Official Swagg Ink Interview With Tattoo Legend Freddy Negrete
The Makings of a Black and Grey Legend
By Mr. Armani
Freddy Negrete is unlike any other tattoo artists you will ever meet, he has a B.A. & Master’s Degree,is soon to be a publisher writer with his autobiographer “Black & Grey: How the American Penal System created a Tattoo Legend.”, and he is a legend in his own right, an original root in the tree of tattoo culture rarely discussed until now. In person Mr. Negrete is a calm cool collected guy,a quite reserved kinda of guy, with that old school East Los Angeles Swagg. This former gang banger turned tattoo icon, is by far one of the most influential tattoo artists you will ever meet. Whether its the Low Rider style t-shirts you can get downtown L.A., the joker style clothing,or the Latin style flash art you see in tattoo shops world-wide. 
There is almost nothing that doesn’t have his influence in it. If you stop and think about it, how many times have you seen a tattooed person in our everyday lives with a beautiful black and grey tattoo? Can you imagine the tattoo world without the black and grey style? Without the deep textures/detail of black & grey style, tattoos can seize to look 3D, and begin to look flat, sometimes a piece can became bored. Given that we wanted to see what it is that Freddy does,how he helped create a movement that is seen world-wide,and in most cases is so ingrained in the pop culture that most of us cant imagine a world with out his style. So naturally we had to see him in his natural environment to truly get an understand of who Freddy Negrete is. As I walk in to the tattoo shop I found it bustling with movement people always working never a dull moment (unlike most shops where the tattoo artists are just on facebook) I walked in the back of the shop and found a man slumped over quietly sketching away. (which is always a good sign, for a tattoo artist to constantly be honing his or her craft) I was privileged to see him work and as I shook the hand of the living legend I got a chance to get to know him.
What got you started in the tattoo game?
I was obsessed with tattoos at 12 years old, and when I when Juvenal hall I saw an old kid with all these tattoos.I got really good at drawing there. In youth authority, they were really lacks with the rules, they pretty much let us do what ever when wanted as long as we didn’t do anything crazy. The staff there would even let us tattoo on each other. We had the homemade machines made out of cassette players and stuff. Since they let us do that, I got really good at it right there. Everyday I was tattooing. So when I got out I started tattooing out of my apartment. By the time i was 15 I wanted to get professionally tattoo so I went to a local tattoo shop,and tried to get tattooed by a man named Tennessee Dave. When he found out that I was 15 he told me I was to young, but then he saw my arm covered in home made tattoos. Ha ha and then he was like ok he gave me my first real tattoo. Not to soon after that I got a a job at Good Time Charlie’s in East L.A. They discovered that the people in East L.A. didn’t want color work and just wanted black & grey style tattoos. Mostly because everybody wanted their tattoos to look like they got it done in prison. So by the time I was 17 I mastered the art of tattooing professionally.
