It looks like it’ll be drama as usual on the season finale of
Black Ink Crew: Chicago.
All season, fans have watched 9 Mag Tattoo, a Chicago-based ink shop started by Ryan Henry, fall apart as the other tattoo artists felt abandoned by Henry when he suddenly closed down the shop.
The others — Charmaine Walker, Van Johnson, Phor Brumfield, Don Brumfield, Cobra Kat, and Danielle Jamison — were left to pick up the pieces, eventually forming their own shop, Loyal Ink.
And in a
preview of the season finale, Henry is up to his sneaky antics as he’s plotting to possibly steal Loyal Ink’s shop location right from under them after their lease goes up for sale.
Walker, one of the original members of 9 Mag, told ESSENCE exclusively not to worry: Loyal Ink is still in its original shop.
“There’s still an actual shop!” she said. “We just all want the best for that location and we want it to be bigger than what it’s been in the past. But people can go to 2150 South Canalport [in Chicago] and you’ll see the artists.”
And although she didn’t want to spoil Wednesday night’s season finale, she hinted that Henry’s plans to try and kick them out of their own shop definitely didn’t help his relationship with Loyal Ink.
“Definitely expect another conversation between Ryan and Loyal Ink, and everything and everyone that comes with Ryan, who you don’t even realize comes with Ryan,” Walker said. “There’s another situation — confrontation.”
It’s anyone’s guess who the radio personality is referring to, but when we guessed Ryan’s girlfriend, Walker said: “Who knows! Might be!”
“There has to be respect on all levels here,” she continued. “My man needs to respect him, and his girl needs to be respect me.”
Walker said when it comes to repairing her relationship with Henry, which she’s tried — without much luck — all season, she admitted that it’s gotten worse before it’s gotten better.
“It’s almost like the five stages of death,” she explained. “You’re angry, then you’re in denial. Ryan and I were really close and I just felt like he did us so wrong, but in reality we’ve all done kind of bogus things in different situations.”
After this contentious season, Walker said she hopes to “rebuild” her friendship with Henry. “I think we both want that,” she added.
Fans of
Black Ink Crew: Chicago should expect this season’s drama to roll into next season too.
“We start filming season five next week,” Walker revealed. “That’s something that people don’t really know yet. A lot of things are not fixed at all.”
“You can’t grow and learn unless you own your faults and mistakes, but the problem outside of that is you need the people that you’re trying to repair your relationship with…they need to own there’s too.”
The season four finale of
Black Ink Crew: Chicago airs Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 Central.
