Rapper Fredo Santana, from the United States, became well-known after releasing the popular mixtape “Trappin Ain’t Dead” in 2013. He was rapper Chief Keef’s senior cousin. Fredo was involved in the drug trade very early in his life after being born and reared in a destitute black neighborhood in Chicago. He carried on dealing narcotics for a while before teaming up with his cousin Chief Keef and starting to rap. Fredo first encountered rap music when Chief Keef’s single “I Don’t Like” was released. He participated in its vocals and the video, both of which. ‘It’s a Scary Site,’ his debut mixtape, was released in 2012; following its independent success, he released many more mixtapes and made a name for himself as a rapper. He rapped on the difficulties he encountered as a child and later as an adolescent. Despite all of his achievements, he was unable to stop using drugs and passed away in early 2018 at the age of 27.
Early Childhood & Life
Derrick Coleman, the father of Fredo Santana, was born on July 4, 1990, in a low-income black family in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were drug users and drug dealers who didn’t give a damn about their kids. His father belonged to a neighborhood gang. Fredo once posted a photo of his father holding Fredo in one hand and a gun in the other.
One of Chicago’s most impoverished communities, Englewood, is where Fredo spent his formative years. He struggled with poverty and was greatly affected by musicians and actors. But he needed cash in order to imitate them. He entered the drug trade at the age of 12 and began peddling marijuana on the streets.
He had already had multiple drug-related arrests by the time he was a teenager. He beat up his school instructor once and engaged in violent assaults on others.
Fredo was determined to avoid living a criminal life at all costs. He had an innate talent for music. After Chief Keef, his younger cousin, started making music, Fredo considered it to be a pleasant diversion.
He started participating in rap fights in his late teens. However, the majority of his raps at that time were humorous in tone. He rapped on his own hardships and his desire to better himself.
By 2012, Fredo had joined Chief in his musical endeavors. He soon started his music career after discovering that the Chicago drill rap subgenre was his forte.
For the first few years of his music career, Fredo was only interested in making music as a hobby. He came up with justifications for skipping studio sessions and kept himself occupied with drug dealing and street brawls. Fredo became aware and began taking music seriously after he realized Chief was succeeding and working hard to become famous.
Career of Fredo Santana
When Fredo Santana made a brief appearance in Chief Keef’s chart-topping song, “I Don’t Like,” the world was introduced to him. Chicago clubs and radio stations played the tune, which quickly rose to the top of the charts. Later, Fredo also made an appearance in the song’s music video, although this was insufficient to help him develop a sizable fan base.
A room where Fredo was being detained under house arrest at the time was used to film Fredo’s scenes for the music video. The success of the song inspired him to write his own music.
His first mixtape, ‘It’s a Scary Site,’ was released independently in the month of September of 2012 and was his first project. After making this official transition into music, Fredo rose to fame as a rapper. His distinct fusion of trap and drill music had a youthful spirit. The lyrics were also harsh and sinister, giving a look into the upbringing he had experienced.
Fredo enlisted a number of inexperienced producers, including Young Chop, C-Sick, 12Hunna, and Paris Bueller, to work on his debut mixtape. A number of rappers, including Chief Keef, Gino Marley, Lil Herb, and Lil Bibby, also made appearances on the tape as guests. As a result of the mixtape’s popularity, Fredo was able to get to work right away on his follow-up.
‘Fredo Kruger,’ another mixtape by Fredo that was made independently, was released in February 2013. The same year, it became accessible on iTunes. The second mixtape had better sales. He continued to live in the same impoverished neighborhood he had grown up in despite having started to earn a respectable income at that point.
Drake listened to his songs and requested him to appear in the “Hold On, We’re Going Home” music video. Fredo played the “bad guy” in the video who kidnaps Drake’s fiancée. Fredo’s celebrity quickly spread beyond Chicago once he was featured in Drake’s music video, and he immediately gained recognition on a national level.
‘Trappin Ain’t Dead,’ which was released independently by Chief and Fredo, was his debut album, which was made available in October 2013. The cousins launched their own record company, Savage Squad Records. Although the album received favorable reviews, it did not receive enough publicity and was unable to enter the majority of music charts.
Although he was not as skilled as his brother Chief, rap music listeners greatly admired him for the way he unapologetically included piercing realities about American ghettos. He played a hard-hitting blend of trap and drill music. His selling pitch was his stark honesty.
Fredo produced a number of mixtapes throughout the ensuing years, including “Street Shit,” “It’s a Scary Site 2,” “Walking Legend,” and “Fredo Mafia.” Even with the 2017 release of his sophomore album, “Fredo Kruger 2,” he largely maintained the same musical aesthetic.
Individual life and death
Fredo Santana was a very sensitive man, according to his contemporaries. In one instance, when he exited a Chicago nightclub, he was met by a large group of adoring locals from a working-class area. As he wasn’t wealthy at the time, Fredo only had $100 in his pocket, but he shared it with them.
He continued to use narcotics despite his accomplishments. He was dependent on lean, which contains a lot of cough syrup. He ate a lot of it. Despite several health warnings from his doctors, he did not stop using medications.
He was hospitalized in late 2017 because of some medical problems. He posted about joining a rehabilitation facility after being discharged from the hospital and asked his followers to follow suit. He made commitments, but he was unable to keep them and kept using narcotics.
He claimed that doing narcotics allowed him to forget his traumatic early life. On January 19, 2018, his body was discovered inside his Los Angeles residence. At the time of Fredo’s passing, his son, Legend Derrick Coleman, was just eight months old.