“Black Ink Chicago” Exclusive: Ryan Speaks On “Deading” Relationship With Old 9 Mag Staff, But Guess Who He May Reconcile With?! - Page 2
VH1
9 Mag Founder Ryan Henry Speaks On His Rocky Relationships With His Former Staff And His Current Relationship Status
The 4th Season of “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” definitely got off to a rocky start, with 9 Mag now fractured between Ryan’s old team and his new one, so BOSSIP had to reach out and chop it up with Ryan Henry about what’s been going on since the end of Season 3, including whether there’s any hope of reconciliation and to learn whether or not he has managed to make things right with Rachel.
BOSSIP: What have the reactions been like since the first episode of the season aired?
Ryan Henry: The reactions have been all over the place. People have been with the show since Season 1. There’s a lot of different characters on the show and everyone is not gonna be in tune with whatever decision I decide to make. It’s been a ride though and there’s people who are still supporting from Season 1 and Season 2, so with Season 4 I really appreciate those people who are so supportive.
BOSSIP: Glad to hear you’re holding up because that criticism can be hard to take.
RH: I’m solid, I’m from Chicago.
BOSSIP: Let’s get into the way the last season ended, how did you feel about Kat putting you on blast on TV?
RH: People are gonna take it how they wanna take it. I don’t fault her for how she felt needed to go about it as a woman. I don’t have no hard feelings towards her I wish her the best.
How did that affect your situation with Rachel off camera?
RH: When things like that comes to light, I had to do what I needed to do to make sure things are right in my household. I’ve known Rachel 15 years of my life and she has my children. That’s not someone trying to make you act different, that’s just someone who cares about my life seeing something and wanting me to work on it for me to be better.
Do you feel like Charmaine was disloyal?
RH: I never felt that Charmaine was disloyal. I’m gonna give it to her just like I’d give it to Danielle. We brought you in the shop initially as Kat’s friends and when it was time for me to remove myself from those people, if they had to pick sides I couldn’t ask them to pick my side. If that woman and I weren’t in a comfortable space together I wouldn’t want her to come back and work whenever she wanted. She didn’t even live in Chicago, she lived in LA. So after we have a bad run in I’m not gonna say “Hey, come back and work whenever you want.” Like right now, we shouldn’t be working together. So for them to go against what I say for this business, that’s where I felt the disrespect. But that’s what I expect from them, those are Kat’s friends.
In terms of the cast overall, who do you still have a relationship with?
RH: Me and Phor, we went to high school together. That’s always been my brother, since before tattooing, and his brother Don had to handle what he had to do for business, but they always been my brothers. Even Danielle, I talked to Danielle, there’s no hard feelings. It looked like I just turned my back on everybody and they left me, but it gets hard over there too! There’s a lot that you’ll see on this new season.
Did you want to clear the air at all, about the way the shop was destroyed?
RH: You see what happened, you see what was implied, you only get 42 minutes to get a whole story on television. I would never admit to doing something as heinous as thatk, but you know things happen. If people wanna blame me for that, just like they’d try to blame me for something else, I ain’t locked up so, PROVE IT.
Do you feel like “Black Ink” ruined 9Mag?
RH: I don’t think it ruined 9 Mag. 9 Mag is the experience people get when they walk in to get a tattoo, it’s a great representation of Chicago and will continue to be that. I do feel like it ruined the relationships between people. That may be my fault because I brought people together to grow and be something better than themselves. Everybody can’t handle it.
So what is the status of the new 9Mag?
RH: Even in the first episode, what made people think it looked like I walked away, 9Mag is not that building, it’s wherever we take the experience, so stay tuned and you’ll see what’s coming for the new 9Mag.
So is the shop open and ready right now?
RH: I’m always working, but the shop will be open very soon and you’ll see we’re pretty much live with it. As it airs is as we’re opening.
Hit the flip to find out what Ryan had to say about the status of his relationship with Rachel and whether he’s open to reconciling with any of his former team.
Courtesy VH1
Lily said on Instagram you were hiding a relationship with your assistant Gina, is that true?
RH: No, not at all. I have three assistants, and I think she was implying something about people trying to get on the show. But that’s what happens when people get the lines crossed between what’s real and what’s on the show. I own my shop, there’s people who work in my shop that aren’t characters on the show. Everybody who does real work ain’t meant to be on TV.
What’s going on with you and Rachel right now? We saw you give her some nice things for Mother’s Day but there’s rumors that you guys broke up.
RH: It’s crazy people make assumptions based off things they see on the internet, but can’t no assumptions break us up. At the end of the day we gon’ be us, we got a family to raise.
You’ve always got local Chicago celebrities coming through the shop, so who can we expect to see this season?
RH: There’s a lot going on with the splitting of shops, so I don’t know who they may have coming through on that side. I’m really plugged in but all of my celebrity clientele do not want to be on TV, but as long as we can show the real Chicago it’s all good. I may have a celebrity client tomorrow and you would see that on the show, you just never know.
So basically you guys haven’t shot that far in advance yet?
RH: We have, it’s just all coming to you raw and direct.
What was the hardest thing to deal with this season?
RH: I walked away from people I considered my family. I don’t want people to think I just went rogue and I didn’t care about nobody. No, that was hard for me. It was a build up over time and this is the result of it.
What was the best thing to come out of the split?
RH: Peace of mind. All last year I had so much going on, I didn’t really have time to do for myself, now with this split I can take care of Ryan.
Have you ever had any type of therapy or counseling?
RH: I have, I feel like like everyone should try some therapy. I’d rather get help than just be messed up. Go talk to somebody.
Being from Chicago, how do you feel about the whole Kanye/Rhymefest beef?
RH: I think Rhymefest was just hurt, and spoke on something he felt needed to be said, but we don’t really know what was said between them. Rhymefest could say one thing then Kim Kardashian could say that never happened and because of her level of celebrity more people will side with her. But we don’t know what waS really said. They were real friends.
Who out of the remaining old 9Mag crew do you think you would have the easiest time reconciling with?
RH: I brought Lily in to be a good artist, she’s a hard worker. Whatever discrepancies we’ve got right now I know she ain’t having it the easiest over there either. It would probably be easiest to reconcile with her. She’s coming up. The rest of that is dead.
Dead is a strong word, Ryan.
RH: I know, that’s why I said it.
Whoa… As you can see the emotions are very real with this show. Do you think that Ryan will ever be back on the same page with Van, Kat and Charmaine? How about Lily and Danielle?
