Part 18: Mini Biography Vol. 5
This is Volume 3 of the Auto Biography of Freeze Flame. This takes place around the same time period as the previous few entries, however, focuses on different events significant to Freeze Flame's Development over the years, it may also serve as some of the first inspirations to make Freeze Flame into a reality.
The Auto-Biography of Freeze Flame:
Vol. 3, The (His)-Story & The Flame Judgement
With big plans ahead, and thousands of ideas of how to make those plans a reality, Young Red had just hit a roadblock in the form of one of the more major setbacks to affect his young life. This setback, however, would lay a foundation for several milestones over the next few years, that would change the path of this young man for the rest of his life. Red, was arrested and taken into Police custody later the same night of the fire...
The full affects of what was yet to come, was something that Young Red could not comprehend totally at the time. After the charge was laid, Arson, and the police began to ask questions and make threats in order to get what they really wanted, mainly, a confession and also to have less work to do with regards to an investigation.
The Police were the first to make their judgement. As much as the law says otherwise, one is usually guilty in the eyes of the arresting Police officer before anything else. The real fear didn't set in until the cops dropped Red off at the jail house, and welcomed him to his NEW home...
Over the next six months, Red was stuck inside a jail cell night after night, left to wonder when or if he was going to be released... even when he was released where would he go? He was at that point, all Alone. The friends Red thought he had on the outside, began to slowly dissappear, his family was not ready to discuss the situation or the incident at the root of it all....
Red still had his Musical aspirations, and a small plan that was given time to expand in size and scope, he also met a few characters inside that would fuel an inspiration for the Music, and more esspecially Hip Hop Culture... it was a good year, 1995 Hip Hop was at a peak. Wu Tang was huge, the South was rizing, The West Coast was bangin Steady & Canadian Hip Hop was on lock down. Red stood face-to-face with some of Toronto's deepest underground MC's and aspiring rappers...
Due to the charges, Red had no real home any longer. His friends had left him to fend for himself, his family didn't want anything to do with him, he believed they thought of him as a lost cause. His lawyer didn't believe a word he said, and inturn, Red did not trust her either... The first couple months was the hardest. Once or twice a week sometimes, Red was transported to court houses or mental hospitals to be assessed... Not always something he looked forward to.
After the Third month or so, the court dates slowed to a halt. Now being put off for months at a time. Leaving Red, to deal with his surroundings as best he knew how... to fit in, and get fit, Never back down, being observant rather than dominant, it worked for what it was worth. Red just didn't want to accept it or get used to it, there was more to life for him...
When Red was assigned to his first cell, he started to meet some interesting people, most of them older than he was. Having spent much of their young life in jail already they were able to school Red in the lifestyle and give him bits of advice here and there...
One thing Red began to notice was that once he began to make "friends," He also realized that for the most part, those friends weren't real, but very similar to his friends on the outside. The act may have been geniune, but the actual friendship was very limited.
To pass the day, these young offenders were left out of there cells on the range, able to watch tv and play cards or what not... One day, it just started, a couple of guys gathered and started a cipher. One or two guys banging a beat out on the table or beat boxing, the rest taking turns freestyling. Red watched for the most part, taking in the lyrics and the styles... all of this fueled the fire of his musical ideas.
What he witnessed was truly artistic, the most basic beat, not something you would hear today... with all the sounds available these days... Two fists banging on a stainless steel table, a bit of a baseline sounded out with the sounds of one's mouth. Lyrics that flowed steadily off the top of the head, stories & punchlines to catch the attention of people... It would have made a great documentary about the positive aspects of Music, as well as Hip Hop Music. That thought went into the memory bank and the idea catalogue.
Red witnessed this collective work many hundreds of time while incarcerated, different groups of guys doing the same basic things... The second cell mate Red was assigned to happened to be Native as well. The two hit it off and quickly became friends. He had a talent for beat boxing that he was developing as well as a knack for the guitar. He was able to sneak it in to the cell one night before lock down, and went on to play for most of the night.... The Playlist was Metallica & Nirvana, he knew a lot of the lyrics too...
It got to the point where Red was not going to court much at all anymore, his list of phone numbers had dwindled as people asked him not to call any more, as people moved away, as he realized who his real friends were... he thought it very ironic that he was arrested and sent away right at the time when he was really beginning to feel a change in his lifestyle, on the outside.
It took about six months, but in May 1996, Red was handed a FLAME judgment and sentenced to 12 months, plus probation upon release. This was a shock, but he finally new that he would eventually get out. He was transeferred to an open custody group home to wait to be transfered to another in a few weeks.
Red's young life had been left in Limbo at this point for almost a year, and would not be able to continue for quite some time. He began again, to plan his strategy for his release which he waited for patiently, having every chance and opportunity to escape with the ones who decided to run. Red must have been asked to do so in groups and indvidually atleast 50 times.
Red was reintroduced to many of the guys he had contact with on the inside, as well as many more that he met througout his time. Upon his transfer he was sent to a treatment facility that was set up to aid in addictions, mostly. Red learned a lot about himself as well as many of the other people, and how to deal with his own demons. He was never really allowed to complete the program, and was eventually transfered out to another group home, in Toronto... where he completed his time.
While in Toronto, back for the first time, in years. Red was able to gain a bit of freedom one step at a time. He was also able to focus much better at this time, getting into school and getting a job...able to set in motion some of his long term goal. Although, there was a few setbacks that made progress difficult, and he continued to struggle within himself.
In September, 1996 Tupac Shakur was gunned down and with access to the news they all saw it. Red really didn't know what to make of it at the time. Pac and his music was one of Red's inspirational leaders, a man that made music that made one think about things... Red had a lot to think about, things to change in his own life, people to choose for his team, and people to evacuate from his presence....
Without such changes, Red believed he would end up in trouble again. Something he did not want. Red thought, that he had a couple of the right people with the right stories to tell. He only had to convince them to set on this path...
After Red's second Christmas in custody, he began to get a little stir crazy. Although he was attending a day school run by the group home, he also had a job in a kitchen... but he wanted more. He wanted to go to a real school, in the community. Almost as soon as he found out it was even an option he wanted to make it happen.
February 1997, was the beginning of the new semester, and Red was accepted into a community school. And began attending immediately. Red had never been so excited to go to school before and was so close to being able to graduate, he decided to make the effort.
It was March 1997, when Biggie Smalls was murdered another inspirational Hip Hop icon to many. It again was a shock, but the way the media portrayed the murder was that it was almost Hip Hop/Gang related and was pretty much written off. Red felt like the media was still looking down at Hip Hop culture as a whole, the total opposite of the way he felt.
With the willingness to change his ways in life, and some added help, as well as a healthy focus to use as a deterent, being Hip Hop & music in general. Although being incarcerated for almost two full years, Red was able to keep his mind from repeating past actions, and to this day will tell anybody that Hip Hop inparticular saved his life. Most people will blow the statement off because of their own opinions, but that fact remains.
By May 1997, Red was about to be released and had to find a place to live, and a way to finish the school year as well. Minor details, so he thought... Probation and no where to live, he had to turn to his old friends, or end up in an after care group home. Red was already anxious to get out and chose the former...
Although Red had plans, and thought his adjustment would take fairly easily, his mind was set on certain goals that may have been unreachable. He took his teachings and tried to reach his old friends, but they shot him down without even a thought. His plans were forced back into idea mode for the moment, he needed to find the right team of people, namely, new friends...
The struggle to get back the years of his adolescense that were most important, set in motion a series of events that would both set back, and create new challenges for a Young Red Brown; however, progress was achievable, as anything was after what he had just been through...
The first thing Red had to do, was to learn how to value his freedom...
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