do you give the girl that seemingly has everything? A little ink, son!

Lil Wayne

Wayne is the biggest rapper in the world right now.He has spent the last two years locked in a studio, smoking blunts, getting tattoos (sometimes in the studio), and pumping out over 150 tracks of some the most innovative rap music ever recorded, from varied collaborations to mix tapes and his own full length albums.

People often look at this other Mr. Carter as being a crazy, over-stimulated person, or an alien, or even a profit sent from God. His flow doesn’t seem to be of this world, and he seems to enjoy a level of excess that would suggest that he knows he was sent here to experience everything to the fullest. When listening to his rhymes, you get the feeling he is clearly in possession of an addictive personality. He loves recording every night.And he also seems incapable of stopping getting tattoos; his body and face are covered with them.

The Game thinks that Ice Cube is God; 50 Cent thinks he is God; Eminem wants his daughter to have the chance to choose to believe in God, if she wants to; Jay-Z gets to wake up next to Beyonce, so he is probably a fan of God’s work; Lil Wayne however, judging by his tattooed eye lids, fears God.Is this because he knows something we don’t? Well, I’m sure, like every other rapper out there, if you take the time to look close at the artwork painted on their skin; it shouldn’t be hard to find some inkling of truth.

Q: Looking back five years ago, did you imagine yourself to be where you are now?

A: No way. I’ve always played music, but based on the type of music I like playing and my relative lack of skill at playing drums, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to make records and tour as much as I’ve gotten to do.

Q: Do you have any special skills or talents, things you can do that no one else can?

A: Actually, yes. I have the ability to remember the most mundane details about records and bands. However, I have no idea what your name is if I’ve met you more than 5 seconds ago.

Q: Do you think people look up to you?

A: No, not really. I think our band is still pretty unknown, and I’m notreally a good enough drummer to be looked up at for musical skill. I suppose maybe my younger brother does a little, so I try to not be a complete asshole when he’s around.

Q: How do you handle criticism from the public…either toward your music or yourself in general?

A: Pretty well. I am well aware of my shortcomings and can accept criticism for them. As far as our music, I don’t give a fuck if people like it or not, but it does irritate me when a reviewer obviously didn’t spend any time with the record and just wrote a paragraph about how it’s on Fat and it sounds like everything else. Because it most definitely does NOT.

Q: What irritates you the most (either affiliated with being in a band or just your personal life)?

A: How almost every single person on this planet is either amazingly stupid or a complete asshole.

Q: How old were you when you got your first tattoo?

A: 24. I’m glad I waited til then. There were some really dumb tattoos I thought I wanted when I was younger.

Q: Describe some of the meanings any of your tattoos have to you.

A: The Ramones are the most important band to me for many reasons, not least of which is their imagery. I couldn’t find a Ramones eagle big enough for a chestpiece, so I send an e-mail to the Ramones website, and Arturo Vego, designer of the Ramones logo and Ramones merch designer for their entire career, sent me one! It’s pretty big and it’s the tattoo I’m most proud of. Since music is my life, I have no problem getting “band” tattoos, though I know some people think they’re lame. I don’t give a fuck, so I also have a Motorhead tattoo. “Bastards” is a criminally underrated Motorhead record from 1993, and the logo on the cover is perfect.

Q: What is the most important aspect of the perfect tattoo that you feel many people overlook?

A: That it’s done for YOU and YOU ALONE. Not how “cool” it looks to other people, or how “punk” it is, or how many you have.

Q: As an artist yourself, how do you feel the commercialization and pop culture appeal has affected the tattoo industry?

Well getting tattooed is WAY less rebellious than it once was. My mother hates that I have tattoos, but I think she’s the only one.

Q: Can you describe a specific Western Addiction song in which the lyrics have special meaning to you personally?

A: Jason (singer) writes all the lyrics, but “The Church Of Black Flag” is a really important song to me. It represents quite well why we do what we do. “No profit, no success, just pride” is one of the lines. We don’t do this for anything other than our personal satisfaction. There’s absolutely no money in it, and by society’s definition of success, we don’t have it. But that doesn’t matter one bit.

Q: How did the name “Western Addiction” come about?

A: About 6 years ago I lived in an area of San Francisco called the Western Addition. So I came up with Western Addiction as a band name and hung on to the idea until I had a band.

Q: What’s next for you guys?

A: We’re on hiatus right now, while 3 of us are busy with our other bands: Dead To Me, Enemy You, and the Radio Reelers.

Q: Were you in any bands before Western Addiction?

A: I was in a couple bands that never made it past the practice stage. Western Addiction and the Radio Reelers happened simultaneously in 2003. Ken was in Enemy You for years before we asked him to join Western Addiction in 2004. Chicken, coincidentally, also played bass for Enemy You for a couple years. This is Jason’s first band, and dare I say, what a fucking debut!

Q: How has the general response from the public been at shows? Have you gotten any negative feedback toward your music?

Response at shows varies. At many of our S.F. shows, the crowd is pretty indifferent. They’re old punkers who just want to see live punk bands, it doesn’t really matter who you are. When we’ve been on tours, we’ve actually gotten pretty good responses from those who have never heard of us.

Q: What is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you on stage?

A: In Japan, we’d end the set with a song that Jason doesn’t play guitar on, and he’d sing while going out in the crowd, and they’d carry him for the whole song!

Q: Who are your influences musically?

A: I can’t really speak for Jason as far as his songwriting goes, but our band in general is definitely influenced by old American hardcore, like Minor Threat, Black Flag, Adolescents, etc. I really love the drumming on the early D.I. records, with all the 8th notes being played on the hi-hat, so even midtempo songs sound really urgent and aggressive. I do that on a lot of our songs.

Q: What do you love the most about being in your band?

A: Getting to get my aggressions our playing music I love.

Q: What do you hate about it?

A: Figuring out the money side of it. Renting vans, buying merch. I’m sort of in charge of all that stuff and it’s a pain in the ass.

Q: What’s your outlook now?

A: Just that I’m really happy to have made the record we did. Most of this is due to the bosses over at Fat Wreck Chords. They gave us this opportunity, knowing that we wouldn’t make any money for the label, and I can’t thank them enough.

But for the boys of Gabriels Fallen, it started with a DUI.

“I was put on house arrest when I got my third DUI,” Steve Huante, the lead vocalist and guitar player says. “So we just converted my bedroom into a soundproof room.”

They nicknamed it “The Hell Room” because of the high temperature inside. “I kind of miss it,” Huante says. “I mean, I don’t miss the ankle bracelet, but I miss the room.”

Now almost two years later, they have released their premier album “Hell is for Heroes” and are on a non-stop touring schedule. They describe their style of music as a mixture of modern punk rock with old heavy metal, in which they’ve coined the term “petal.”

They even have high school bands covering their songs.

“When I heard that I dropped my jaw,” Huante says. “I can’t believe they spent the time to learn one of our songs.”

Being friends for so long, they’ve learned how to deal with each other on a daily basis. They see one another more than they see family and they feel they’re the closest to being brothers as one can get without being bonded by blood.

But overall one of the most unique qualities they hold is their fan base. “Honestly we have a really good network of friends,” Huante says. “I don’t think a lot of other bands get that.

Although they consider themselves true body art enthusiasts, none of them are considering getting a Gabriels Fallen tattoo just yet. At least not for awhile, anyway.

“It’s almost bad luck in a way, because it’s like tattooing your girlfriend’s name on you, or like being branded,” David Gray, bassist for the band, says.

“Maybe if we’re sitting by our large pool in the backyard of our mansions we’ll get a tattoo then,” Huante says.

“Or if we get really drunk in Vegas one night,” Chris Saunders, guitarist for the band, says.

But for now all four band members wish there was a way that they could get sponsored so they can afford to continue collecting body art. “Tattoos are the best form of self-expression,” Victor Braden, drummer, says. “Anyone you talk to can tell you the sentimental aspects of their tattoos.

“All my tattoos are milestones in my life,” Gray says. “I have a tribal band from when I was surfing a lot, winged lion from when we started the band. The next one I’m going to get is for a friend of ours that passed away. They all have heavy meanings.”

Sentimental meanings show through the band especially in their name, as the band name is symbolism for hope.

“We’re not a religious band. Gabriel the angel was banished from heaven for defying God and how that applies to our name is that no matter what happens when you fall, pick yourself up and keep on trucking. Gabriel did and God took him back into the ranks, Huante says.”

“The main thing is that we’ve all been through all sorts of stuff but no matter what happens we’re going to keep going and not lose hope. We’ve had all our shit stolen, been kicked out of rehearsal studios, but we bounce right back. No matter what happens, we just keep going.”

Visit the official Gabriels Fallen website at www.gabrielsfallen.com or www.myspace.com/gabrielsfallen.

But just taking one look at him and all the band tattoos adorning his body, you wouldn’t be able to tell.

Front man for “The Loved Ones,” Hause operated behind the scenes for many years as a roadie and tour manager for the bands he wears on his skin such as “Sick of it All,” “Strike Anywhere,” “Hotwater Music,” and “Kid Dynamite,” to name a few.

“I’ve worked with all those bands, toured with them and believe in them,” Hause says. “They really affected me and that’s why I decided to tattoo them on myself.”

These bands saw a fire inside of Hause that was burning to get out. Band members from The Bouncing Souls and The Explosion (also tattooed on Hause) were the two most influential bands in pushing Hause to play is own music. Three years ago, he finally took their advice and started “The Loved Ones.”

Now with the release of their full length “Keep Your Heart” on Fat Wreck Chords, Hause has decided the time has come for his own band to join the ranks of the others that decorate his skin.

Hause says his TLO tattoo is way past due so he recently made an appointment May 30 at Seventh Son Tattoo in San Francisco to get the logo from their album tattooed on his chest. “I wouldn’t get (the words) “The Loved Ones” tattooed on me because it just seems kind of cheesy,” Hause says. “I don’t have any actual words on me at this point.”

Hause hasn’t been under the tattoo machine since he had his quarter length Japanese-themed sleeves finished seven years ago. Each sleeve took about 15 hours to complete.

“This will be the first time in awhile that I’m getting a big, brutal pain-in-the-ass tattoo,” he jokes.

His attraction to the Japanese culture began long before he decided on the theme for his sleeves. His affinity for the art is so strong because the tattoos have greater meanings and “everything is a symbol for something else.”

The tattoo art he wears was based on prints made by two 19th century Japanese artists, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka and Kuniyoshi Utagawa. Hause describes his sleeve designs as a “yin and yang thing,” with one arm depicting “the warrior” and the other “the protector”.

He received his first tattoo when he was 16, and is planning to continue his body art collection for as long as possible.

The other members of TLO, drummer Mike Sneeringer and bassist Michael “Spider” Cotterman were more of the sailor type with their single small tattoos. Mike has initials on his calf and Spider has a black cat on his arm. Both band members are all long-time friends from Philadelphia and were Hause’s first picks to play in TLO.

Now content with finally playing his music and running his “own ship,” Hause says being in the band is something he wouldn’t trade for any other title he’s had.

“I put forth my own art and creativity to the world which is a pretty amazing thing to do,” Hause says. “It’s humbling because you have to have something to say and there’s a lot of responsibility to it but at the same time it’s totally fun.”

So how did a former roadie get far enough to share the stage with NOFX, Bad Religion and the Mad Caddies? Hause explains that when he was working for other bands he not only made connections but fostered lasting relationships in the process with people who decided to lend him a hand as he did for them years before.

Because he was true to his connections and himself, he believes he is able to create his honest approach to

music and stand proud with conviction. The members of TLO agree they aren’t trying to cash in on any trends and are just here to play “good old fashioned rock and roll.”

“We aren’t running around wearing mascara with long bangs trying to play some spooky bullshit…we just play what we like and try to make our shows really ours,” Hause says.

Believing in his instincts as a musician and a song writer, he puts his all into every performance. After all, it’s what he’s always wanted to do and his work ethic and perseverance got him there.

“I believed in playing music and that’s what I wanted to do and I was willing to put my ass on the line and put my heart into it.”