Highly respected Chicago rapper and street legend Fredo Santana passed away from a fatal seizure last night (1/19/18) in Los Angeles at the age of 27.

The Savage Squad Records CEO, former GBE member and cousin of Chief Keef, was found dead in his L.A. home on Friday night. His family have confirmed his passing and his girlfriend was the one who discovered his body after coming to visit him at around 11:30 p.m.

Fredo, real name Derrick Coleman, had ongoing health issues relating to excessive ‘lean’ (promethazine with codeine) consumption, and had been hospitalized for kidney and liver failure as recently as October of last year. He had spoken publicly on his social networks of a desire to get help for his addiction and possibly even enter a rehab centre, after claiming he has PTSD from years on the streets and did not simply get high for the sake of it or to embrace a “rockstar” lifestyle. Fredo and his girlfriend also only recently had a child named Legend Coleman who was just 8-months-old at the time of his passing.

Despite not having much commercial success with his music, Fredo was among the most highly respected artists in Chicago and was credited with helping to popularize Drill (and ‘Trap’) music when he first came to light alongside Chief Keef and the rest of the GBE group (around 2011/2012). He is the 3rd member of the GBE group to die in recent years. Fredo was also the head of his own independent record label named ‘Savage Squad Records’ or ‘SSR’, with artists such as Baby CEO and Gino Marley on his roster. He will be greatly missed by his friends, family and supporters who paid tribute to him on their social networking sites. His passing leaves a significant hole in the Chicago rap scene he helped to build, and he will be remembered as much more than a rapper who once appeared in a Drake video as reported by some media outlets.

RIP Derrick ‘Fredo Santana’ Coleman.

[Beat by Priority Beats (@DerricoPeck), www.PriorityBeats.com]

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