Riff Raff has never used tattoos as background decoration. His ink is loud, funny, unmistakably personal, and sometimes ridiculous in a way that feels intentional. A neck logo sits alongside a Simpsons character, a basketball joke, a Houston shout-out, and designs that seem to be there simply because he liked the idea.
That variety is the point. His tattoos feel less like a carefully planned sleeve and more like a running scrapbook of the Jody Highroller persona. Some are logos tied to the media world that helped put him on the map; others are phrases about where he comes from or images that match his bright, over-the-top image. A few have changed over the years, too, so it helps to separate what is documented from what may have been covered.
Here’s the clearest account based on his tattoo interviews, profile photos, and designs he has shown publicly.
The MTV neck tattoo became part of the character
The most obvious piece is the MTV logo on the right side of Riff Raff’s neck. It’s large, colourful, and hard to miss. The lettering became tied to the persona he was building around the time he appeared on From G’s to Gents in 2009.
The logo works both as a reference to television and as self-branding. Once people started calling him MTV Riff Raff, it became more than a neck tattoo: it was part of the name they remembered. Close-up photos also make the colours and shape easy to see, unlike some smaller designs that blur together in performance shots.
It would be easy to treat it as a straightforward career tribute, but the joke is part of the appeal. Riff Raff has always blended real ambition with performance. The placement is the message: this isn’t a private symbol waiting to be discovered years later.
Bart Simpson carries the Freestyle Scientist idea
On the left side of his chest, Riff Raff has a large Bart Simpson tattoo paired with the words “The Freestyle Scientist.” The design includes scientific imagery. He has explained the title in his own loose, sideways way: Bart rhymes with “heart,” so the character sits close to his heart, while the scientist idea reflects how he makes songs and freestyles.
It’s one of the better-documented designs because it has appeared in interviews and shirtless portraits over the years. Bart is instantly recognisable, but the surrounding idea makes the tattoo personal rather than just a cartoon image. It turns a familiar character into a description of Riff Raff himself.
The chest suits a design that works like a logo: it’s easy to see from a distance, photographs well, and sits near the centre of the body. The playful image also keeps it from feeling like a formal mission statement. It’s a self-portrait with a punchline built in.
BET and WorldStarHipHop mark the media brands
Photos have also shown BET and WorldStarHipHop logos among Riff Raff’s tattoos. The BET design was reported on the front of his right shoulder, then later described as covered by a tattoo of his dog, Jody Husky. That’s a useful reminder that older photos may show a version of his tattoos that has since changed.
The WorldStarHipHop piece came from the same early internet-and-music era. According to the accounts of it, he got the logo after connecting with the site and treated it as another part of the public image he was building. These designs aren’t family tributes or traditional memorial pieces; they’re more like calling cards and souvenirs from places where his name was circulating.
That’s why the collection can look chaotic and still have a theme. Riff Raff tattoos the platforms around him. MTV, BET, and WorldStarHipHop all belong to the media landscape that helped make his persona recognisable. Even a covered logo can mark a particular point in that timeline.
The H-Town shoulder piece starts with home
In a Complex tattoo interview, Riff Raff said his first tattoo was on his right shoulder and triceps. It reads “The City of H-Town,” followed by “It’s Understood It Ain’t All Good.” He connected the phrase to money and motives: when money is involved, people can act differently, so you have to understand what’s really going on.
This is probably the most direct hometown tribute in the group. Houston is more than a setting in his story; it’s part of how he introduces himself. The H-Town wording feels like an opening chapter, while the longer line adds the blunt, streetwise commentary that also comes through in his lyrics and interviews.
The money symbol adds another layer without turning the tattoo into a mystery. Riff Raff has never aimed for minimal, understated symbolism; he likes the words to be visible and the explanation to be part of the fun. The shoulder design is a hometown shout-out with a warning attached, which feels very much in character.
NBA becomes the National Baller’s Association
On the other arm, Riff Raff has a tattoo for the National Baller’s Association. He has clarified that it means something different from the National Basketball Association. Here, “balling” is about living large, looking sharp, and carrying yourself with confidence.
He has also described a “7 Time All Star” tattoo on the right side of his stomach. In his telling, the seven years referred to his own idea of balling; it isn’t an actual sports record. It’s part of the made-up mythology of Jody Highroller, where everyday details become an exaggerated legend.
The two designs work together: the association creates the world, and “7 Time All Star” gives him a title in it. The humour is clear, but they also reflect how basketball shaped his self-image before music became his main stage. He’s making his own league and giving himself the trophy, not claiming official stats.
Texas Raized and the map that went sideways
Across his forearms, Riff Raff has “Texas Raized”, deliberately spelled with a Z. He has joked that people read it as “Texas Raisin,” a misunderstanding he seems to enjoy. Brickwork behind the letters gives the phrase the look of writing on a wall and makes it more substantial than plain script.
He has also talked about a map-shaped tattoo that was meant to combine Mars or Australia with another idea, but the drawing didn’t turn out as planned. He said it ended up looking like Texas and decided that worked just fine. His tattoos aren’t always presented as polished designs with one official interpretation.
The forearm lettering is easier to read than the map story, but both turn geography into personality. Houston, Texas, and the larger fantasy version of himself all show up in the collection. The spelling, brickwork, and accidental outline make it feel more like personal graffiti than a formal state emblem.
Hands, ribs and arms fill in the smaller pieces
The logos and chest pieces draw the eye, but Riff Raff has also described several smaller tattoos. On his hands, he mentioned “Codine Phene” and “Dream Team.” The first phrase has been transcribed with different spellings, so it’s best to use the version reported while acknowledging that uncertainty.
On his arms, he has “Aces Only,” which he linked to having tricks up his sleeve. On his left ribs, he identified “Kokayne Dawkins,” one of his names. These tattoos are less about a single image than the vocabulary of his persona: aliases, slogans, and phrases that could come straight from a freestyle.
Hands, forearms, and ribs are hard to compare across photos because the angle, lighting, and clothing vary so much. An accurate inventory should distinguish what he has named himself from what only seems visible in a blurry shot. The documented phrases are enough to show the pattern, without treating every shadow as a tattoo.
What the whole collection says
Riff Raff’s tattoos make more sense when you stop looking for one consistent style. They combine Houston pride, media logos, basketball language, cartoon imagery, invented titles, and stage names. Some point back to where he came from; others belong to the public character he was creating. A few are so direct they read like captions.
There’s a timeline in the ink, too. The early MTV design connects to the television appearance that helped define his public identity. BET and WorldStarHipHop reflect the media spaces around him, while the H-Town and Texas tattoos keep geography in view. Bart and the Freestyle Scientist idea turn a favourite cartoon into a creative self-image. The NBA language turns his love of basketball into a fantasy league where he’s always an all star.
That’s why the pieces don’t have to match. They aren’t meant to look like one perfectly planned collection. They’re more like stickers on a suitcase collected over different stages of a career. Loud, personal, commercial, silly, and occasionally sincere can all sit side by side. For Riff Raff, that mix is the look.
Watch Riff Raff talk and let the tattoos do their thing
There’s no reliable full tattoo tour that covers every design, but the interview below gives you a sense of Riff Raff’s loose, unpredictable way of talking. It’s a useful companion to the tattoo interviews and profile photos mentioned above.