Rihanna Becomes Impromptu Tattoo Artist

Rihanna at East Side Ink on Wednesday
Photo: Dario/Sean/INFphoto.com

On Wednesday night, Rihanna was spotted at a New York tattoo parlor. But the singer, who is an avid tattoo fan, wasn't at East Side Ink to add more ink to her collection. She was apparently there for a casual visit with her longtime tattoo artist, BangBang, and wound up trying her hand at the art herself.

Reports originally surfaced that Rihanna was there getting a tattoo lesson, but East Side Ink owner Yadira told MTV News that wasn't her initial intention. Rihanna was there with a few friends and a bodyguard for "a few hours, just hanging out and joking," she said, and BangBang decided that he wanted the pop star to give him a tattoo.

"[Rihanna was] not necessarily getting tattoo lessons. She came by originally to say 'hi,' and she ended up tatting BangBang," Yadira said, adding that the singer gave the tattoo artist an "R" on his leg.

Pleased with her work, Rihanna then started it in on some other tattoo artists who work at the parlor. "Then Josh Lord got an 'R' with ƈ' on his leg, and Patrick Conlon got an 'R3' on his arm," Yadira reported. "She hadn't done that before.

"We had a blast," Yadira added. "It was so funny and cute."

Back in March, Rihanna caused quite a buzz when BangBang — who also did the star tattoos on her back, the Roman numerals on her shoulder and the word "Shhh" on her finger — tattooed a gun on her ribcage.

Many people thought the gun was a symbolic response to her altercation with Chris Brown the month prior. But BangBang told MTV News that didn't seem to be the case. "People are going to react all different ways," BangBang said at the time. "She's awesome. She really is."