Derrick Coleman (July 4, 1990 – January 19, 2018), known professionally as Fredo Santana, was an American rapper. The older cousin of Chicago rapper

Chief Keef Keith Farrelle Cozart (born August 15, 1995), better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His music first became popular during his teen years in the early 2010s among high school s ...

, Santana began recording music in 2011, releasing a series of mixtapes throughout 2012 and 2013. His debut studio album, '' Trappin Ain't Dead'', was released in 2013 via Savage Squad and peaked at number 45 on the US

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

. Santana's second studio album, ''Fredo Krueger 2'', a sequel to his 2013 mixtape ''Fredo Krueger'', was released in 2017. Santana died of a seizure on January 19, 2018.

Career

Fredo's first mixtape, ''It's a Scary Site'', was released on September 20, 2012. It featured production by

TM88 Bryan Lamar Simmons (born April 4, 1987), professionally known as TM88 (also known as TrackMan 88), is an American record producer and DJ from Atlanta, Georgia. He is a member of the Atlanta-based record production and songwriting team 808 Mafi ...

Young Chop Tyree Lamar Pittman (born November 14, 1993), better known by his stage name Young Chop, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. In 2012, he gained widespread recognition within the American hip hop community for producing Chief K ...

, 12Hunna, Leek E Leek, J-Hill, C-Sick, and Paris Bueller as well as guest appearances from Chief Keef,

Lil Reese Tavares Lamont Taylor (born January 6, 1993), known professionally as Lil Reese, is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. Hailing from Chicago's drill scene in the early 2010s, he is known for his collaborations with fellow rappers Chie ...

King L Louis King Johnson, Jr. (born December 27, 1987), better known by his stage name King Louie (or King L), is an American rapper from Chicago. Spin Magazine attributed King Louie as being one of the Chicago rappers who made Chicago the "hottest h ...

, Gino Marley, Frenchie,

Lil Herb Herbert Randall Wright III (born October 8, 1995), better known by his stage name G Herbo (formerly Lil Herb), is an American rapper from Chicago. G Herbo is signed to Machine Entertainment Group. He has released the mixtapes ''Welcome to Fazo ...

Lil Bibby Brandon George Dickinson (born July 18, 1994), better known by his stage name Lil Bibby, is an American rapper and record executive. Beginning his career in 2011, Bibby released his debut mixtape in 2013, titled '' Free Crack''. After signing wi ...

, and

Lil Durk Durk Derrick Banks (born October 19, 1992), known professionally as Lil Durk, is an American rapper and singer. He is the lead member and founder of the collective and record label Only the Family (OTF). Durk garnered a cult following with the ...

. Santana's second mixtape, ''Fredo Kruger'', was released on February 28, 2013, and featured production by

808 Mafia 808 Mafia is an American record production and songwriting team, founded by record producers Southside, TM88, and Lex Luger. Southside is currently at the helm of the group. The group also includes producers Young Miami , Fuse 100, Tarentino, P ...

and Mike Will Made It, as well as guest appearances from

Migos Migos () is an American hip hop trio from Lawrenceville, Georgia, founded in 2008. The group was originally composed of Southern rappers Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia; Offset and Takeoff were born and raised in Law ...

Juelz Santana LaRon Louis James (born February 18, 1982), better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of East Coast hip hop group The Diplomats, also known as Dipset. He is best known for his appearances on Cam'ron's 2002 si ...

Soulja Boy DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), known professionally as Soulja Boy (formerly Soulja Boy Tell 'Em), is an American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence, after his self published debut single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" peake ...

Young Scooter Kenneth Edward Bailey (born March 28, 1986), better known by his stage name Young Scooter, is an American rapper who is affiliated with Freebandz and 1017 Brick Squad Records and CEO of his own label Black Migo Gang. Scooter grew to prominence ...

Fat Trel Martrel Reeves (born June 26, 1990), better known by his stage name Fat Trel, is an American rapper. He is currently signed to MGE The Label with distribution of Asylum Records. He was signed to DTLA Records with the distribution with Beryl Med ...

, Alley Boy, Lil Durk and Lil Reese among others. It would later be released for retail sale via iTunes on May 7, 2013. On September 24, 2013, Fredo Santana made a cameo appearance in

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

's music video for "

Hold On, We're Going Home "Hold On, We're Going Home" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake, featuring the R&B duo Majid Jordan. The song was produced by Noah "40" Shebib, OVO Sound's Majid Jordan and Nineteen85, and it is the second single from his third studio album, ''No ...

", in which he portrayed a bad guy kidnapping Drake's "girlfriend". His debut album, ''Trappin Ain't Dead'', was released on November 20, 2013. The album featured guest appearances by

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his Progressive rap, progressive musical styles and Social consciousness, socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most infl ...

, Chief Keef, Peewee Longway and other members of Glory Boyz Entertainment. ''It's a Scary Site 2'' was released on December 20, 2013. On February 27, 2014, Santana announced that he and Keef were going to release a collaboration album ''Blood Thicker Than Water'', which never came to fruition. On July 9, 2014, he revealed the track list for his upcoming album ''Walking Legend''.

Personal life

Santana was the older cousin of Chicago rapper

Health issues

Santana was a heavy user of drugs, at one point being addicted to

Xanax Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax, among others, is a fast-acting, potent tranquilizer of medium duration in the triazolobenzodiazepine (TBZD) class, which are benzodiazepines (BZDs) fused with a triazole ring. It is most commonly ...

and

lean Lean, leaning or LEAN may refer to: Business practices * Lean thinking, a business methodology adopted in various fields ** Lean construction, an adaption of lean manufacturing principles to the design and construction process ** Lean governm ...

. Santana attributed his heavy drug use to trauma experienced during his childhood, admitting he had

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

and turned to drugs as a coping mechanism. Santana was hospitalized in March 2017 after having a

seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...

, which he blamed on a heavy workload and his poor sleep schedule. After the seizures persisted, Santana was diagnosed with

idiopathic epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

in May 2017 and prescribed Keppra to treat it. Despite the medicine, Santana continued to have seizures, usually multiple in a row. Santana was hospitalized once again in October 2017 after friend and fellow rapper Gino Marley found Santana mid-seizure on the floor of his house with blood coming from his mouth. He was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with both liver and kidney failure, with the main factors being his addiction to Xanax and lean. Santana expressed interest in going to rehab while in the hospital.

Death

On the evening of January 19, 2018, at around 11:30 p.m. local time, Santana's girlfriend discovered him unresponsive at their home in

Reseda, Los Angeles Reseda is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1912, and its central business district started developing in 1915. The neighborhood was devoted to agriculture for many years. Earthquakes ...

. Shortly after, Santana was pronounced dead. He had a fatal seizure, and an autopsy revealed he had developed

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

in addition to the previous conditions he had.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

* ''It's a Scary Site'' (2012) * ''Fredo Kruger'' (2013) * ''Street Shit'' (with Gino Marley) (2013) * ''It's a Scary Site 2'' (2013) * ''Walking Legend'' (2014) * ''Ain't No Money Like Trap Money'' (2015) * ''Fredo Mafia'' (with

) (2016) * ''Plugged In'' (2017)

Singles

Guest appearance

* "Familiar" (2014)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Fredo 1990 births 2018 deaths 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American musicians African-American business executives African-American male rappers American chief executives American music industry executives Businesspeople from Chicago Drill musicians Trap musicians Midwest hip hop musicians Rappers from Chicago 21st-century American male musicians Neurological disease deaths in California Deaths from epilepsy 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American musicians