- In all honesty, it feels good to get out of New York. - I'm hoping Puma will move out here.
- I do like it. - I'ma keep pushing that.
- I'ma keep pushing it. - I know. I see.
The pressure. Ugh!
- Bro, you're not doin' none of our clients' tats.
- (bleep) you, (bleep)! - (bleep) you too, (bleep)!
(overlapping shouting)
- (screams) Sometimes, you know what I mean,
when you upset and (bleep) or whatever, (bleep) like
make you wild out, you know what I mean, in a certain way.
You dig what I'm sayin'?
- Tatti is now the new manager of 125th.
- Okay! - Okay, Tatti!
- Eight people shot dead in Atlanta-area massage parlors,
including six Asian women.
- Asian women are being killed on the streets of Atlanta?
- Us minorities gotta start sticking together, B.
- Right. - Me educating my friends,
that will make my friends educate his friends
and his family. This is a good start.
♪♪♪♪
- ♪♪Drop, drop ♪♪
♪♪♪♪
- ♪♪ Good morning, a new day is dawning ♪♪
♪♪ A new swag, a new bag is calling ♪♪
♪♪ Start soaring, my whips are foreign ♪♪
♪♪ Life is good, good morning ♪♪
- Are you upset?
But if you let me cook the bacon,
then you can have some bacon.
Don't bite me.
It's Father's Day. Be nice to Dad.
Let him sleep in. Let the kids run rampant.
Here, bacon.
(laughs) That part was not hot.
Oh, my God.
I literally-- no, don't do that!
- I'm feeling kinda special right now.
It's Daddy Day. - Happy Daddy Day.
- Hey, come on, let me get a little sugar-- mwah!
- You have a table of goodies over there.
- Wow.
I been goin' through this thing called stress.
Been having little gray hairs poppin' up in this mother(bleep)
right here and (bleep), but today is one
of my favorite holidays on the planet.
It's Father's Day!
- Give Daddy a few hours of basketball.
- Ooh, man, this is sounding like a great Father's Day.
- Whatever.
You know what would've been a great way
to celebrate Father's Day?
Being in Atlanta. But no, we're here.
I just wanna get the (bleep) out of Jersey before the snow comes back again.
You came home and you had such good energy after Atlanta.
Now your hair's standing up again.
You look stressed.
- I'm not gon' lie. With Ceaser still in Atlanta
and then taking off on vacation,
then I don't know where the hell Ted has been,
I got a lot on my god-- mm!
I got a lot on my goddamn plate right now.
- You're doin' too much. - I do too goddamn much, man.
And it's rough.
- Can we start going down to look at places in Atlanta?
- I don't think it's the right time to move down south.
I have like little hesitations about leaving a whole state
to go to another state, you know what I'm sayin'?
- I'll land on something inflatable.
- Yeah, it's usually my Black ass.
- Can I be excused? - Go ahead.
- Yes, my beautiful child.
I've worked really hard to be who I am right here
in this present time, and I feel like
I'm not fully done yet, you know?
I still have Art 2 Ink Studios out here.
And I have other business ventures that I started
that I didn't really finish.
Yo, it's not as simple as you think.
I gotta get out of the lease from the place here.
- Our lease is up in two months.
Like you're making it harder than what it has to be.
- I don't want to have no hiccups in life.
- You're not being reasonable.
- You're not being realistic.
- We have been talking about leaving New York
since we got together.
I did not want to raise my family here.
But Puma's not goin' to Atlanta unless he can bring New York with him.
I'm ready to go down south whether Puma likes it or not.
- I'm not saying no. - I'm not accepting no.
I'm gonna continue to look for jobs.
I'm gonna continue to look at places to rent.
I want to be in Atlanta by the time school starts back.
- Oh, my God.
- Happy Father's Day though.
- Thanks.
- See you later.
- Happy Father's Day to me.
- ♪♪ W-W-We we got it ♪♪
♪♪ Love and hate don't mix, unity gives a real plot twist ♪♪
♪♪ 'Cause w-w-we-w-we we got it ♪♪
♪♪♪♪
- Niko, come on, we gotta make these posters together, come on.
There's been a lot of hate happening towards minorities.
And after what I went through with Donna,
I feel like it's just not hate towards minorities.
Sometimes it's just us fighting against each other,
not even knowing.
- I love you. I'm sorry.
Thank you for talking to me.
- So I decided to hold a unity walk.
I wanted to represent both Black Lives Matter
and Stop Asian Hate.
That way I'm representing all Black Ink.
Niko, draw a heart right here.
A heart. - A heart?
- Yeah. Ahh!
Great job! (phone ringing)
Ooh!
- Hi!
Hi, sweetie.
- My mom is doing good,
but last time I saw her, it was like--
it was about two years ago when she came to America
to see me and Niko.
- Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh!
- I miss her so much. Niko misses her.
Ugh, this COVID (bleep) just really kills me.
- It's really, really important
that I include my friends on this
because all my friends are Black or Hispanic.
They go through so much just for being them,
and it shouldn't be that way.
So I just wanted to show my support,
and it's about my son as well.
He is half-Black, half-Korean.
I want him to be so proud of who he is.
- I love you!
- I love you. - I miss you.
- ♪♪ I am the realest, what else would you call it? ♪♪
♪♪ They been in they feelings if I'm bein' honest ♪♪
♪♪ And I been no chill, I'm just weighing the options ♪♪
♪♪ You know that I finish whatever I started ♪♪
♪♪ I am the realest, yeah ♪♪
- Well, yeah, let's get set up for the day one time.
- I'm surprised we all here so goddamn early.
- The early artist gets the worm.
- I feel like since we left Atlanta
and got back to New York,
where is the (bleep) love?
We have some employees at Brooklyn.
We have some employees at 125th.
This is not what Black Ink is.
You know what though?
I was surprised at how good Tatti's little cookout was.
- You talking 'bout the barbecue? - Yeah, man.
We are still all a family, like you know what I mean?
We still gon' have to work together.
- Sorry about that whole (bleep), man. - It's good.
Triggers are a real thing. - Yeah.
- And I'm starting to learn, "Breathe, Spyder. It's not that serious."
- With all the good positive energy that came from Tatti's barbecue,
I thought we need to keep that ball rolling.
All it's gonna take is me and Tatti coordinating
this whole situation.
Do you feel it, people?
It's another Puma production.
- Pumie! - Ah, you out and about.
- Yeah, I'm just pulling up to 125th.
What's up? - I was thinking,
now that we're in a good place again,
we should do something to create a little unity.
- Oh, (bleep).
Puma's thinking about team building again.
- Our team bonding is about to happen.
- All right, Tatti will be captain for team one.
- The way we should really do this is that you guys--
- (blows whistle) I'm running this race!
So everybody shut the (bleep) up!
- What the hell is he thinking?
This always ends in fighting.
What do you mean? We over here, we drama-free.
And we have Bae's unity walk coming up.
We happy over here. - Yeah, but you know, still,
there's a separation, you know what I'm saying?
So I'm thinking about another Puma production.
- (bleep). Here it comes.
In three, two...
- Maybe we need another Black Ink Battle.
Part deux.
The girls versus the boys.
♪♪♪♪
While we were down in Atlanta, the morale was a little low.
So we had a nice tattoo competition
with Black Ink New York and Black Ink Atlanta.
It was a good time and everybody had fun.
- That means I won too! (laughter)
- And it definitely boosted the morale in the shop.
So why not give it a second go round?
- The girls versus boy--
are you sure that's a fair competition?
- Yeah!
- The girls have Bae and Krystal.
Doesn't seem like much of a competition.
All right, so, uh, what's the prize gonna be?
- Like maybe, um...
the losers will have to be apprentice
to the winning squad.
- (bleep) yeah, let's do it. - Yeah, let's do it.
- So, uh, when are we doing this?
- Ceaser's gone, so (bleep) it.
We can do whatever the (bleep) we want right now, right?
(Ceaser) What the (bleep)?
- Uh, I guess-- - Good-bye.
- Oh...
- Black Ink Battle... begin!
- I'm gonna bring home a victory for the guys.
- Team bitches all day, you heard?
- Yeah, it didn't go well. - What do you mean?
- Everybody's not happy. - What is it?
Can somebody tell me?
It's us versus racism, so let's win this fight together.
Today I'm leading a Blasian unity walk.
It's really important that we stand for one another.
♪♪♪♪
- Hey. - Hi, Bobby.
- How are you? - I'm great. You?
- Good. I'm excited.
- Today my client is Bobby Peterson.
You've been enjoying New York though?
- I have. See the pretty lights
and then I go back to Georgia. - Yeah?
His mother was one of the victims
of the Atlanta spa shooting.
And that incident really hit me hard.
So doing this tattoo for Bobby means everything to me.
When I heard what happened to Korean women in Atlanta,
it really felt like it was my story.
It wasn't but it was.
- It's all of our story. - I know.
And also when I found out that you are just like Niko...
- Right. - ...half-Black, half-Korean,
I'm like, I have to see him!
- (chuckling)
- I'm honored to give Bobby this tattoo.
And while he's here,
I invited him to the Blasian unity walk.
This event will just give Black and Asian communities
some comfort and healing that they need.
I know you told me about your mom's famous kimchi-jjigae.
- Yes. - And we're gonna do that.
- Mmm-mm-mm. That does look like home.
- Kimchi-jjigae is a dish
that like every household... makes.
It's just family, moms, that's just what it is for us.
If I could do this and make him smile
every time he looks down on his tattoo,
that would just make me feel so happy.
That's how she express her love. - Yeah, I know.
- She would just feed you. That's her love.
- I do-- I wish I could tell her that I know that.
I just wish that day would've went a lot different.
- It just makes me so sad.
- Anti-Asian bias and hate has existed for a long time.
And I want the world to know
that my mother was taken from me for hate.
That's why it's important to have representation
and diversity... - Right.
- ...and have a seat at the table.
So that's why, again, I'm glad I'm getting a tattoo
by a Korean artist. - I feel so honored.
- All right, make me cry because of the tattoo.
- ♪♪Blood sweat and tears, yeah we feel the pain ♪♪
♪♪ But we're coming in strong like a hurricane ♪♪
♪♪ You gotta live life like it matters ♪♪
♪♪ You know we're stronger together ♪♪
- It breaks my heart knowing how much hate is in this world.
I'm scared for Bobby. I'm scared for my son.
I'm scared for every-- everybody minorities.
- ♪♪We fight on ♪♪
♪♪ Oh, on ♪♪
♪♪ We fight on ♪♪
♪♪ Oh, on ♪♪
- It's so important that us minorities just stick together.
We're strong individually, but we are-- ooh!
So strong together.
- ♪♪Whoa oh ♪♪
♪♪Whoa oh oh ♪♪
- Oh, that's dope. Look at that.
And it has the name on there. - It's so Korean.
- Go from tears to joy and you helped me get to that point, so thank you.
- ♪♪Whoa oh ♪♪
- ♪♪ Nah I don't need to prove nothin', nah ♪♪
♪♪I got up on here dolo, yeah ♪♪
♪♪ Through city streets, grimy people ♪♪
♪♪ Honeys and the popo, woo-woo ♪♪
♪♪ Hungry for the stacks, making money on the low though ♪♪
♪♪ Cha-ching ♪♪
- It's (bleep) hot as (bleep) up here, man.
This New York heat is different form Atlanta, bro.
- And humans have just been wilin' the (bleep) out.
- Yeah, everybody happy to be outside.
That pandemic (bleep), man. That's part of me
cutting this mother(bleep) beard off my face.
I felt that (bleep) was full of pandemic depression.
Shaving my beard definitely made me feel like a lot lighter.
Like I feel like I renewed my look.
Oh, (bleep), what the (bleep) is going on?
Sad, depressed Ted was left in the barbershop.
Happy Ted has arrived.
- Has Ceas seen the new look yet?
- I haven't seen him since I told him how I felt
about the stupid press conference.
We gon' figure this out together, bro.
You know I never tell you nothin' wrong, man.
- So me and Tatti came up with a really dope idea, man,
to do like another Black Ink Battle.
You know, get the competitive juices flowing.
Since that (bleep) worked out really well in Atlanta, you know what I mean?
- It did go good. I always joke with Puma
about his whole Puma production goin' and (bleep).
But if it goes all wrong, it's all Puma's fault anyway.
How was Father's Day? - It was all right, you know?
Typical (bleep). Socks, cologne...
pressure to move to Atlanta.
- Being pressured to move to ATL?
- Yeah, Quani's on my (bleep) back, man, like...
- I mean, I was telling you that down there.
- Everything I have is up here.
I don't really have too much down there.
- Ya gotta go create it, bro.
- And I'm-- I'm a little nervous.
- What are you nervous about, man?
- My kids, bro.
I don't want to fail my kids
like I was failed as a kid, you know?
My mission in life is always
to never let them go through what I went through.
Not knowing where your mother is,
not knowing who your father is,
not knowing... where you're gonna be staying at.
My thing is for them kids to have the most...
easy pickings life.
I sometimes feel like maybe it is, like,
my mental health that's stopping me too.
So, I started going to a therapist
just to make sure I'm all right.
- Like sittin' down talking to somebody?
- Yeah.
- What are your main fears?
- Something happening, honestly, to me.
It's just mainly keeping us safe,
and I want to make sure that I'm a really great parent.
So, I was dealing with a Black male,
but as I kept going,
I met a Black woman in Atlanta now,
and she's been great.
- How you feelin'? Did it help you?
- Yeah. She's helped me a lot.
- It feels good to hear someone close to me
and someone that's like me to be in therapy,
because in the Black community a lot of guys are scared
to step up and take the steps
to doin' therapy because of the way we're raised.
So, therapy is something that is definitely needed in our community.
You have the opportunity. Take advantage of it.
If you go to Atlanta, say in the first year you don't like it...
- I still have it, yeah. - You still have a home here.
But you gotta try, bro. - I'd better keep that.
Yeah, you're right. You're right.
- Gotta try it.
♪♪♪♪
- Does anybody know how long the bridge is?
- Yeah, probably a mile.
- Probably a mile? - A mile's nothing.
- A mile is nothing drivin' in the car.
(overlapping greetings)
(Spyder) Y'all made it.
- That means you was talkin' about me.
What y'all was talking? - We said, y'all (bleep) late.
(overlapping chatter)
Where's Bae at?
- (vocalizing)
Today I'm leading a Blasian unity walk
across the Brooklyn Bridge
for both Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate.
Bobby agreed to participate,
and I brought my little baby, Niko,
and all my friends are here. It means the world to me
that everybody's here to support this.
(Tatti) Are these your walking shoes?
- You know what? I didn't know that
you technically had to walk, though.
(Ceaser) You wore Jordans to a walking event?
- I thought I was bad.
- Uh-oh, Young Bae! And young Niko!
- Look who she brought.
- Thank you so much for coming.
I know you guys come dressed, but please.
- What's that? - Help yourself.
Come on!
Look, you see? It's nice.
- This is dope. - That's a good shirt.
- This event means so much to me because
this is for me, this is for my friends, this is for Niko.
This is for us.
Say hi to my special, special guest, Bobby Peterson.
- What up, Bob, what up? - How you doin'?
Thank you all for being here.
Thank you all for having me.
I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and on March 16,
my mother was one of the women murdered
in the Atlanta spa shootings.
- Oh, wow. - To lose my mother in this way,
based on bigotry and hatred, has really been
devastating for my family.
And as you can tell,
my father's Black and my mother's Korean,
so both Black Lives Matter and Asian Lives Matter
is very important to me. - Right.
- I just thank you all for being here.
Thank you all for having me.
And again, I appreciate the work that you're doing.
- Thank you for being here, yo.
That (bleep) takes a lot of courage comin' up here,
going through what you goin' through
and walkin' with us, you know what I mean?
- This means, like, the world to me 'cause
we go through a different, you know, type of racism,
but at the end of the day, we fight the same fight.
It's us versus racism, so let's win this fight together.
(Bobby) That's right.
- ♪♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh ♪♪
♪♪ I belong ♪♪
♪♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, I belong ♪♪
- This changes the whole dynamic.
Racism definitely affects all minorities,
and we have to come together and fight it.
- ♪♪ I been doin' the most ♪♪
♪♪ Out of breath just to show ♪♪
♪♪ That I deserve to be here too ♪♪
- If you're a minority, you've dealt with racism.
A lot of people are getting targeted, sadly,
because of the way they look.
So, we're here to show that we're in this together.
- ♪♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪♪
♪♪ I belong, I belong ♪♪
- We, as a people from all nationalities and all colors,
we all experience hate.
So we gotta all come together for the bigger cause,
which is, love.
And that's what I'm all about.
- ♪♪ Don't have to feel alone ♪♪
♪♪ No ♪♪
♪♪ We're all finding our way home ♪♪
♪♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh, I belong ♪♪
♪♪ No matter where I go, I belong ♪♪
- The walk was successful,
but now we're gonna finish the day
with this beautiful balloon release.
- You just gotta let the racism go.
(all shouting and cheering)
- Oh, no! - Oh, no!
(all) Oh!
- Damn. - (Bae laughing)
- Let's get out of here, man. My feet hurt.
(bleep) tree.
(Rok) What tattoo do you wanna get?
- A girl with a body.
- Rok, you are a tattoo artist that clients will walk over.
- My customers are always happy.
- The customer is not always right, (bleep) no.
- They're arguin' again.
It's not looking too good over here.
♪♪♪♪
- ♪♪ Ooh, I belong, I belong ♪♪
♪♪♪♪
- ♪♪ Are you ready to rock? ♪♪
♪♪ Buckle up 'cause I'm known to be ahead of my time ♪♪
♪♪ Put your hands high in the sky ♪♪
♪♪ Just do it, keep the dream alive ♪♪
(Puma) Everybody ready for the Black Ink Battle?
- Spyder, don't let us down, man.
- Yo, listen, you know what?
As the lead rhino in charge...
(laughter) I'm gonna make sure
that I bring home a victory for the guys.
- Y'all better just know that the ladies are comin' through strong.
- Ain't nobody worried about no damn girls.
- Nobody. - We're not worried about the girls!
♪♪♪♪
(overlapping greetings) - Oh, it's my girl!
(men booing)
- Yeah, y'all was talkin' (bleep) about us
as we were just walkin' up. (laughter)
- Hell yeah, we was talking (bleep).
- Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Welcome to the second edition of a Black Ink Battle.
(Spyder) Dun-dun-dun!
- Ladies, gentlemen... And welcome back, people.
We have another great Black Ink Battle.
The Battle of the Sexes, Black Ink edition.
We have our competitors:
Young Bae, Vanity, Krystal, and we have Khylah.
And on the male side, we have Rok, Spyder,
Swiss, and we got that boy Alex.
Straight from Atlanta, Disciple and my man, Jiggaman.
All right. (cheers and applause)
Yeah, there they go. Yeah.
- What's happening?
- Since Ceaser just left to go on vacation,
Feezy, Tatti, and myself
will be judging this competition.
We're gonna be judging on working together,
because that is key.
And the overall tattoo itself.
Damn it, it's a Black Ink Battle!
The losing team... - The girls.
(laughter)
- Will be the apprentice for the day.
- What?
Who gon' beat me?
Please, please! Stop. (laughs loudly)
- Your clients are two women, and they are a couple.
And before we bring them in, you have five minutes
as a team to come up with a game plan. What y'all gonna do?
- Ladies, let's meet in the back. Let's take it to the back.
Tonight's competition will consist of four categories:
Consultation, design,
black ink work, and color work.
(Krystal) Who's good under pressure?
I almost had a heart attack the last competition.
- I wanna do the consultation
because I feel like that's really, like, important
to get the ideas from the client and, you know,
get their idea and, you know, make it better.
- Which one of y'all wants to do the consultation?
- I'll kick it off. - Yeah, so, all right, yeah.
- If the design that they want is not up to par,
we gotta talk 'em into it, you feel me?
- Who's drawing it?
- I'm diggity down with drawing it.
(Khylah) I'll apply it.
- Who's good at color?
- A'ight, who's most comfortable with color?
- Color, ha, I'm most... Yeah. - Happy with color?
- If it's some color (bleep), it's Rok.
- If it's a gang tattoo, I'll do it.
(laughter)
- See, he got it. Teamwork makes the dream work.
- I hope they come with some good (bleep), some good skin.
- But here's the issue when you tattoo
in a predominantly African American community.
Most of the people, when they bring their tattoo,
their reference and their ideas,
they're on more fair-skinned people.
A lot of (bleep) can't translate on darker skin.
- You know you gotta, on darker complexions,
use light pastels.
- Girl, I'm gonna consult her.
Don't worry. - Word.
- One, two, three... - (all) Girls!
- Come on in, ladies, ladies, ladies.
- Hi, ladies. - Black Ink staff,
these are the clients:
Nicole, and her wife, Keisha.
Nicole, first off, choose your team.
- I think I'm gonna go with the guys.
- All right, yeah. (applause)
- Nicole. Keisha, you're with the girls.
- Hi, Keisha!
- All right, please explain to the artist
what you're trying to get done today.
- We want a lady. She's, like, chillin' in
a little silhouette, and her head is like
in a Pride galaxy, basically.
- I see color. - In color.
- And so, that's cute, that's cute.
- Wait, aren't we in Pride month?
- We are in Pride month. - Yay!
- Well, hey, look at that! (all cheering)
- Now, it's up to each team to interpret
and design, and give these ladies what they want.
- Black Ink Battle, begin!
- Take a seat. (sighs)
Get comfy. - Get comfortable.
- Keisha, girl, have a sit. - Sit in our office.
- Hey, you guys. - All right, so,
where are you thinking about getting this tattoo?
- Whatever works, really, 'cause I know I got a couple of tats.
- What do you think about right there on the back?
What, on the back shoulder? The shoulder back?
- That'd be dope. - That's a good spot.
- Yeah, I like that. All right,
so it seem like we got it all figured out.
I'm about to get out of here.
I gotta go move into my apartment.
Appreciate y'all. I'm outta here. Make me proud.
(Puma) Alex is doing a horrible job.
This (bleep) is already leaving,
Oh, man, fellas, this ain't lookin' too good for y'all.
- I say you keep that (bleep) real simple, bro.
We'll put some stars around it, call it a day.
- And if we ask her and she says she (bleep) with this,
then we would do it, but... - Oh, no.
What? We're tattoo artists.
We choose the tattoo.
No, "Rok-y" Balboa, leave her.
They told us what they want.
Let us put it together and deliver.
I don't go to the restaurant and tell the chef how much salt
and black pepper I want on my food, you know what I mean?
(Rok) What tattoo do you wanna get?
- A girl with a body. Like, more of...
- So, you want... so, she want body, she don't want--
just want the head in the clouds, I mean hadn't...
- Rok, you are a tattoo artist that clients will walk over.
- My customer's always happy.
- The customer is not always right, (bleep) no.
Not in here.
- Does Spyder treat all his clients like this?
Usually, the customer is always right.
He's telling me, (bleep) the customer.
Is this the Team Guys or Team Spyder?
- Hell no!
- The customer is paying. - That don't mean (bleep).
So, I'm right if I tell my mechanic
what to do to my Benz?
- Uh... (sighs)
- That's why I never do consultations with other artists.
- Bye, guys! Sorry, I have to go!
- In a shocking turn of events,
Bae has abruptly left the building.
- I don't-- I don't see teamwork.
(Tatti) Vanity has the team on her shoulders right now.
It's not lookin' good for the girls.
♪♪♪♪
- So, I'm right if I tell my mechanic
what to do to my Benz?
- So far, the Black Ink Battle is looking bad for the guys.
They're arguing again. - (chuckles)
- It's not lookin' too good over here.
- That's why I never do consultations with other artists.
- So you want, um, full-color tattoo?
(Keisha) Yeah.
I've never experimented with color before, so...
- I see a little red here.
- Oh, like, well, it's red.
I feel like red shows up on everybody, but like...
- That's like a burgundy.
- Why would anybody use burgundy on her, right?
- I guess it's the way my skin healed,
'cause it was really bright.
- I don't think the full color's gonna work, right?
- For the galaxy look, you're gonna need it.
- Right, but as a tattoo artist, we have to think about,
you know, what we're working with.
And we want to give you what's best for you,
and what's gonna stay, and what's gonna look beautiful
10 years later, 20 years later, you know what I'm saying?
So, I don't think full-color is the option.
What you think?
- So, you want us to limit the palette,
is what you're saying to... - Right.
Because purple, blue, and it's just not gonna work.
Certain color won't stay.
It's gonna be there for a couple of days
and it's gonna just go away.
And it's my job to tell my clients
that's not how it's gonna look after it's done healing.
Is that okay, or do you, like... want it?
'Cause we can only suggest, but then at the end of the day,
this is your tattoo.
It don't have to look good for anybody but yourself.
(Vanity) It's never easy to tell a client
what they can and cannot get done.
But it's how you go about it
and the options you offer the client
that can really make the difference.
- Like, if it can't be full-color,
like, what colors can you work with
that work with my skin, you know, as...
- So, we can do a color splash.
- Reddish will definitely work. Reddish.
'Cause we want this to just last forever.
- And that works too, because I think babe's a fire sign.
So, that will do it. - Mm-hm, and you're fire, girl.
You're fire. (laughter)
- Okay, so let's go to the Rok school of tattooing, right?
Client, what do you-- you want a tattoo with a body?
If you go with a body, there's gonna be no detail.
Because you gotta put that whole body and that face.
You're not gonna get no face.
It's gonna be simple because less is more,
especially dealing with darker skin.
And then the colors on top of that is just a whole nother animal.
Certain colors won't even apply. But it'll look good at first,
even though later on it's gonna disappear.
I'm sorry for Rok confusing you.
- The green, blue, and purple is good enough colors.
- We gotta do the bright colors. That's what she wants.
So, what we're gonna do is minimize how much of the yellow...
- Because she said, it wa--
she said that it was okay not, you know, if it don't show.
- Yeah, she doesn't-- it doesn't have to be all the colors.
- There seems to be a disagreement
on what kind of colors to use.
Ladies, this might be a good time to consult with your client
and see what she thinks.
- This is the... the image.
- Talk to me, girl. It's all right.
I'm not trying to make you feel like I'm minim--
- No, I mean if you wanna, like, go along more so
with the design that... - It's your vision.
- Oh, my God. Okay.
Okay, this is not going the way I thought.
- It's like totally different. Like totally different.
Like it doesn't really like give what I gave at all.
- Ohh, customer satisfaction.
Noted.
- I did the design exactly how she wanted.
Everything I did was everything she asked for.
How are we feeling about this, guys?
The smoke is gonna be negative space.
The other stuff, remember, you're not doing all the colors.
You'll do it with grays,
blacks, reds.
You can throw some pinks in there.
- Okay. - Look.
- Okay.
Yes, yes, yes.
- I like this. We might have to do this
a little bit more often.
We've had a breakthrough, people!
Thank God the girls' team finally got it together.
The client is happy with the design
and they can finally start tattooing.
- You start and she finish.
- Okay, we can do that, yeah.
- I'm not doing nothing in it.
- Why? - I don't like the design.
- But that's where you come in as a real artist.
You can make it your style.
- I already won a Black Ink Battle,
so I feel like I don't have nothin' to prove.
Plus, I do not tattoo constellations.
I don't know what space look like, I never been there.
Nah, I don't want to tattoo. (laughter)
- Okay, okay.
- This is a crazy Black Ink Battle
we got this evening, folks!
- Disciple is definitely distracted right now
from all things that possibly should be going on
with a competition.
(indistinct chatter)
- Wow.
- Gee whillikers, guys!
- Give me the, um...
- Mama, you wanna set up your station?
- I think it's cool 'cause like I already know like...
- So Bae did the consultation, I did the design,
Khylah is doing the line work,
Disciple was supposed to do the color work.
I keep trying to get Disciple to set up a station.
She's over here flirting with Swiss.
What the hell was the point of bringing her all this way?
Shall I get the tattoo as well?
I guess I'm gonna have to do the color work now too.
She's useless.
- You outta here?
- Disciple, where you goin'?
Oh, oh...
- I'ma go set up.
I'll tattoo it.
- (chuckles) He said it--
- Wait, wait!
Wait, did y'all just cut her dress?
Rule number 36 of tattooing:
Don't ruin the person's clothing that they came in with!
- Yo, Spyder, you ready over there?
- Ready. - You ready to get this started?
♪♪♪♪
- Like where, where are they?
- It's so annoying, right?
- You know, it's heavy-handed Spyder over here
goin' over the same (bleep) over and over again
- Every client says that. - (laughs)
- I can feel it. - I said like we want to go
under your skin a thousand times. - I can feel that (bleep).
- No. - Yeah, y'all is.
(stammering) "Do this one over again."
- You want a good tattoo, right?
We-- We cookin'.
- All right.
I need somebody. Ready to go in?
- Mm-hmm. - All right.
- ♪♪ Shawty straight groovin', movin' it to the tunes ♪♪
♪♪ Goin' up and down the room, she doin' it for the goons ♪♪
♪♪ Yeah baby girl, come and shake it for me ♪♪
♪♪ If you wanna get the bag, come and take it from me ♪♪
- Team bitches all day, you heard?
Team girls, team girls.
We respect bitches out here.
- Good shading, man. - Thank you.
Build up that lighter shade.
- Watch and learn how I sabotage these mother(bleep).
Spyder, remember the other day?
- Yeah? - When you attacked Rok?
- Past-- the past is the past.
- Rok, remember when you called Spyder a rhino?
- I do remember that. - He meant that in the kindest way.
- That's a term of endearment.
- He actually does a great impression of me.
- (as Spyder) I'm gon' finish up this tat right now
for the Black Ink Brooklyn.
- Uh-huh! Uh-huh! - You feel me?
Hey, ladies, good luck.
♪♪♪♪
- ♪♪ Then I messed around and I made you a fan ♪♪
♪♪♪♪
♪♪ Then I messed around and I made you a fan ♪♪
- Get it, you tapped in, pow.
- I guess it's time to go to work.
- ♪♪ Then I messed around and I made you a fan ♪♪
- Girls, I am so sorry,
but I have to go. Bye!
Bye, guys!
Sorry, I have to go!
- In a shocking turn of events,
Bae has abruptly left the building,
leaving only behind Khylah, Vanity, and Krystal.
- Ha! - It's not looking good for the girls.
- 'Cause look, huh? I don't-- I don't see teamwork.
- Vanity has the team on her shoulders right now.
- Krystal, bring your ass, girl.
(laughter and chatter)
Anyone that's participated,
honestly, I appreciate the efforts for real
because we're all a team, but...
- Let me tell you something, I love what I do.
- We're gonna have judgment on them tattoos, man, but, um...
yeah, it didn't go well.
- What do you mean? - Everybody's not happy.
- Anyone that's participated,
honestly, I appreciate the efforts for real
because we're all a team, but kinda over the ones
that not trying to be here.
- No, that would be horrible.
- Is Krystal switching sides? - Krystal switching sides?
- Krystal, bring your ass, girl.
- Wait, what happened? I was watching--
I was looking at what you was doing.
- So you just don't wanna do nothin'?
- You know, I really thought that the girls
was gonna take this because we had
our leading artist Krystal on the team, but looking in,
it looks like Krystal's just warming up the bench.
- ♪♪ Yo man I'm living so ridiculous ♪♪
♪♪Tell my homegirl chill, take a pic of this ♪♪
♪♪ And you can see me do my thing ♪♪
♪♪ Hit the button, put it on the wide screen ♪♪
♪♪ Come on, come on, come on ♪♪
- All right, fellas. - Mm-hmm.
- I think we're finished.
- Yes, mm-hmm. - That fire.
- Mm-hmm. - That okay?
- Oh! - Okay.
- I love it. - You love it?
- She's not real. - You love it?
- I love it. I love that it's--
all the colors are there.
She has a nice little facial expression.
- When we first showed it to you,
you was a little skept. - Yeah, a little bit.
- But you believed in us, and that was dope.
- Yeah, I did. - Appreciate that.
- I wasn't expecting it to look like that,
but this is fire, I like this.
- As long as the customer happy, we're happy.
- That's it! - I am, I love it.
- That's it. - Ladies, y'all can stop.
It's all good. We good now.
- Out my face, y'all.
- The girls don't stand a chance.
Story of the Spyder and the Rok.
- The Spock. (laughter)
- At the end of the day, me and the homey Rok,
we came together, created a masterpiece.
You know what? You know, I'ma...
pat myself on the back for that.
Spyder, you go, boy.
- All right, girl, we're all done.
All right, let's go check it out, girl.
- Okay.
♪♪♪♪
Oh, my goodness.
I really like it. Oh, my gosh.
Nah, this is so dope.
- What happened, boys? I'm sorry.
I didn't hear what you were saying earlier.
- I can see all of the colors. The purples, the blues,
the whites, the reds, like I can see it literally
all in my skin and it's like the most amazing part about it.
Like you brought my vision to life and I love it!
Like I really love it. Oh, my God.
- Today was a rough day. Not everyone helped out.
But the client loves her tattoo.
I'm feeling pretty confident.
And I'm telling you, on any given day,
I will slay those mother(bleep), yo.
- For the girls.
- I'm glad you liked it, mama.
- I'm quite impressed.
Communication. - Facts.
- Working together. The customer is satisfied.
My Black ass is a little too tired
to be sitting around here judging
all these damn tattoos right now.
So we'll take some pictures and judge this all tomorrow.
Who will win this competition?
The men finished up strong,
but the women came through in the clutch.
Tune in tomorrow for the Black Ink Battle results!
- ♪♪People say it's hard work, it's not easy ♪♪
♪♪ So how does it just come to me so freely? ♪♪
♪♪ I be stacking all this bread up in my cribby ♪♪
- I'm on a diet. Can you tell?
- No. - I lost like 0.2 pounds.
- Oh, (bleep). - Look at my face.
- I could tell. - She could tell!
- I could tell. Y'all haters.
They hatin'. - What, that's what we doin'?
We hatin'?
- Hi, Puma! - (blows raspberry)
This is not gonna be good. - What?
- We're gonna have a judgment on them tattoos, man, but, um...
yeah, it didn't go well.
- What do you mean? - Everybody's not happy.
This Puma production was an epic fail.
The client that the women had hit me up after the competition
and kinda gave me some real upsetting news.
- How did it come out? - It's not even about how it came out.
It's about that person's whole entire experience.
And it's-- and it's taking away
from what the original Black Ink brand was built on.
- What is it?
Can you tell me? Can somebody tell me?
- The client felt like you made their whole situation worse,
and they legit said you.
♪♪♪♪
- Why, hello. - We're not happy. - What happened? - The client felt like
they set the tone... - Right.
- ...of making everybody feel like she was too Black
to get a tattoo. - Oh, no!
No, don't do that! - No.
- I did not say that.
I understand that I made a big mistake.
No matter what my intentions were,
I offended somebody and I don't wanna be that person.
- How 'bout we get the first song done, get a video shot?
But you're definitely gonna have to take like some choreo classes.
- Kick, down, drop.
- ♪♪ ...rip up on these hos... ♪♪ - Come on!
- Oh, (bleep). - You broke my mic!
- We have to learn the ethics
of being a minority tattoo artist
from somebody who has experience.
Poch is one of the most talented Black tattoo artists
of this time.
And he's the perfect person to teach my team
how to do color on dark skin.
- If you guys have any questions, ask away.
- I think that you have a condition called
trigeminal neuralgia.
- Is there a cure for this?
- The straight answer is no.
- I don't like that our customers feel any type of way.
And I don't want you to be in a spot
that you not comfortable at.
- Ceaser, you trying to fire me?
♪♪♪♪
- ♪♪Drop, drop ♪♪
♪♪♪♪
- ♪♪ MTV ♪♪