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J.R.: This is J.R. Smith of the New York Knicks.
Shooting guard number 8.
Swish!
I was always one of those people just say,
"I'm just going to get another one, I'm just going to get another one."
I had so much space in between that I just started filling stuff in.
Before I knew it, I just looked down,
I was like, "Damn, I got a lot of tats."
The look and the perception of tattoos,
you know I don't think people really understand.
My perception is who I want it to be.
My coaches, my friends would tell me, "You shouldn't do that,
"because, you know, your perception."
But I'm not going to be somebody who they want me to be.
I'm going to be who I want to be.
I'm going to be who I am.
Not even a week ago, I'm walking down the street.
It was just me and this lady on the street.
She crosses the street.
I'm like, "I wonder if she crossed the street,
"because of the way I look."
I turn around, she crosses back across the street.
So I'm like, "Oh, that's definitely it."
Ida: People perceive him as being a thug because he has these tattoos.
All his tattoos mean something to him.
Doesn't mean that he's a thug.
You could see where he grew up at.
It's nothing like that.
Earl: if you come to my house, it's no ghetto here.
The only gangs outside is a lot of deer.
J.R.: *** *** has a ugly reputation.
He's a great artist, I been following him for some time now.
I seen all the celebrities he's done, and got kind of jealous actually.
I haven't had the privilege of working with the guy.
*** ***: People like J.R. can get tattooed anywhere in the world,
by anybody they want, so when somebody picks me,
it's just, it's a real honor.
(music)
I always love my finger tattoos.
They're like some of my favorite ones.
J.R.: Yeah.
*** ***: You know what I mean?
Oh, I like the NBA logo, that's dope.
J.R.: I got the NBA logo on my ring finger.
I'm married to the game.
Ever since my dad introduced me to the game.
Eat sleep, drink, live basketball.
*** ***: Love my mask.
I wanted a skull on this side, or like a pharaoh.
J.R.: Yeah.
*** ***: A pharaoh's head.
J.R.: Cool, ooh pharaoh's head.
*** ***: You want to do something like that?
J.R.: Yeah.
*** ***: I'll kill that.
J.R.: That's dope.
(music)
*** ***: I take it you know the drill?
How long's it been since you got tattooed?
J.R.: 2 years now.
*** ***: Oh, it's show time.
I been a J.R. fan for years.
Now he's a Knick, I tattoo the Knicks.
It's cool.
J.R.: My dad was a Knick's fan before I was even born.
I grew up as a Bull's fan.
I was Jordan all day.
When I really understood who my dad was,
he became my idol, my mentor, everything.
Earl: I'm ecstatic, because I been a Knick fan all my life anyway.
I'm just happy to go to the games and watch him play.
J.R.: To see the expression on my dad's face when I hit that Garden floor,
and run out that tunnel, you know, it's just priceless.
You can never get that back in your career.
Anybody tell you tattoos don't hurt, is lying.
The "Just klownin'," represents what my grandmother told me,
when I was younger.
She always told me embrace what you're most afraid of,
and don't run from it.
When I was younger, I had this terrible experience,
with watching "It," the killer clown.
Whenever I seen a drain or whenever it rained or something like that,
I used to run home or something.
When my grandmother to me to, "Embrace your fear,"
it's just like, you know what?
She's right.
I'm going to get over it.
Everything that I am is because of her.
What she stood for, how she didn't take crap from anybody.
She always told me to, "Use your words. If something's bothering you,
"you should speak on it."
That's one thing I got from her.
*** ***: Did you go in the league in '04 or before that?
J.R.: '04, yeah.
*** ***: That's when I started tattooing.
How funny is that.
J.R.: That's killer.
We were rookies together and didn't even know it.
Two artists, different crafts, same goal: to be great.
*** ***: One of the really important things in a tattoo,
is that you don't have to spend time figuring out what it is.
If you got to stare at it to try to understand it,
it's not a good one.
J.R.: Put that white in it, it's going to really pop.
Say you can't rush greatness and he still got it done in record time.
*** ***: Oh yeah, I don't screw around.
Check it out.
All set bro.
J.R.: All right.
I love what it represents, I love what I got them for,
and why I got them, so.
It's something unique and something nobody can never take you away from it.
Sick, man!
That's how sick I want to do the rest of my fingers.
ASAP.