Your ultimate guide to Drake’s 55+ tattoos

Drake’s mom’s portrait tattoo

Drake dedicated another piece of ink to his mother, Sandra Graham, with a portrait of her on the right side of his back.

Drake’s uncle and grandmother’s portrait tattoos

On the upper central part of his back, Drake got the portraits of his late maternal uncle and grandmother. They happily posed for the photo, cuddling. The heartfelt family portrait was taken by Nikko Hurtado in 2012.

Drake is a huge self-confessed Potterhead, and to cement his love for the universally beloved wizarding world, he was given a portrait of Harry Potter and his pet owl, Hedwig, on the bottom right of his back.

Drake’s Song Bird Tattoo

Drake’s tattoo collection features mostly black and gray pieces, with a few colorful exceptions. The distinctive songbird design that sits on his left shoulder blade is one of the few colored ink designs. The red, brown, black and white bird is in flight, flapping its wings open, with “XO20” written in black and red below. The letters “XO” could be a reference to The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), whose record label is actually called “XO”.

They also mention this in the duo’s 2012 collaboration, “Crew Love,” with the lyrics, “That OVO and that XO is all you believe in, I know.” The same song also features the lyrics, “Tell them I have to reserve for twenty,” likely referring to Drake’s number of close friends, which could explain the “20” in the tattoo.

Drake’s Aaliyah Portrait Tattoo

A portrait of the late R&B singer Aaliyah sits directly below the songbird tattoo on his back. Drake has never shied away from expressing his admiration for Aaliyah and her inspiring artistry, which translated into this 2011 tribute to ink.

Drake’s Noah “40” Shebib Portrait Tattoo

Drake has dedicated another portrait to his longtime music-producing collaborator and close friend Noah “40” Shebib, sitting on the bottom left of his back.

Drake’s “I Love You” tattoo

On the left side of Aaliyah’s portrait, he has the words “I Love You” followed by another unfamiliar word, which is difficult to read. The script tattoo is preceded by a peace sign and ends with the female sex symbol. The script tattoo runs vertically down the length of his back. The inspiration behind it remains unspecified.