"2014-10-30T00:00:00"^^ . "6"^^ . "0"^^ . "6"^^ . . "**BACKSTORY FIRST!**: My Papa was murdered on Christmas Day when I was little and although we didn't grow up without a father figure, we still love and cherish our Papa. So for about 3 years, my eldest brother and I have been talking about the four of us siblings to get a tattoo together to commemorate our Papa and to show our unity. I am the youngest of the four and the two middle brothers did not agree to getting a tattoo, so it was down to just my eldest brother Nahko, and myself but throughout the years we never had a chance to meet up and get it done or even figure out what exactly we wanted. Over the weekend the Life is Beautiful music festival was going on Downtown and my brother and his amazing band (Nahko and Medicine For The People) were performing on Sunday. Prior to this weekend, I hadn't seen him in months. After his performance I went to the back to hug him and I was suddenly reminded that we were supposed to get a tattoo together so I told him and he was glad I remembered and just as I reminded him about the tattoo, (we still hadn't know what we wanted to get) he said that the beginning lyrics to his song \"So Thankful\" popped into his head. The words were 'Papa didn't die in vain' and as soon as he said it, we all got chills, we just felt it, it was perfect. It was decided. This was the tattoo we were getting. I found the script I wanted and searched around for other tattoo parlors on Yelp. The next day, (two days ago) we drove together to Black Dagger Tattoo Parlor and now... Here is my review:\n\n**REVIEW TIME!** I called earlier to see if we needed appointments and they said we could just walk in. I chose this tattoo parlor because it was one out of two that had complete 5stars but this one in particular had 46 reviews and the other had 22. My brother, a friend, and myself walked in and weren't really greeted upon arrival, so it was a bit awkward for me. My brother spoke up and said we wanted matching tattoos of a certain script, and a guy named Robby he asked me to text or email it to him and so I did. He came back with a print out of what we wanted and asked us to place it where we desired. Once we showed him, he turned and left saying he needed to set his station up. After maybe 10 minutes, I went back with him and my brother and our friend followed with me. I watched him, with gloves on, clean and sterilize my arm and take his time in ensuring that my tattoo would be straight along my arm,, not crooked, not too high or too low. I laid on the table/bed thing and he started. I tried to make small talk but felt a bit uncomfortable because he didn't seem friendly, mostly just \"business\". He told me it's because he was tired. He talked more once he asked what the meaning behind my tattoo was and the conversation went from there. \n\nMy tattoo took about 20 minutes, easy.. Although I must say it was the most emotional experience I've ever had in my life. I felt like Papa was with us, proud of us, watching. It's the most important tattoo I have and it was inked with so much meaning and love behind it, I started to cry. I hope Papa loved it just as much. Prior to finishing up my tattoo, he gave me verbal instructions on taking care of and cleanings tattoo.\n\nSoon after was my brother's turn and it was an emotional experience for him as well. The only thing that was wrong with his tattoo was that one of the letter \"i\"'s were not dotted. We didn't notice until after we left though. \n\n\nBefore we left he also gave us each a little postcard of instructions as well. Anyway, I would probably come back again on my next tattoo. I love this one and am very pleased with it. We'll see how it turns out after healing! I'll add some pics!!"^^ . . . "5"^^ .