Is Jeremy Meeks Still Part Of The Crips Street Gang?

08/31/2017 04:39 pm EDT

Jeremy Meeks may be living a cleaner life now that he's out of prison, but a recent interview makes it seem as though he still has ties to his past gang activity.

Meeks, better known online as the Hot Felon, recently spoke with Man About Town magazine about his life after prison, and he revealed that he's slowly moving on from his troubled past.

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The interviewer asked Meeks if he had quit the Crips street gang, and he noted that he had done that to an extent.

"You can quit and, to a certain extent, I have. I'm extremely non-active. I'm grown now."

The tattoos spread across Meeks' body tell the story of his gang life. He has "Crip Life" inked on his forearms, 'NC' - thought to stand for Northside Crips - on his neck, and a teardrop tattooed below his eye.

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The ink was meant to be permanent, but Meeks has revealed that being a father has pushed him to move past that life. His sons have often asked about the tattoos and what they mean, and he wants to do everything he can to keep them from the life that he lived.

"They ask me a lotta questions that are really hard to answer. All they gotta do is type my name, Google it. It tells about crimes and my background and my gang affiliation. There comes a million questions...," he said.

"They want to be just like me - I don't want to tell them, 'yeah I'm a Crip and I'm this and I'm that and I've done this and I've done that.' And it's nothing to boast about or even something you even want to talk to your kids about because next you know, they say 'Okay well my dad's a Crip so that's what I'm going to be.'"

Meeks became an Internet sensation back in 2014 when he was arrested and his mugshot went viral.

Photo Credit: Twitter / @JMEEKSOFFICIAL

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