Freddy Negrete Bio

Legendary tattoo artist Freddy Negrete is best known for his pioneering black-and-gray tattoo style, honed while serving time in the California State Prison system during a youth mired in abuse, gang life, and drug addiction. His “prison-style” designs eventually found their way out onto the streets of East LA and, in 1980, he created a piece that earned him a Tattoo Artist of the Year award. Freddy has been featured in the History Channel’s Marked series, in the documentary Tattoo Nation, on Spike TV’s Inkmaster as a guest judge, and in numerous print and online media. He has worked as a technical consultant and tattoo artist on over 30 Hollywood films including Batman, Blade, Con Air, Falling Down and Austin Powers. He currently works at The Shamrock Social Club on the Sunset Strip with his son, Isaiah and has been a volunteer counselor at the Beit T'Shuvah residential treatment center for almost 10 years. His memoir, Smile Now, Cry Later, cowritten with Steve Jones, was released in 2016.

Freddy Negrete Wiki:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Negrete

Social:

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreddyNegreteSmileNowCryLater/

Instagram: freddy_negrete

Web: freddynegrete.com

 

Addiction Unlimited Podcast Full Transcript: 

Angela Pugh: 

Hey everybody, welcome to the Addiction Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, Angela Pugh, recording today from the beautiful Hollywood California and I want to say thank you to La Fuenta Hollywood Treatment Center for giving us a space to record. We appreciate that. You might hear some traffic noise in the background. We are in the heart of Hollywood so there's nothing we can do about the traffic.

Angela Pugh:

Today's guest, I'm so excited for you guys to hear a little bit of this story. It's so good. Freddy Negrete is joining us. Freddy's book is Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs, and Tattoos-My Life in Black and Gray.

Angela Pugh:                   Freddy, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here with us.

Freddy Negrete:              Thank you for having me.

Angela Pugh:                   Absolutely. Tell us a little about you and what you do.

Freddy Negrete: 

You got that tattoo artist part right, but I'm actually best known for pioneering the style of tattoo called black and gray realism. It's has it's roots in Chicano, [Cholo 00:01:01], [Vario 00:01:01] scene of East LA in the 70s. That was my life. I was a Chicano gang member. We gave the world,