Machine Gun Kelly has revealed that he became seriously ill during his quest to completely transform his appearance with an elaborate blackout tattoo. The rapper opened up about the grueling process in a new interview with Billboard Canada, telling the magazine that he fell sick after instructing his celebrity tattoo artist Roxx to complete the extensive work within two months, instead of the recommended two years.
The Grueling Process
“The same way I was reinventing my sound, I wanted to reinvent my body,” the 36-year-old explained of the “dark mode” design that covers most of his arms, chest, and back, with a distinct cross shape imprinted on his torso. “[Roxx] warned me that it was going to be near impossible, even from a pain tolerance standpoint,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Yeah, we got two months.’”
MGK – whose real name is Colson Baker – said that instead of taking breaks between sessions to let his body heal, he underwent almost daily tattoo sittings at Roxx’s Los Angeles studio. The famed tattoo artist previously revealed to TMZ that the musician visited her studio four days a week for thirteen six-hour sessions.
Health Consequences
“After the first week, we hit my lymph nodes around my armpits and shoulders, and I got really sick,” he recalled to Billboard. “My skin was turning yellow. I wasn’t able to sleep. I stopped being able to move certain parts of my upper body.”
Despite the concerning side effects and the toll it was clearly taking on his body, the rapper persevered and treated the side effects as obstacles in his pursuit of transformation. “I came out the other side extremely inspired,” he said. “Not just because of what I had done, but because of what I had to overcome.”
Meaning and Aftermath
MGK first unveiled the jaw-dropping blackout tattoo on Instagram back in 2024. “For spiritual purposes only,” he captioned a photo of the design at the time. Roxx also posted a photo of the final product, explaining in her caption that she’s “never met a tougher one” in MGK, to which he replied, “Thanks for the joy and the pain.”
The rocker also shed light on the meaning behind his tattoos during an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show last year. “I’ve realized through research that this is actually from someone who has extremely high anxiety,” he said on the show. “But in my head, it really interested me in redesigning the anatomy. You know the skin is the largest organ that we have.”
“I’ve already had all tattoos since I was 13. My whole body’s been covered for a long time, and I 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.”
Family Tattoos
In March, the Bloody Valentine singer added to his vast tattoo collection – he has inked well over 90 tattoos on his body since he was 13. This artwork features his daughter’s name “Saga” in capital letters on the back of his right hand. MGK shares the one-year-old with his ex-fiancée, Megan Fox. He’s also dad to teenage daughter Casie, 16, from his previous relationship with ex-girlfriend Emma Cannon. The musician has a small heart tattoo on his forearm inked by Casie herself, which he has not covered up.
