In this part of the interview, Ceaser talks their relationship, the Black Ink cast, and Black Ink Chicago.  Dutchess speaks on education, the future and business on Reality TV. They both come together on advice for the up and coming artists.

If you haven’t already checked out part 1 of my chat with the bosses, read it here.

RESPECT.: As far as this season, a lot has been going on with the Donna situation. How did the two of you get pass that together?  How hard was it to get pass that point?

Ceaser: I mean we already dealt with it, that was like almost a year ago. So it was something we dealt with at that time. We see people’s opinion. People don’t understand how long ago that s*** was shot and certain things that ain’t seen.  People don’t understand they only see 10% of the whole story.  They don’t see the whole story so at the end of the day me and Dutchess have got pass that point. Like I said people’s opinions, it stirs up certain feelings. Sometimes you know after doing this so long, we’re able to kind of filter some things, but some things we’re not and sometimes that cause problems, but that’s realty TV.  I feel like if you continue to do it and you have no control of who you are on the television, how people view you it’s gonna put some strain on you.

RESPECT.: I can understand, I can believe it especially with a relationship as well and trying to grow a relationship. It can definitely not be very easy.

Ceaser: Exactly.

RESPECT.: So as far as the cast members, have any of them grown closer outside of what we see on the show or is pretty much what we see is what we get?

Ceaser: Honestly, like I mean what you see on TV is what you get.  It kind of varies because like I said our relationship, we’ve all been around each other for years, sometimes just like my relationship with my lady like friendships kind of strain too.  You see something on TV, it’s like well that’s how you feel, you know certain things you gotta let time heal it, but as far as right now the crew is cool.

RESPECT.: How were you all involved in Black Ink Chicago?

Ceaser: The network said something about trying to do another show like us, but they didn’t really tell us who it was till it was basically time and was like those are our people so it wasn’t really nothing we would beef about.  I’m just waiting on Vh1 to cut that check for using my name!

RESPECT.: Okay.  I know that is right.  It is definitely due.

Ceaser: Right.

RESPECT.: Dutchess, I know you came to New York to pursue your career in tattooing. You met Cease and you fell in love.  I know you left your education at the time and you were pursuing your Masters.  Do you ever have plans to go back to finish?

Dutchess: Yeah, I’m actually working on a lot of different things that are more in line with the goals that I set for myself before all of this TV stuff happened.  So definitely something that is in the works.

RESPECT.: Sounds good.  Well I am glad to hear that.  It’s good to know that a black woman is educated, you have your 2 degrees already from A&T, which is a good thing to know that you can be on TV.

Dutchess: It’s sad that in reality TV bragging about something that you work so hard at, as such as your education they look down on it.  They make you feel like it’s a negative thing like, it’s crazy, but it’s apart of the double edge sword.

RESPECT.: Well at least you have plans to go back and that is really important. Speaking of Pretty in Ink, I know it was really important for you to do it on your own, to have your own business, and you did it and I commend you for that.  So how was that process and how is the shop doing today?  Do you have any goals for the shop from now?

Dutchess: Yeah, I’m trying to see the shop actually be a household name so to speak especially in tattooing.  I want it to be something that is more feminine, is more creative, because that is kinda what the space represents.  I want to see a possible franchise situation where you would see a Pretty in Ink in Maryland, you would see a Pretty in Ink in Florida;  a way that other female tattoo artists can show that females are just as talented in this industry as the males. I think the best way of doing that is allowing Pretty in Ink to be that pinnacle household brand that kinda speaks for all of us females.

RESPECT.: Good luck with that.  If you did it this time, I know you gonna do it again and gonna make it happen.  As I told Cease at the beginning I am a big fan of you all from the very beginning, your work, what you do, you as a black woman, your love together is absolutely beautiful.  Much respect to what you do.  I have to ask the both of you any wedding plans?

Dutchess.: Honestly, right now I’ve just been focusing on the shop and trying to get this situation solidified and with Cease he is more focused on getting 125th as a situation and I’m gonna be honest with you, when you’re on a reality show that constantly antagonizes every aspect of your relationship to make it look like such a negative thing it’s kinda hard for you to be excited about something that is as important as getting married.  Right now we’re working on building our brands and our images back to what it should be.  Never once in reality tv have you seen us have a good time, smile, and enjoy ourselves and that is what we do all the time, but that is not deemed as you know entertaining or important or relevant to our culture or society, which to me is a bunch of bulls***.  They would rather see all of these black couples fighting or cheating or being disrespectful to the black woman yet, when we look at other demographics in our society and our culture they are not doing these things at all so it’s just kinda hard to be excited about such a special day in my life as getting married and constantly the production company and the network that I work for, they are antagonizing and disrespecting something that I really, really deem important and valuable and for them it’s an opportunity to showcase everything that they can make money off of and that’s pretty much all it is and I get it, but at the same token knowing who you really are, you still want what’s right. When you don’t have that control you know what is it. They are still gonna do what they want to do.  They still gonna portray it the way they want to portray it, they still  do whatever they see is gonna make them more money because that’s what the whole purpose of all this is.  This is a business.  This isn’t a social standard where they have to pay attention to moral value.

RESPECT.: It’s sad, but true.  At the end of the day it is a business and it is sad that we only see bits and pieces of your lives and in reality it’s not really all like that.

Dutchess: Then you have some cast members that have created just that, a story line and a character that they don’t even personify or embody in real life, so it’s real hard to be in this situation when you trying to live real, but everybody around you has to do something different just to be relevant.  I’ve been watching this season and it’s like the whole season is basically bash, it’s like a Ceaser and Dutchess roast, every episode.  Nobody is talking about what they’re doing to better their futures, their careers, their finance, their life, their all just bashing us and what we ain’t doing, but yet we have two successful businesses that basically have nothing to do with each other in two separate parts of the world.  That is how we are living our life.  You don’t hear us say too many things about any of the other cast members on the show or in media, but all you see is Dutchess is this, Dutchess is that, Ceaser is this, Ceaser is that and it’s just getting to the point where now it’s like damn we know who we are and to know who you are and to deal with these constant battles of having to defend something that you are not, it gets exhausting.  It really gets exhausting.

RESPECT.: I can imagine it would, but you guys are strong and you guys will get through it. You got to plow through it.

Dutchess: Yeah man, it’s a gift and curse, double edge sword, that’s for sure.

RESPECT.: For the upcoming tattoo artist that see you on TV every Monday night, what would you say to those individuals?

Dutchess: What would I say to those individuals is worry about being a great artist, fame is not everything.  Being great at what you do and loving what you do is so much more important than a million people knowing who you are.  They can know who you are and never respect your gift, your talent.  They can know who you are and only want to antagonize you or disrespect you or they can see your work.  If people just see what we do for a living and did not get into our personal lives, we would be so loved, you know, but because people are given a more human side of who we are as artists, that’s what makes them feel allowed to intervene in our lives in such an impersonal way.  I don’t know any of the artists that I look up to, they are not famous because they are famous.  They are famous because they are great artists so through being a great artists you can get that same level of fame and that’s pretty much what I would say.

RESPECT.: I like that.  So Cease what advice would you give to that up and coming tat artist that wants to walk in your shoes?

Ceaser: My advice would be keep working, keep striving.  Believe in yourself.  Honestly, like as artists sometimes we sit there and because we don’t get immediate satisfaction we sometimes give up on our dream and we just gotta stick with it most of the time.  I was getting ready to give up on my dream and I had to stick it out and I got to the goal line.

RESPECT.: So at what point were you getting ready to give up on your dream?

Ceaser: It was a couple of times I wanted to give up.  There were a couple of times I couldn’t see how I was gonna pay the bills.  There were times I wanted to give up the shop just so I could go take care of and help my mom.  It’s been a journey, wasn’t easy.

RESPECT.: What kept you going in those moments?

Ceaser: The fact that I know so many people wanted me to fail, so many people wanted me to not be who I am.  It made me strive harder to be who I am.

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The post RESPECT. Interview: Vh1’s Black Ink Crew’s Dutchess & Ceaser Talk Reality TV and More [Part 2] appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

You may know them from being the bosses of two of the baddest tattoo shops around. You may know them from Vh1’s Black Ink Crew, or you may know them from just being Dutchess and Ceaser from around the way. Whatever your connection to the two lovebirds, there is more to them than what meets the eye.  I was able to catch up with bosses by phone, while they both spoke very REAL and candidly.  The tattoo artists and reality stars spoke very openly about everything from the shops, the death of reality shows, their empires, the future of what’s to come, and their love. Check out Part 1 of my chat with the King and Queen of Ink below on Mother’s Day, what’s next, 125th, reality TV and this season.

RESPECT.: What did you do for Mother’s Day weekend? I know you all have a busy schedule.  

Ceaser: Honestly man, I hate to say it. We were working on Mother’s Day.  Me and Dutchess spent some time with the family and what not, but we were working.

RESPECT.: Ya’ll gotta get it in.  I understand.

Ceaser: Yeah, Mother’s Day tattoos.  It’s a whole bunch of stuff.  Then we were giving away stuff in the shop so you know I’m in North Carolina with her right now and doing this whole giving a family, Mother’s Day giveaway type of thing that we did.

RESPECT.: Well that is cool.  I saw you guys put that on Instagram.  

Ceaser:  We was gonna announce the winner today, honestly we just been so busy.  We was supposed to do it on Mother’s Day, but we get so caught up on everything.

RESPECT.: I can understand.  Well I know ya’ll working in each others’ shops back and forth.  How often do you get back up there or how often do you get in each others’ spots?

Ceaser:  I be here almost as much  in Black Ink as I’m in Pretty in Ink, cause you know her shop is fairly new.  My shop has been running for a little while so I got a little bit more leeway to just leave it and knowing it’s gonna function.  I have a pretty good staff, sometimes they disorderly, but they’re pretty good when it comes down to getting the business done.  I come down here a lot.

RESPECT.: So her shop is pretty much going well at this point?

Ceaser: Yeah, her shop is running excellent.  Both our shops are doing real good.

RESPECT.: I heard you were busy working for Mother’s Day.

Dutchess: Yeah, I had to rush down, have dinner with my mom, and then get back to the money.

RESPECT.: Well I know that is right and I am sure your mom understands.

Dutchess: She definitely does.  She had a good Mother’s Day so she is good.

RESPECT.: Take me back to the beginning of Black Ink before the reality show.

Ceaser: You wanna know the beginning?  Let me summarize it.  Black Ink been around for a minute now. We been very popular in the urban ink community.  The whole urban community really started and we been like the forerunners to the whole situation.  You never really even heard of urban tattooing until they really seen Black Ink so a lot of people really put urban tattooing to us. That’s us, not like that whole other genre of tattooing, which is predominantly white and we’re honestly knocking it out the box with a whole next generation of tattoo artists that’s really getting it.  That’s how Black Ink started with that vision and now that’s how it is.

RESPECT.: On 125th. Why that time and why the move?

Ceaser: I was gonna move, but I decided to keep that spot open because when I was gonna close it the whole neighborhood kinda got depressed and what not and it was kinda like a damper cause honestly I be feeling like this, if I am gonna close it and it’s for a better situation. I feel like it could run on its own so it’s no reason for me to really close it.  I was just closing because we made it to 125th street!  Why have 2 shops, but why not have two shops?  It’s hard for black men to get property in Harlem.  If you got two pieces of property you gotta hold on to it.

RESPECT.: You spoke about a lot of different people coming off of that street, a lot of success and you wanted to build your empire based upon that same success.  So what was that entire process like for you?

Ceaser: I grew up walking up and down 125th Street and I remember 20 years ago how it used to be and I feel like this, the old Harlem is starting to die down slowly, but surely because of the new Harlem.  I feel like with the whole 125h Street I don’t see no black man that own any store fronts on 125th Street, but you would turn back 10 years from now before Bill Clinton or anybody else decided to put their office on 125th Street there was a whole bunch of black owned businesses and what bothers me is this is our neighborhood, that people are generating money from and not even living in our neighborhood.  I’d rather it be us taking a piece back of what belongs to us. That’s what my whole vision was for the 125th shop, was to take something back that really belongs to us that they wont let us on,  they wouldn’t let us in, they wouldn’t let us have anything, but now it was a force to deal with us!

RESPECT.: What would you say your is empire individually versus together? What would you like that to be?

Ceaser: My whole thing is to come together and be having franchises and other businesses that we can prosper from.  Right now I am doing the production thing.  Dutchess is also modeling and acting.  Also, fields that we feel like we can be very, very successful in.  We really want to take it beyond just tattooing. We feel like tattooing was just a stepping stone, and to get our fortune is gonna take more than just tattooing.

RESPECT.: I actually saw that you just put that out on Instagram today about the acting and the modeling company that you were speaking about,  the production that you are doing now, so that is really what’s up that you’re branching out and definitely doing that.  That is a good look!

Ceaser: Yeah, cause we been in the TV thing for like almost four or five years now.  It’s time for us to branch out and do other things like owning our own shows, acting, other shows, like really doing something.  You don’t want to sit there and get stuck in that whole reality show star genre that we are just stuck in and can’t do nothing, but reality show.  Honestly, reality shows are getting tiring at this point.

RESPECT.: Definitely, reality shows seem like now that is the thing.  Everybody’s got the next reality show.

Ceaser: Nobody wants to understand that era is dying slowly, but surely. The last of a dying breed.

RESPECT.: You’ve spoken on you guys maybe having your own shows too?

Ceaser: No, I’m talking about scripted.  I don’t know about reality.  I’m gonna tell you the truth, me and Dutchess are very private people and it bothers us sometimes how people just be prying into our personal life.  We could be sitting down eating dinner and people want to ask about our lives and stuff like that.  Sometimes that is kinda invasive, but they don’t see it like that cause we on TV.

RESPECT.: It’s good to private; you got to have something to yourself.  You can’t have it all out there, because then you have nothing left for yourself so you have to have sometime of privacy.

Ceaser: Yeah

RESPECT.: Describe this season of Black Ink in your own words. 

Ceaser: This season I feel is probably the most ratchet season I’ve seen in all Black Ink history.

RESPECT.: [Laughs]  I’m with you on that.

Ceaser: Yeah, and it’s kinda getting tiresome being apart of this. Basically, my own brand is becoming so ratchet.  I wish for some reason they would show the other side of us instead of this ratchet shit all the time.

RESPECT.: How involved are you all in the process as far as what you determine what goes on and what doesn’t?  How do they determine that?

Ceaser: I don’t have no say so in that.  I see it as soon as you see it.

RESPECT.: Oh wow.  That’s amazing.

Ceaser: You gotta re-live stuff twice and it’s kinda annoying specially when you been doing it so long.  It should be some type of say so. Something like, “I want this on TV, I want this on TV.”  I feel at this point it’s none of that.

Check out Part 2 on Monday for more with the King Ceaser on this season of Black Ink Crew and the cast and as well as the Queen herself Dutchess talking about the future, education, and the reality of reality shows.

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The post RESPECT. Interview: Vh1’s Black Ink Crew’s Dutchess & Ceaser Talk Reality TV and More appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.