A rapper who says he is “dying” for his music has paid tribute to his hero Anne Frank with a shocking facial tattoo.

Arnold Gutierrez, who goes by the names Xan Frank and ArnoldIsDead, stunned rap fans with a huge inking of the Jewish writer, who died in the Holocaust at the age of 15.

Anne Frank’s diary remains one of the most widely known books of all time, offering a chilling glimpse into her family’s struggle against Nazi persecution.

In it, Frank describes the harrowing years she spent hiding in a secret attic in the Dutch city of Amsterdam, knowing that every day could be her last before her family was rounded up and murdered.

LA-based Gutierrez, a member of the Xanarchy rapper collective, has now decided that a portrait tattoo of the Holocaust victim would be a fitting tribute to her bravery.

The controversial inking, depicting the smiling teenage girl, shot the 21-year-old musician to viral fame, Noisey reports.

Warning: Graphic language

Gutierrez said: “There are people in history that didn’t have the power to control, to actually do things that they wanted to do with their lives.”

“To be stuck in a house, and end up dying … dude I’m dying to make music. That’s the way I look at it. It’s very black and white.”

“She ended up getting caught and ended up being murdered s–t and yo — I’ve been put at gunpoint and I’ve had a lot of serious s–t in my life before and like seeing that … you can’t get any worse than being killed off in your own country.”

“Seeing like Jewish people come in, in my own classroom and seeing them talk about the Holocaust, like survivors … that always stuck to me personally.”

The rapper became a viral sensation after photos of his inking emerged on Instagram, posted by fellow Xanarchy member Xanxiety.

But not everyone is so sure that the tattoo is a fitting tribute to Frank.

Taking to Twitter, one critic asked: “How socially inept and disrespectful do you have to be to tattoo a portrait of Anne Frank on your face?”

Another chipped in to say: “I never thought I’d see an Anne Frank tattoo. Let alone an Anne Frank face tattoo.”

Other Twitter users just seemed confused when the controversial ink went viral.

One said: “But why get an Anne Frank face tattoo… I understand it’s their body and they can do whatever they want to it… But Why.”

And another said: “Imagine being so desperate to seem different and unique that you have to do something as absurd as getting an Anne Frank face tattoo.”