My name is Drakhan Blackhart and I'm the creator of the Black Tape Project™. I am the world's only body tape expert, founder and pioneer of the Body Tape Art Genre. Because of my concepts, I've been able to travel to over 42 countries and counting. My work has been published in countless magazines and I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with directors like Michael Bay (Pain and Gain) and recording artists like Rick Ross in several Maybach music videos including Maluma "la luz". I have also worked with Billy Ray Cyrus and some of the top DJs in the world such as Carl Cox, Chukie, Afrojack, Black Coffee to name just a few. I've also showcased at EDC Vegas, Ultra Miami and Singapore and every major nightclub in Miami, Ibiza and the Cannes Film Fest since 2014.
But first I’d like to give you a little insight into my past. I’m a first generation Cuban American, born and raised in Miami. In 2008 I was living in my car, struggling to feed myself with a lost my phone and not a dollar to my name. I ran out of gas both for my car and in my life. It was definitely the lowest point of my existence. Most of my family had passed away and I inherited a small, run down property not suitable for living that smelled like a wet dog. It had pink water that would come out of the bathtub when I flushed the toilet and there were holes in the roof that were the size of a microwave. I mean, I could literally see the sky from the living room. I dropped to my knees and I looked up to the night sky and cried. I asked what I did to be dragged so low into the ground? I dropped my head and just let it pour out. I got up, composed myself and with a face still wet from tears started cleaning out the bedroom for me to settle in. As I was cleaning I was l blessed to find a box hidden in my late grandfather’s closet with over $26,000 in a cigar box neatly packed in envelopes that were dated monthly from Jan - Dec, 1968-1972. The bills were so old in some places that they didn’t look real and I could tell that they hadn’t seen the light of day in almost 40 years.
After many years of what I considered “the toughest era” in my life, I quickly put the funds to work in hopes to correct my debts and turn my life around. I first put in a new roof and paid off the Ford Focus I was living in. I partied a little and gave money to my family and friends. When you’re young, that amount of money seems like a fortune but I soon realized that 26k wouldn’t last long in this day and age. With my last $1500 I purchased a camera ( Canon Rebel XTI with a cheap lens kit) and when it arrived at my house I was overwhelmed with all the buttons and functions. I didn’t have the slightest idea of photography but I jumped in head first. I started shooting as much as I could on local cars and bikes for $100 here and there. As time went on and I began to develop my skills, I started working with local Miami models from Myspace, Model Mayhem and the girls from Hooters in my town.
Within the first few months I was getting published in local magazines all the way up to Maxim and Playboy (still using the same cheap Canon Rebel!). One day an out of town model booked me for a shoot and on our last look she pulled out a roll of tape and asked me to tape her. I had know idea where to start or what she was expecting. So again i just jumped head first and started taping her. The design was so incomplete and extremely tight. She looked like the Michelin Man who lost a fight with rubber bands. I kept at it because I kept seeing lines and I found the ability to compliment the body by adding lines and creating negative spaces that called to the viewers.
Within a few years I was working at local Miami clubs taping 6 dancers, 3 or 4 nights a week. I had to work fast and make designs that wouldn’t fall apart when they danced, this is where I developed most of my techniques. 15 years later here I am. A self-taught photographer, artist, and entrepreneur. I've managed to make a business off of my ideas and concepts for almost 2 decades.
Fast forward a few years later to one beautifully sunny day on the island of Haiti where I had the pleasure of working with former Miss Puerto Rico for a charity event. After I created the design on her I posted the short clip on social media debuting the metallic gold tape and within hours it went viral. Until that point, no one had seen anything like it and it received over 10 million views overnight. The calls and emails started pouring in and my life changed yet again. It's safe to say that The Black Tape Project™ has saved my life and now I am able to provide for my family, my circle and myself.
Today, I am focused on teaching and educating others by encouraging the world to try this new genre of body art with a collection of our own skin safe body tape that I have curated from my own projects in the past. This is the same tape that I use every day for my live performance designs and that you see in my portfolio. At first I was very defensive about anyone replicating this concept that I felt was mine and mine alone. But I soon realized that it was this specific journey that would allow me to open my skill, techniques and secrets to the world and that’s what truly launched me to success. Soon we started seeing customers who themselves became artists creating their own body tape designs with our tape in all 7 continents. Today, we have customers and students all over the world.
I have been an artist my whole life and in business since 2008, yet I truly feel I am just getting started. I hope you enjoy my work and the movement that’s been created. I'm excited to see what other creatives are able to come up with next that will keep inspiring and pushing this movement forward into something even more spectacular. I know the body tape art genre is here to stay longer than I will be alive and if I haven't achieved it yet, that will be my greatest goal. The Black Tape Project™ is the foundation of this new genre and our legacy has yet to be written. Welcome and stay sexy my friends.
The King of Tape - Drakhan Blackhart
