Ryan Mitchel Chassels, known professionally as Freddie Dredd, is a Canadian rapper, singer, producer and songwriter. He is best known for blending gritty, lo-fi sounds, vintage samples, and dark, intense lyrics which is often similar to the style of $UICIDEBOY$.[1] He gained prominence on TikTok with several viral songs including "GTG", "Opaul", "Limbo" and "Cha Cha".[2][3] Dredd is a member of the music collective Sixset and his music is released with RCA Records and Doomshop.
In addition to his solo work, Dredd frequently collaborates with other underground rappers Baker, Ramirez, and Slim Guerilla. He has also collaborated with Yung Gravy and bbno$.[4]
Life and career
Dredd began uploading music to SoundCloud in 2014 under the producer name Ryan C. and rapper name Freddie Dredd.[5]
His fifth album, Freddie's Inferno, was released on August 11, 2022, along with The Slow Descent and Ghost Slowed versions in December 2022 and deluxe version in February 2023. The album was supported by two singles: "Kick Rocks" featuring Lil Darkie and "Limbo".
In 2022 his singles "GTG" and "Cha Cha" were certified gold in the United States by the RIAA.[6] In 2023, Dredd's song "Wrath" was nominated for a Juno Award in the Rap Single of the Year category.[7] In March 2023, Dredd appeared on an episode of Family Feud Canada with Yung Gravy and bbno$.[8] On September 8th, 2023 During his concert at "Worcester Palladium" in Worcester MA, he stated that he was biological cousins with fellow rapper, Yung Gravy. On July 3rd 2024, his song Limbo from the album "Freddie's Inferno" earned a platinum record. [9]
Musical style
Dredd's production style is primarily sample-based, with him often using samples from bossa nova music and Japanese anime and video games accompanied by 808 cowbell melodies and phonk drums. His vocals are often very crude and aggressive in both lyrical content and mixing, with his vocals often being heavily bitcrushed and distorted. The genre would be considered to be labeled as phonk,[10][11] a subgenre of hip hop. Many of the sounds used in his tracks are reminiscent of the Memphis rap mixtapes from the mid to late 1990s.