MGK Reveals the Story Behind His Blackout Tattoo — and How Painful It Was

MGK is sharing the story behind his massive blackout tattoo.

Appearing on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday, Sept. 18, the Lost Americana artist, 35, opened up about the ink — which spans across his upper torso and both arms and required 44 needles to complete.

“Let’s talk about your amazing tattoo, that’s like half of your body. What inspired that?” host Hudson, 44, asked.

“I’ve realized through research that this is from someone who has extremely high anxiety,” said the musician, whose real name is Colson Baker. “But in my head, it really interested me in redesigning the anatomy.”

“You know the skin is the largest organ that we have,” he continued. “I’ve already had all tattoos since I was 13, my whole body has been covered for a long time, and I just wanted to redesign what the human skin could look like, so I came up with, well I didn’t, but a friend of mine named Roxx came up with this.”

MGK then revealed just how painful the lengthy process was, calling it the “worst torture I’ve ever” experienced.

“Was it painful?” Hudson asked, to which the “Cliché” singer responded, “Yeah, I don’t do, like, the going under and numbing and waking up, I don’t do any of that.”

As Hudson shared her shock, MGK continued, “Yeah I had to focus out, big mistake, but my morals stand.”

The dad of two went on to reveal that though he has covered much of his upper half with the tattoo, he has still kept a piece designed by his 16-year-old daughter, Casie. 

“She did a little tattoo on me, so I kept that on me there,” he added as he pointed out the tattoo near his wrist to Hudson. 

MGK’s comment about his eldest daughter comes just days after Casie showed off her own tattoo on her dad’s Instagram. In a carousel of photos shared to the social media site, MGK could be seen standing next to his daughter as the pair flipped off the camera, with a little black heart seen inked near Casie’s knuckle. 

MGK shares Casie with his ex Emma Cannon, while he is also dad to 5-month-old daughter Saga Blade with ex-fiancée Megan Fox.

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The star debuted his blackout tattoo in February 2024, sharing a photo of the huge piece on his Instagram with the caption, “spiritual purposes only,” and tagging tattoo artist and friend Roxx.

Two months later, he shared a glimpse into the grueling process of getting the tattoo, which took weeks to complete.

“i heard that they thought i went sleep for this…🙅🏼‍♂️🙄,” he captioned an Instagram video at the time.