Swae Lee Turned the “Tatted Like a Chipotle Bag” Meme Into Real Tattoos

Tattoos have always been about identity. Somewhere along the way, the internet decided that if you are heavily tattooed, you are “tatted like a Chipotle bag.”

The phrase started as a joke online, comparing tattooed bodies to the chaotic line drawings that cover Chipotle’s takeout bags. Now the brand is leaning into the meme in a very real way.

For Friday the 13th, Chipotle partnered with Rae Sremmurd artist Swae Lee to release a limited edition flash tattoo sheet inspired by the brand’s signature bag artwork.

When asked about the phrase that sparked the collaboration, Lee laughs.

“I just get it because I’m tatted like a Chipotle bag.”

Lee is heavily tattooed himself, with ink spread across his arms, torso, and stomach. Tattoos have been part of who he is for a long time.

“I just felt my life changing and started getting tatted up,” he says. “I just knew I was gonna be somebody and never felt normal. I wanted to make myself stand out.”

His first tattoo came early.

“I was pretty young when I got my first tattoo,” Lee recalls. “I remember I got it from a dude from Memphis. I just knew I wanted a tattoo so bad back then.”

Some pieces carry deeper meaning than others, like the flaming torches tattooed prominently across his stomach.

“You gotta have that light in the darkness,” he says.

Tattoos, he says, become part of an artist’s identity.

“If you design a car and you put a rhinoceros on the front, everybody’s gonna know the Lambo with the rhinoceros on the front,” Lee explains. “It’s part of your look. It becomes a staple of your look.”

That thinking carried into the flash sheet collaboration with Chipotle.

In tattoo culture, Friday the 13th has become an unofficial holiday. Tattoo shops release flash sheets filled with small pre-drawn designs and run all-day tattoo specials. Fans line up around the block to grab a quick piece of ink.

“It’s a dope collab,” Lee says. “It’s cool to give people something visual that they can actually connect with.”

Lee helped design the exclusive flash sheet himself, pulling inspiration from the sketchbook-style artwork already associated with Chipotle’s takeout bags.

“Chipotle bags already look like tattoos,” he says. “It was just about making sure the designs represent me.”

The goal was to create designs that felt personal but still connected with fans.

“The process was really about making designs that reflect me and my personality, but also something fans could relate to,” Lee says. “I wanted the tattoos to feel like little pieces of the Swae Lee world.”

One design on the sheet stands out as his favorite.

“Swae Lee dice,” he says.

Lee says the idea of fans wearing something he designed hits differently.

“It feels good that people are down with the movement and the tats resonate with them like that.”

Fans can take part in the celebration themselves on Friday the 13th. From 3 to 4 p.m. local time on March 13, Chipotle restaurants will offer a one-hour BOGO promotion for anyone who shows up with a tattoo. It does not have to be permanent. Temporary tattoos or even a drawn on design count.

The limited edition Swae Lee x Chipotle flash tattoo sheet will be available exclusively at the Midtown Miami Chipotle location while supplies last.

For a meme that started as a throwaway internet joke, “tatted like a Chipotle bag” has come full circle.

Turns out the internet might have been onto something.