¶ Life Journey
Hello everybody , welcome to another wonderful , exciting , amazing episode of Hanging with Humans . It's me , your host , rj , and I am sitting in a tattoo shop by the name of Ink House Tattoo Art Gallery and it's off Monte Cristo Road in Edensburg , texas . And it's off Monte Cristo Road in Edensburg , texas , and I have another guest today .
Hold on , I'm drawing a blank right now . Sorry , dude , I don't know why I forgot your name , freddie that's right . God damn it . Freddie Honda , freddie Honda . All right , freddie , freddie , freddy , freddy , freddy . What's your last name , freddy ?
My last name is Ramirez .
Thank you for finishing that sentence , ramirez , and how ?
old are you , freddy ? I am going to be 37 next month , so I'm 36 . You ?
lie . Yeah bro , 37 . I don't believe it 37 years old .
yeah , People come in here and they're like I start telling them about my journey and my story and stuff and they're like bro , how old are you , how old do I look Like 26 ? Hell , no , I wish .
People say the same thing about me . So what we're doing here today is I'm getting best bro tats with my other best bro , Freddy , over here Not this Freddy , other Freddie .
I just met this Freddie and I thought it would be a cool idea or actually , Freddie thought it would be a cool idea for me to do a podcast while I get a tattoo , while interviewing other Freddie and I'm going to say it's actually the best idea Freddie's had in a long time . So thank you for that , Freddie .
So what we do here on the podcast is I interview people and I let them paint a picture of what their life looks like , how it began , where it's going and everything in between . So , with that being said , Freddie , I got a bunch of questions for you .
Where were you born ? I was born in Matamoros , tamaulipas , mexico , which is a border town in Mexico , right next to Brownsville . Really , I got papers , don't worry , I got papers . I got papers . My uncle's a doctor over there . My mom was having complications . When I was a kid I had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck .
The doctors here in the hospital said that it was just normal . So when we went over there to Mexico with my uncle he was like nah , he needs to get operated , like you need to get an emergency c-section because yeah , yeah , you're in trouble . So I started off life with a gamble .
Paid off ? I suppose yes it does . So you're born in Mexico , mexico , but I was raised in Brownsville . Okay , can you tell me a little bit about your mother and father .
My father has a locksmith company called J&J Locksmith . He's had that company ever since I was born and my mother has always been like a house mother . But that's also helped my father like with his business and stuff .
So I would say that my mom's job is , which is being like a house mother but cooking , cleaning , you know what I mean Doing the whole thing . So it's a job . It's a job , yeah . Shout out to my parents Do you have any siblings ? Yeah , I actually have two brothers and a younger sister , and what do they do ? I have no idea .
I don't really talk to them Really . Yeah , it's more of a hide-by stuff . I know my other brother before my sister . He recently started tattooing and right now he's tattooing in san antonio . So he's doing that . I don't know what my , what my uh other brother is doing and my sister I don't know what she's doing .
Anyway , you have a pretty big family , uh , just us , that's pretty much it . Um , we've never really been super family oriented . We've always just been us , so it's just really just been us . We don't really hang out with cousins or none of that in my family , so sad .
So sad . I feel that so sad . You say you're 37 years old . I don't believe it , but if that is really a thing , is really a thing .
So have you spent your entirety of your life in Texas ? I've spent most of my life in Texas . I lived in Oklahoma , I lived in West Texas , I lived in Houston . So yeah , pretty much Texas . Just a few months that I lived in Oklahoma . That's about it . What do you love about ?
Texas . If you love it , do you love it .
I love Texas because I'm from here , but I mean , there's a lot of things that I don't agree with that . I wish , like the laws on like marijuana and all that stuff . Right , I have to go to Colorado and out of state to be able to smoke comfortably and stuff . Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah . But other than that , texas is good .
Texas has the most people in prison , which is pretty crazy , bro , too , and stuff , and that's one of the only things I don't really like about Texas those two things . Other than that , it's chilling , bro . I don't mind it .
Does Texas have a death penalty ? Yeah , oh , wow , huh , okay , so life growing up over . Did you grow up in Brownsville ?
So I grew up in Brownsville , went to school in Brownsville Elementary , middle school , high school , graduated , went to college , did the whole thing and then from there , you know , I had my jobs and stuff and life took me a certain route , a different route , and I started getting in trouble . It's very hard to get in trouble , especially like at a border town .
Yeah , because it's so easy to make money , bro , so easy Like you can literally like , just hey , these people need to be picked up close to the border and taken to another house . Chinese people , mexican people , russian people and people go and pick them up or like , hey , I need this , move this stuff , move to a different house or whatever .
Blah , blah , blah . So it's , it's really easy to get caught up there if you're not , if you're , very weak-minded when it comes to , like you know , I mean a lot of people they struggle and stuff and they try to find , you know , a resort and doing stuff like that . So that's how I got caught up , yeah so I guess .
So a lot of people end up in like gangs and stuff like that . Um , was that ?
not a lot of people , but it's because it already depends , like how you said I wasn't , I was raised in a getaway neighborhood . But I mean , just because you were raised there doesn't mean that that's how you're gonna end up . It's just really the people you hang out with .
I saw people with trucks and I saw people like you know , doing their thing and stuff and I'm like man , I want that . You know , I was working a nine to five job but these guys were like chilling all day and then making three times as much as I was . So why not ? You know what I mean .
I had to run the hard way , I got caught eventually and you know I did time and stuff like that , but that's that . There's a lot of that down there , bro . You know what I mean a lot of young , uh , tex-mex , uh , latino guys . That's what they get caught up in and they end up ruining their lives .
It's easy to fall into . Yeah , dang um . So you ended up doing that later on , but you said you went to school first . What was uh ? What were you interested ?
so I was going to school for phlebotomy and then I just thought that it wasn't for me . So I started going to school for uh , auto mechanics . And then I ended up getting kicked out of school because I was dating this Philippine chick and I ended I caught her cheating on me and I punched the guy and he got , and I got a .
I got a , um , kicked out of school , was suspended for a whole semester and then I just decided not to go anymore and that was it . And that was it , bro . That was really it . I came to that .
What were you going to be majoring in ?
I was in auto mechanics and auto tech .
Oh , that's right , auto tech .
Yeah .
So you venture out of that .
¶ Musical Journey and Band Inspiration
What's your next move , career-wise ?
Career-wise is just tattooing , honestly , and music I have . I also do music . I'm in a band called popular loner . We do a little bit of rap , rock . Um , it's been great . We just have a year doing it and it's been an awesome adventure . I was in another group before that , which kind of sparked it . You know what I mean .
Um started getting my reputation and the music world and you know , and once people heard my music and then they saw that I would tattoo , I started tattooing a lot of people as well .
You know it already started because I was tattooing first but I wanted to get some type of promotion like out there , you know what I mean , and freddy would come all the time and we'll be flowing and you know the fucking just doing our thing and shit .
And then I I got to the point where I was like you know what I'm actually , I want to do it for real , for real .
You know what I ?
mean fuck it right yeah and and this guy would always motivate me he's like god , dude , we gotta take it day by day and you know , just give it our all best , or whatever . And yeah , I just fell for it , bro , and and ever since then I've just been doing music and it's been working for me .
I love that man . Where does your inspiration for music come from , would you say ?
Since I was a kid . I grew up playing instruments in church Guitar , bass , piano , all that stuff so it kind of just stuck around . I played in several bands . In school I played guitar and I played in jazz band and then I started playing bands that I was playing , like Tool , slipknot , korn , all the good new metal and 90s and early 2000s .
So the band that I'm in right now we basically that's the style that we got going on . It's like early 2000s . You know what I mean .
So it's kind of like that Houston sort of . What is it Like ? Suicide Boys ?
Kind of like imagine , like a imagine like a Suicide Boys , but with rock okay , okay , with a little bit of guitar . You know what I mean .
A lot of people do compare us to the suicide boys , but I like to say that we have a very distinct sound , um , when we have our , when we add our rock to it so I watched , uh , freddie me , and freddie watched two of your videos .
Um , they're uh wow , so it's you , and uh , you have another yeah , so my , it's me and my brother troy , oh , my brother , right from another mother , but my brother troy , uh , we , uh , we're the ones that uh started popular learner that's awesome .
Um , there was one thing it paused at the very end of the video and then you guys say something super funny and it it was like hilarious . What was that , freddie ? I can't remember . This is a trip . Oh , this is a trip . Yeah , yeah , yeah . No this is a trip . No , the way that thing was done , man , and it was amazing . It was an amazing video .
Oh yeah , and that one . I took a puff and I don't have any tattoos and all of a sudden my tattoos appear and stuff with the weed .
Yeah , I remember that one , I was like very impressed , like I mean everything Music amazing . What do you have like future plans with that ? Oh ?
we have a lot of future plans . Actually , you say you have a concert soon . Yeah , so we have a . We're going to be at the viper , at the , at the viper arena , um , here in and in , uh , here in edinburgh , and uh , it's gonna be on february 14th , on valentine's day .
But the good thing about it is , before anybody said , well , that's valentine's day , look , you're gonna go enjoy a badass basketball game , a badass concert . They're gonna be giving out roses , they're gonna be giving out like candy , you know . So they're , they're . They're making it like really , really badass basketball game , a badass concert .
They're going to be giving out roses , they're going to be giving out candy , so they're making it really , really badass there for the couples and stuff . It's a great way . The tickets are only $8 . They usually go for like $25 , sometimes more . The tickets are only that much , bro . That's awesome . On .
Valentine's Day yeah , vipers Arena , that's where you go for you watch those basketball game , right ? Yeah , um , your brother , uh , from another mother , troy . Can you tell me a little bit about him and how you guys came to be and uh ? Uh started doing music together ?
yeah . So I hit up his dm , I slid through his dms and now , um he , uh , basically we contacted each other and I had seen him , like , made up , make a song , right , and I told him , yeah , bro , you got some , you got some badass uh uh music . Yeah , you know we should link up one of these days or whatnot .
And he was like , yeah , so one day we ended up linking up and we ended up doing I don't know if you saw that video that had like AI in it .
Freddie , what was the first one we watched ? The second one , the first video ? Which one was that one ?
The green lowrider oh , gtfo . Yeah , that bitch , get the fuck out of here . Okay , that was more like our rap stuff , yeah , Okay . Okay , that was more like our rap stuff , yeah , okay . So we actually kind of blew up with that song and with the one I'm telling you that has like AI in it . The one that has AI in it got us into the news .
No , they hit us up from the news Channel 4 , channel 5 , you know , the Spanish channel , and then GTFO opened doors up in the hip-hop world and so every time there's like a hip-hop artist or whatever , they hit us up .
That's what's up , dude , and this is just all off of YouTube .
YouTube and all social , all platforms , yeah yeah , we're everywhere . We just I think the last concert that we had was with mexican ot . We opened up for mexican ot and , uh , we pulled up in a green lowrider to the stage . We just try to be different than everybody else , bro . We try to put on a show , yeah that's .
That's amazing man . I'm pumped for you guys . I am pumped for you guys . I am pumped for you guys . Straight up Popular Loaner . How'd you come up with the name ?
The name . So my friend Troy already kind of had the name and he was like , look bro , I wanted to do this clothing brand and call it Popular Loaner . And then I was like , nah , fuck that , let's just make it into a band .
And at first it was just me and him , and then from there we just we started adding more guys , which is the guitar player and the you know , shout out to Ozzy . We recently are getting a new drummer and a new bass player , so we're just waiting on that and we have our full band again .
That's awesome man . So from a band , question real quick uh , what does it take to put together a song like produced all the way and like you know out there , or maybe a video too like so .
So the way we do our songs
¶ Mental Health, Addiction, and Recovery
is , um , we get together and sometimes I'm having a bad day , sometimes he's having a bad day . We get one of our beats that we already have there and we just kind of , we , we put our feelings in it .
So every single song that you heard from us it's a , it's like a heartbreak song , because we were both going through a heartbreak time him with his girl , me with my girl . You know what I mean , and it was a lot of inspiration .
So we will go to the studio and just create these things and sometimes we would hear it and we would sometimes we'll tear up because we're hearing our lyrics , but they're they're not like , okay , this sounds good , let's say this . No , they're actually coming from us and it's , it's been an emotional ride , it's been , it's been cool .
So whenever you hear our songs , you're hearing my story , basically like in my relationship , in my mind , going through addictions , going through , um , feeling like . You're hearing my story , basically like in my relationship , in my mind , going through addictions , going through feeling like you're alone , depression , and all that .
So I have several songs that , like they talk about that .
That's awesome , man . I think there's a need for that , like transparency , in the world right now .
And yeah , so it's a big reason why I do this is for mental health purposes , you know yeah , I believe a lot in mental health awareness and helping people to have mental health , because it's , it's , it's , it's real , bro , it's it's . People think , nah , it's all in your head , nah , it's , it's , it's real .
Like this shit does come and attack you and some people are lucky enough to to face it and keep going another day and some people just give up . You know it gets to the point when people give up and and , um , it's , it's our job , people like us , it's our job to be able to help those people too . You know what I mean .
That's why I'm very appreciative , like you , that you do your podcast and you go and you help people out and make up , understand that there's more to life than what they're living you know what I Than what they're going through , because everybody goes through something .
So they're not alone .
We just have to remind them that they're not alone and we're there to help them out .
Thank you for putting it that way , because that's exactly how I feel about it , from beginning to end . Yes , sir , there are a lot of voices out there that just don't get to be heard , for whatever reason , and I think it's important for those stories , uh , for people to meet those people . Yeah , exactly , show that you can get through things .
Um , um , I want to , since you know we're on the mental health thing um , a lot of people from depression can turn into addiction .
They're running from what they're dealing with in their head or at home , and then they , you know , drugs can numb you or alcohol can numb you yeah , bro , like me in my story and and I I used to , I used to be not addicted but I used to run to like drugs , cocaine , crack , um all that type of stuff , and I would try to , and that shit would numb me
for a little bit and it would stop me from thinking all these thoughts because I wasn't a very abusive relationship , like .
I was always mentally challenged , like challenged with my emotions because , um , a lot of people they're like , well , not that my wife would hit me or nothing , but she would like , really like , get me through the emotional and and mental side .
Yeah , and sometimes , even though we have our friends and even though we have people that back us up , sometimes , if we feel that there's we need more than that , so we run to drugs and it numbs our being for a couple minutes or for an hour and then but everything comes back and it comes times two , because now we're , you're not that , but you have all your
friends looking for you , and then you have and all these things , cause it's happened to me .
You know there's been times where Freddie had to go look for me you know what I mean Cause they would say they couldn't find me and and I do have friends that do look out for me and stuff , but we , we sometimes we're hardheaded and we don't just want our friends ,
¶ Life Changes and Personal Growth
we want some , which is the drugs .
So recently that , um , I've been sober for for a good minute already and like thanks to , to , like my fellow peers and like my wife , like my fiance now , and like god you know what I mean I've turned my faith to god and he's helped me out a lot as well , and it's just , it's amazing , bro , it's it's , it's crazy how you feel that this is going to be
true . You'd be your life , for the rest of your life , and things just change , yeah , like , from one day to another . You know what I mean , without you even realizing it . By the time you realize it , you're like , damn , like everything's cool . You know what I mean ?
It's badass , though there's like a price that comes with not giving up . What do you think ? Yeah , boy , that's dope . I love it . Thanks , bro . Hell , yeah , appreciate it . We're still going to interview and continue . Yeah , yeah , definitely , but now we're just switching dudes now . What do you think ? Dope ? Huh , freddie , that's nice .
Yeah , I know how much are you guys paying me for this . Again Paying you with my friendship , because I'm such a good friend . Lebron .
James University . That one you got to finish that one too right .
Yep , I sure do that one . Let's see , half my back needs to be done . That's great . I need some shading done on my fat . I like that gait you're growing . Thank you , that's my day one . Autumn Hudson . She's like crazy good . But yeah , I am gonna need lots of work done .
To be honest , if you could think of a moment or a chapter that was like a change of course for you in your life or a wake up call Shit prison bro Prison , having a daughter and uh and um , just caring about people's feelings or caring about other people .
You know what I mean , cause we do a lot of stuff without thinking and then we don't know . We don't know who we're hurting in the process .
Being less selfish . Right , yeah , like less selfish .
Music's my other source of income , pretty right there . Why should we be asking you , since you're getting it first ?
Yeah , that's perfect . Yeah , cool , we got two music yo , is there any ? Because it's it's kind of just getting to know you , um .
But I guess the way I explain the podcast is uh , I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life , so I just started traveling , not knowing where I wanted to go , what I wanted to do with my life , so I just started traveling , not knowing where I wanted to go , what I wanted to do , um , so I moved state to state to state to state to state for the
last 14 years , something like that .
Yeah , and I made so many friends and relationships all over the place that I can pick up my my life and move it to any state I wanted to right now , oh yeah , and so I take that everywhere I go and for whatever reason , people open up to me very easily and , um , and I haven't done a lot of people dirty in my life yeah , exactly yeah .
When you have a good reputation for yourself and like it depends on your character , like I , I feel like if you have a good character or if you have positive energy , it reflects upon other people .
So as soon as you walk into the room or like , let's say , right now , like you throw this positive energy and it's not an awkward feeling or it's not like something like damn , like I don't know something feels weird . You know what I'm saying .
I like to consider myself like that I can go anywhere and like doors are always open , but because of humbleness you know what
¶ Breaking Stereotypes and Building Connections
I mean and the way you communicate with people and like it and just it doesn't matter how you look . Like I mean , I'm tired from the phase you're all tatted . You know what I mean .
But they say that the people that are most tattooed , those are the nicest people ever bro yeah , it's a lot of people like to stereotype , but then it's like total opposite you know what I mean .
That's a huge . One of the main reasons why I started doing this is because that I've moved to so many different places where sometimes people don't look like me . There , right like montana is predominantly caucasian , like across the board , and I got there . There's not a lot of tattoo , yeah , you know .
So it took a while for people to warm up to me , but now I consider that place home because I've changed so much and grown as a person there more than anywhere else , and I've learned about other people there . Like it's crazy , like we're all uh different but we're all so alike in most ways .
If people would just sit down and talk to somebody , yeah , of course , but you know , judging a book by its cover , yeah it's because this , and people told me , it's because , uh , I have a lot of friends that are tattooed also or like just very antisocial .
It's because everywhere I go , bro , it just feels awkward because you're not going and talking to nobody , you're not engaging , you're just literally just there and you're just like bro , engage , hey , what's up , bro , like I like your shirt I don't know what the fuck that is , but I like your shirt , type of shit . You know what I mean ?
Just engage , and from there you start building . That's why , everywhere I go , bro , like everywhere I go , I tell people , look , we start talking . And then , as soon as they tell me , so what do you do for a living , I'll be like well , I do tattoos . Oh , really , and everybody wants tattoos .
You know People that are in music is like oh , I do music , I do music too . It's like , oh , yeah , for reals . And I show them my music and they're like what the fuck ? Like that's cool , yeah , you never know , right , yeah , and it just opens new door , opens doors .
Like it doesn't matter what type of music you do , like if you have a strong , good character , bro , like it opens doors anyway something that can be taught , or do you think it's just something that you're born with ? I feel like some people are just naturally like that . You know what I mean . But there's some . I've known most .
I've known people that have been super , super quiet , people like they're all like yeah to themselves when , when they were younger , and then right now they're like pastors or something yeah , yeah , you know what I mean .
So I feel like you just grow into it .
You know what I mean . So I feel like you just grow into it . You know what I mean . So since I was a kid , like I've always played music at church and opened up services and like I used to work at a coffee shop . So I have a lot of like customer service experience and talking to people .
You know I used to do my morning influentials in the morning , you know on live and people would tune in . And you know on live and people would tune in and you know , so I , I uh , I'm already kind of like used to it a little bit . Yeah , yeah , yeah , no stage fright .
Yeah , exactly , I perform on stage and I just go out there and do my thing , bro , and most of the time , like I'm just high , honestly , you know , I mean it's not like a , I don't , I don't do it to to like , oh , I want to go party and shit .
You know , sometimes I get out of work and I'm just like frustrated and I'm like man , I just want to get paid . You know I mean I'll take a dab or something , right , but most of the most of the time I'm high because it just keeps me calm and I'm just saying people don't understand that and do you think it's a because it's illegal here ?
do you think there's more of a looking down on it ?
Yeah , I mean , everywhere you go , people smoke , bro , and right now , like you go , I have a friend and his name is Trevor from Real CBD . He has a CBD store and he has stuff that's like legal but like you see it , and it looks just like the real thing . Yeah , yeah , yeah , smells like the real thing , feels like the real thing .
Yeah , yeah , smells like the real thing , feels like the real thing , so it's like it trips me out . Right , but are you ready ? yeah , yeah , um , like a delta eight , delta nine like a delta nine , but I don't know , bro , like that shit , just it hits .
But , um , yeah , I guess it's more acceptable because , look , I'll carry my pen with me everywhere I go and and it just outside of the parking lot of Walmart or whatever and I just boom and relax and I just go in and it just keeps me from like people , like because people stare at me because of my face tattoos and when I'm high , like I just really don't
care , you know . I mean like , yeah , you .
I guess , but .
I've learned to accept that . Hey , it's gonna happen , bro . People who get tattoos in their face , I mean it's gonna happen . People are gonna look at you regardless , regardless , so you can't get mad about it , yeah , unless they're literally like just yeah , absolutely I've had ladies like I'm walking and I've had ladies like hold on to their purse tight
¶ Childhood Memories, Sobriety, and Tattoos
and shit , oh shit , it's like yeah , I mean , I don't know , maybe it's just something passed down from their , you know , family , parents , you know , just like .
Hey , that's a thing we think . People covered in tattoos are not good people .
Yeah , that's just how they were raised .
Yeah , how they were raised , I'm ready . What is your favorite ?
childhood memory . My favorite childhood memory was sitting down every Saturday to watch Ninja Turtles on Saturdays cartoons that was my favorite part love the Ninja Turtles too .
Who's your favorite Ninja Turtle ?
Raphael but why ? Because it's his attitude , bro . He has a very distant like attitude , like ignorant attitude , like . You know what I mean . I feel like that's how I used to be . I feel that .
I feel that as you can see , I'm fucking on my seat , oh man . How many times have you said that ? Huh A million . I haven't said it in two years . That's good for you .
Oh , that huh , I've nailed it . I said it in two years it's good for you .
Oh yeah , two years off the sauce . I'm proud of you , bro , congratulations , congratulations . And how long for you , freddie ?
uh , I've been sober for I want to say like going to two years .
Nice , I'm at like a year and a half or less like a year I did drink when I went to louisiana .
But it's because I don't drink , bro , because when I drink I think I'm allergic to it , because I started getting like itches on the bottom of my feet , on my hands , any kind of alcohol , like anything .
Like when I would go to the bar with him , like sometimes I would like I would drink a little bit , but then I had like that shit , and then I'll start feeling like shit . So , uh , I , I just didn't do it anymore , damn yeah .
But when I went to Louisiana since they were free and we're in the , in the slot machines and shit , they , they would bring me the drinks and I was like , fuck it . I had one , nothing happened . Then I did another one and nothing happened . When I was about to order my third one I started feeling it . So I stopped , oh dang .
But I got pretty buzzed with those two .
That's funny . Where's your happy place ? In the sky when I'm high .
Me , too . That's one of my happy places . The other happy place is being with my kids , spending time with children , playing outside with them , because in my heart I still feel like a child , so I drop down to their level and I just have fun .
It takes me back like , if I'm doing it , when I was younger We'd go outside , play with the fake guns and go play soccer and shit like that , still living . Your kids Fall . These kids fall , hurt themselves and they start crying and I tell them man up , man up , it's going to go away . And then boom , you know what I mean .
So I'm trying to do everything that I didn't have growing up . I had my mother and my father , but my father wasn't really the type to like , well , let's go play outside or anything or anything . He was always at work . So I'm trying to balance that . You know , being a dad and being like doing this music thing and the tattoo thing and stuff .
And it's hard , bro , because sometimes you just get focused on one thing and it's like , damn , like , like you lose yourself in it and then you're like you snap back to reality . You're like , wait , oh shit , I got my family over here or I got my kids .
I gotta you know what , instead of going and going to the studio or instead of getting that extra tattoo that I could probably I can do tomorrow , I'll just take my kids to the park or some shit you know what I mean like , yeah , it's easy to get tunnel vision on something it does . Bro , it don't get me wrong .
It's a real good thing to have tunnel vision and what you're doing , tunnel vision and what you're doing and stuff , but um , it , um , it's also not . It's also good not to forget . You know your other responsibilities Absolutely .
Yeah , what ? Uh , besides smoking weed , what helps you find that balance ? Is there any other ?
thing God , god helps you find that balance . Uh , my fiance makes me , uh helps me find that balance , like my kids , you you know like support and stuff , so love that um , what about your fiancee ?
your uh , would you mind so ?
she's on her way right now , but she , she , so she works . She's a director at the hospital , like she works for um , for all the marketing and all that stuff at the hospital and big support bro . She has , uh , four kids and all those kids like like I've been knowing her for four years already so we already have an establishment .
When I got you know how I was telling you that I didn't really have a lot of like cousins . I would hang out with her family . We're really close with her family . It's like the opposite , like all her family loves me . So like cousins , aunts , uncles , you know what I mean . So it's another .
It's like a mean my mom and my dad are always going to be my mom and dad and I really love them a lot . But that's like my family , you know what I mean .
Like it's just , it's a crazy experience , bro .
It's amazing , no .
I'm always so appreciative that you know the other side's family can bring you in . You know like cause there's , you know like because there's you know other times , or that's not a thing , yeah , so , oh , what is the ? What's your favorite thing about your ?
career . I get to hurt people every day . You're sick , I'm just playing . No , oh , it's just . My favorite part is just , um , meeting you people every day , bro , like you guys and shit .
It's a blessing meeting you guys um , I already know Freddie , right , but meeting you and stuff and homeboy over here and just hearing people's stories like kind of like what you do and you're hearing everybody's story , you know what I mean . And hearing the stuff that people go through or why they're getting tattooed , like it's just it's never boring , bro .
It's boring when they bring , like whenever people want to come and get like a butterfly tattoo or like you know shit or whatever the fuck . But I guess meeting the person and like , especially if they're more open and they talk a lot , it makes up for it , because you get to hear , like , whether it's a fake story or non-story .
You're just hearing new stories every day . It's kind of like prison , bro , prison .
I remember when I was locked up , um , I would hear all these fucking people stories like like oh , I should do this , I should do that , and some were like believable , some were like oh , my god , like yeah , bro , whatever , you know what I mean , but it's it's , it's fun , bro , I like that yeah , you don't know until you know , right .
Yeah , two pet beavers , oh , two pet peas . What's some shit . You just cannot stand .
Shit , I can't stand . I can't stand cocky people . I like to hang out with humble people and do shit like that .
That was weird .
The most humble guy , this guy's ever met yeah this guy's pretty humble . He might look like a little cocky prick but yeah , he's humble . I know he's always had my back and he's always come through , bro . And I hate avocado , Avocado . I fucking hate avocado , bro . I hate avocado , I know , but I hate avocado .
He's not coming to the barbecue , then my guacamole . I got not coming to the barbecue , then , wait , my guacamole . I've got to make the home . I've got a barbecue tomorrow at 6 .
What do you mean ? Just because of that , I'm going to show up . Don't get me wrong .
All right , we still live in the same house .
We still live in the same house . Yeah , okay .
I got you In the gay community , he community . He's done well for himself . Very proud of you , buddy . So those are his questions . Those are good ones , bro . I think you have a future in this prison . Can we talk about prison ? Yeah , um , how did uh , how did you ? How did you end up there ?
I ended up there first like nah . So so I was a good kid bro , like literally like I .
I like , I mean I grew up in the neighborhood or whatever and I would do my shit , but like I was , I was a church kid , you know what I mean and I would do like some bad stuff just so people could think I was cool , like my friends and shit , like we'll spray , pin a war , some shit . You know what I mean .
But then , um , I started smoking at a young age , like like bud after , like after school and stuff sorry , mom and um and like from there it's , like you said , the people you hang out with . That's the type of shit . So I got caught up .
I used to sell coke and I got caught up not selling stuff but like punching a guy because he didn't pay me the 20 that I sold him . So I got an assault with body injury and then I started sending weed up north to mail , to fedex and stuff , and I got caught up with that as well and I went to the feds for that .
And then the third time I had gone to prison it was , um , I used to sell crack and a crackhead just came up to me and I was about to sell it to him and then a cop was coming , so I kind of just booked it and he kind of followed me and I threw the shit through to him .
And then a cop was coming , so I kind of just booked it and he kind of followed me and I threw the shit through the window and then , just , you know , I ended up crashing at the courthouse in Bronzo and I got sent to prison for that too . So it was just because it was the house . I didn't need to do it , but it was easy money .
You know what I mean . I just got out of prison . I didn't want to do shit , like you know . I mean that's a tough transition , but you come out thinking you're gonna do right , and it's just this . All this other stuff comes to you and they're like man , this is easy as fuck . I can do this , like I'm good at it .
You know I mean , um , and yeah , bro , from there I I just did my time , I did my whole time and just got back out in society in 2019 . I got out and I've just paid my dues to society and just been you know as been who I am now . It took a long process to become the person I am now . But I mean , I don't regret it , bro .
It was an amazing journey and , like I said , I've met a lot of badass people along the way and stuff , like freddie and a whole bunch of my other friends and stuff and like it's all lead me to being the person I am right now . And like even the shop , bro , like everybody here's family , we all fuck with each other .
We're all like , hey , man , this is a unit , like we're all together and stuff , like yeah , I put my , yeah , I put my whole faith in the whole tattoo family that we have here at the shop and it's , it's .
It's crazy , bro , like you know , I mean a lot of people think that you can never change , or , oh , he's never going to change , because a lot of people go to prison . They just go back and they go back and they go back and they go back . But because they get used to it , they're like , nah , this is not the life for me .
They put themselves in that situation . You know what Life doesn't accept me . I need to be in prison , and that was started to be . Yeah , you know like , ah , fuck it , I'll just get locked up , I'll do a little bit of time and I'll get out again . But that's not the way to live , because your family starts missing you .
Like everybody starts missing you and it's just . It's . Some people don't got family like that too . And then they're just like what other options do I have ? Um , so what was the the biggest wake-up call ? That was like all right , we ain't never going back , we're out for good , like when I had my son with my first marriage .
That made me change my mental , but things weren't helping because of the person I was with . And then I had my daughter and it made me change a lot as well with my daughter .
But slowly that positive and that wanting to change started leaving me little by little because of the place I was at you know what I mean , the relationship I was in and all that stuff , and it was just leaving .
That relationship really like opened my eyes and realized that everything that I've been praying for , when I thought like God wasn't listening to me , like came to life . Like you know what I mean . He's like I needed to prepare you for this . You know what I mean and that's I needed to go through that storm and that preparation .
So that way led me to what I have now , which is to me as a gift from him , you know , because this is what a coincidence like I prayed for a family , he gave me a me family .
I prayed for her family to like me they all like me , you know for peace , for love , for you know I mean for a job , for constant work , and it happens , bro , so you got it pretty happy about that .
I love that bro , I love that . Where do we have ? We got your music . We got tattooing um valentine's day . We got a's Day . We got a concert right .
Yeah , we got a concert on Valentine's Day and we also have a show this Friday at the White Rhino downtown McAllen White Rhino , downtown McAllen . It starts at 10 . It's nothing , but if you like rock metal , you know death metal , like all that shit . They're going to be playing all that shit Live music .
You recently hung out with the Mexican OT right , yeah , that's my boy right there , man , yeah , he's doing it big right now . I've opened up for him .
The first time I opened up for him was like two years , three years ago , in Plainview , texas , and then I did it again in Houston , and then I did it again , and so after seeing me for the second time , he was like yo bro , I know you . And started chopping it up .
This is before Diddy , before like all this , before Johnny Dang , before all that shit Like this was like when he was barely
¶ Shout Outs for Mental Health
starting , bro , and you know I was blessed to have chilled with him . We brought , they had brought him down over here in far Texas . We were chilling with him there and then we that's when we opened up this last show with him . That's when we came out . We came out in a low rider , so it was pretty , it was pretty badass .
That's awesome , it was pretty cool . There's the camera right there .
So for the last , I guess we'll finish up with . Do you want to do any shout outs ?
Shout out family . Shout out to my wife , my kids , no . Shout out to troy . Shout out to the whole uh ink house , family . You know , all the artists , um , my parents , and to everybody that's watching who's going through like depression or like mental health or thinking that you know there's no escape from the issues that you're having . There is always an escape .
There's always someone there , you know . And if you feel that there's not just you know , all you got to do is , you know , pray to god up there . Don't I'm not encourage you to be a bible hugger , but just , you know , have a relationship with god and he's there for you . And call your friends up . Tell them , hey , bro , I need you .
Come fuck around with me there .
You go find yourself . You'll know who your real friends are . Absolutely , absolutely freddie . Thank you so much for your time , brother I I really appreciate it . And thank you , freddie I think you're other Freddie now because this Freddie's way cooler and thanks everybody and goodbye , bye , goodbye .