Ceaser Emanuel

CTL-E-6137 · Person · artist · 1979–present

PROVISIONAL evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07352 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6137.

David Emanuel, known as Ceaser Emanuel, born 5 June 1979 in the Bronx, New York, is an American tattoo artist, entrepreneur and reality television personality. Trained in graphic arts, he opened his first Black Ink tattoo studio in Harlem in 2011, building the shop as a Black-owned business in an industry with few Black corporations. VH1's Black Ink Crew, which premiered in 2013, followed Emanuel and the staff of his Harlem shop and made him the face of a franchise that expanded to other cities; he also appeared on VH1's Love & Hip Hop programmes. At his peak he reported owning shops in New York, Atlanta, Orlando and New Orleans. VH1 cut ties with him in June 2022. In an August 2025 interview he said he currently owned four shops, in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Indianapolis and Milwaukee, and was downsizing after suffering two strokes attributed to high blood pressure.

The record

• Also known as: David Emanuel, Ceaser

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Census Intake Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 12; 27-record packet). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Ceaser Emanuel entity in the live graph at 3,843 entities (exact / normalized / alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-6137 assigned at assembly. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 3 — Famous Birthdays ABSENT census, readiness rank 1777 (Reality Stars list). The census supplied the NAME ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — African American tattoo artist and Black business owner from the Bronx (TheCityCeleb; REVOLT, 6 Dec 2017, where he describes Black Ink as a Black-owned business). Vital status: LIVING — gave an extended on-camera interview published 17 August 2025 discussing his strokes, medication and shop portfolio (Urban Hollywood 411); the currency of this evidence is the Provisional cap below. STATISTICS (sourced, dated): First Black Ink studio opened in Harlem in 2011 and Black Ink Crew premiered on VH1 in 2013 (Sidewalks Entertainment; Urban Hollywood 411); four shops owned as of August 2025 — Brooklyn, Atlanta, Indianapolis and Milwaukee (Urban Hollywood 411, 17 Aug 2025). Legal (procedural mention only, one neutral line): VH1 cut ties with Emanuel in June 2022 after a video surfaced, and People reported in July 2022 that he was charged with two counts of animal cruelty and one count of aggravated cruelty to animals; no adjudicated outcome is asserted in this record. PROVISIONAL CAP: no authoritative anchor retrieved dated October 2026 for vital status — the latest dated evidence secured in this pass is the August 2025 interview. MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate: Getty Images photograph of Ceaser Emanuel by Michael Loccisano; no file page read at file-page level in this pass, so no image is cleared — CTL-PHOTO-001; a CTL-created graphic is the standing alternative); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6137-ceaser-emanuel.svg); video HELD (Shorts Link Map checked by name and variants — no matching-entity CTL Short); audio HELD (no rights basis). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot under the media-layer rule; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created SVG (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced facts) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map catalog (checked by name and variants), and no official/em) | audio = HELD (No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio at staging.)

Sources

• Urban Hollywood 411, '"Black Ink Crew" Star Ceaser Emanuel Reveals He Suffered 2 Strokes' (17 Aug 2025) — Emanuel told interviewer King he had suffered two strokes attributed to high blood pressure, had undergone speech therapy, and currently owned four tattoo shops, in Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Brooklyn, while downsizing for his health; Black Ink Crew premiered in 2013 at his Harlem shop and VH1 fired him in June 2022 — https://urbanhollywood411.com/black-ink-crew-star-ceaser-emanuel-suffered-2-strokes/ (primary source · build store)
• Sidewalks Entertainment, 'Interview: Ceaser Emanuel' (recorded 15 Apr 2021) — David 'Ceaser' Emanuel, born and raised in the Bronx, is a tattoo artist and star and executive producer of VH1's Black Ink Crew; his first Black Ink store opened in Harlem, followed by shops in New York, Atlanta and New Orleans — https://www.sidewalkstv.com/interview-ceaser-emanuel/ (build store)
• REVOLT, '"Black Ink Crew"'s Ceaser talks being a black business owner, break-up with Dutchess' (6 Dec 2017) — Emanuel, owner of the Black Ink brand, discussed expanding the brand and being a Black-owned business: 'There's not too many Black corporations besides FUBU that really made a mark' — https://www.revolt.tv/article/2017-12-06/35653/black-ink-crews-ceaser-talks-being-a-black-business-owner-break-up-with-dutchess (build store)
• PopCulture.com, '"Black Ink Crew" Star Ceaser Emanuel Fired After Dog Abuse Video' (2022) — VH1 announced on 23 June 2022 that it had cut ties with Emanuel from Black Ink Crew New York after a video surfaced; his attorney Walter Mosley commented to People — https://popculture.com/reality-tv/news/black-ink-crew-star-ceaser-emanuel-fired-after-dog-abuse-video/ (build store)
• TheCityCeleb, 'Ceaser Emanuel Biography' — David Emanuel, born 5 June 1979 in the Bronx, New York; tattoo artist and owner of the Black Ink shops featured on VH1's Black Ink Crew; his ethnicity is African-American and his mother, Desiree Simpson, was originally from Jamaica — https://www.thecityceleb.com/biography/entertainer/ceaser-emanuel-biography-net-worth-spouse-age-daughter-siblings-business-parents-height-nationality/ (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6137 · Combined Graph record U-07352 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 5 sources.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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