This Is Your Freestyle Blast #48

A year wrapped in reflection, from the Blast’s mission to life’s biggest shifts. Here’s to learning from the past and stepping boldly into the future.

Dec 15, 2025

Welcome to Issue #48, and as we close out another year of The Freestyle Blast, this final issue of 2025 brings together two very different, but deeply connected reflections. One looks back at why this newsletter even exists, how it began as a simple place for me to share thoughts, stories, lessons, and pieces of my journey that might’ve otherwise been lost somewhere in the endless scroll of social media. The other article explores something many of us have been feeling lately: the shifting rhythms of life, family, and the holidays as time keeps doing what time always does, moving forward.

Without giving too much away, just know this month’s writing comes from a very personal place. Not heavy… just real. Honest. And if you’ve been following The Blast from the beginning, you’ll see how both pieces speak to exactly why this publication matters, not just to the Freestyle community, but to anyone trying to make sense of where we’ve been, where we are, and how to embrace the changes that come with being alive.

Of course, an end-of-year issue wouldn’t be complete without all the features that have become part of the Blast tradition. You’ll find our Match Game Puzzle, which you still won’t be able to solve. Our latest Freestyle Club & Concert Calendar showing what an incredible year it’s been, and let’s not forget the popular Blast Flash 3, where our readers get to contribute to the hustle of working a new Freestyle song.

Also, I have to give a personal thank you to everyone who’s been visiting Stylin’ Free Apparel our official online store with over 250 Freestyle-inspired designs. If you haven’t visited us yet, or you’ve been waiting for the right moment to grab yourself a little something… well, this is the month to do it, as we have extended our Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale, so please hurry!

And to those of you who have already shopped with us, thank you so much. Your support doesn’t just help the store… it also helps keeps the culture alive, one shirt at a time.

And in case you didn’t know, Stylin’ Free Apparel doesn’t stop with those cool-ass Tee Shirts, we’ve also been developing a luxury streetwear line created specifically for the men in our community, pieces that bring back that style, confidence, and swagger, but without crossing those fine age barriers. Fresh, matured, and definitely elevated.

It’s all part of a much bigger picture for our community. New concepts, new drops, and new creative projects are coming, and trust me, you’re going to want to keep an eye on what we’re doing.

Well folks, you’ve been riding with me through another 12 issues, and I appreciate you so much for that. Thank you for reading, sharing, supporting, and allowing The Freestyle Blast Newsletter to enter your home every month, and as we step into year number 5, just know that the journey is still unfolding, the ideas are still coming, and the heart behind this newsletter will continue to grow.

Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy Holiday Season, and until next year, stay blessed.

MY THOUGHT BEHIND THE BLAST

In a world obsessed with speed, shortcuts, and thirty-second attention spans… why in the world would I ever choose to publish a newsletter?

Honestly, most of the time when I write, I’m not writing for anyone else but me.

If you follow any of my social media and take it all the way back to my early posts, you’ll notice I never wrote just a line or two. I always posted a little more than everyone else. Back then people actually read your stuff, and even as patience got shorter and feeds started flying, my writing stayed the same. Sometimes the Likes and comments were cool to see, but eventually I stopped expecting them at all.

I knew people were reading, and that was enough for me. Even now, when I stumble across one of my own older posts, I enjoy re-reading it, that alone tells me I’m doing something right.

No, I don’t consider myself a great writer. Not even close. My spelling is “okay,” my grammar would’ve had any English teacher wagging their finger at me, and the typos… well, those have just become part of the charm at this point. Sorry!

But for those who don’t know, I also write books, and somehow I’m already up to book number 14. How dare I!

I don’t see myself winning a Pulitzer, but I do know one thing for sure: I write from the heart. It’s the only way I know how. Writing is where I’m the most open, the most vulnerable. I’m shy as hell talking to more than two people at a time, but when I’m writing? I’m wide open.

The problem with social media is that you’re only as good as your next post. Yesterday’s content is already buried. Whatever engagement you got in that first hour… that’s basically all you’re ever going to get. Every once in a while, I’ll scroll my own profile and pretend I’m a new follower seeing it all for the first time, and every time I do that, I’m reminded that I’ve shared some real gems over the years. Stories, ideas, tips, hard-earned life lessons, that are now fading into the black hole of cyberspace, to be lost forever.

As I write this, I’m in my late 50s, and trust me… “I’ve seen things, man.”

And if nothing I share ever ends up being valuable to anyone else, then at the very least it will stand as my story, my legacy. One day, when I’m no longer here, this is what will remain. My kids, my grandkids, and whatever “great-great-greats” I end up having… they’ll at least have an idea of who the hell I was.

That’s really why I started this newsletter, just a way to gather my writing in one place, where anyone who cares can find it. And yes, this Substack platform has a feature to offer paid subscriptions, but I choose to keep The Freestyle Blast 100% free. Now later on, I may add an optional paid section with more behind-the-scenes content, more raw, more frequent for the very few who might be interested, but never at the expense of this main free publication.

The first issue of The Freestyle Blast dropped back on January 15th, 2022, and I’ve released an issue on the same day of every month since. January 2026 will mark five full years of this thing running strong, thanks to my readers who have inspired me to keep writing.

The Blast has opened doors for me, connected me to new people, boosted my business, helped my artists, and above all, scratched that constant itch I always have to write. But with all that good, there are also a ton of worries too.

You see, unlike those multi-billion dollar platforms that have been around for years and that we all practically live on, my crazy ass decided to pour my heart and soul into a brand new unproven platform that most people never even heard of. What the hell was I thinking? And what are the chances that every word I’ve ever written will one day go poof? I needed a plan B.

I’d already self-published a handful of paperback books, and so the idea to compile each monthly issue into one book, made perfect sense, and the more I thought about it, the more perfect it became. I immediately envisioned the layout, the cover and title. I even remember being on the phone with my friend Fernando Hotmix Hernandez when the actual title clicked, and he advised me on what fonts to use.

Freestyle Blast: The Year Book, followed by the year… Perfect!

Not only would it preserve my work, it would be a crazy cool collector’s item, and so I even added four blank autograph pages right in the center.

If you scroll back to Issue #1, you’ll see how it all began. No real voice, no direction, total cringe, but hey, it was the beginning of a new year and I knew I just had to start. I’ve always been a fan of progression, of watching ideas take shape over time, and The Blast was no different. I knew I’d find my voice eventually… I just didn’t know how long it would take. So please be kind when you read those early issues.

As you move through the issues, you’ll see the changes, the growth. Longer articles, deeper interviews, personal observations, business tips, life tips etc. Whatever was working would stay. Whatever didn’t I replaced.

And to those who are new to The Blast, let me just say this. This newsletter is not about me or my company. It’s not about my artists or my shows. It’s about our genre. Our culture. The music industry may have turned its back years ago, but Freestyle is still here, still strong, still alive, still thriving, and I just want people to know this.

My hope is for The Blast to become more of an open platform. For those who might have something to say. if that’s you, reach out to me so i can check it out, and if I feel it fits the Blast, we’ll publish it. Thoughts, stories, lessons. And at the end of the year. it becomes a book, to be shared with future generations. A sort of blueprint describing who we were, why we existed, and how we kept this flame burning for so long.

And maybe… just maybe… a new generation will discover what we discovered, and reignite this Freestyle flame once again.

WHEN LIFE KEEPS LIFING

Moments that break us… and the ones that rebuild us.

Just when you think all is perfect…

When you’re young, even your worst mistakes feel like temporary setbacks. You bounce back fast. You feel invincible. But as you get older, staying positive gets harder. You start feeling like you’re in a hole you might never climb out of, and the biggest fear isn’t the fall… it’s the time you think you don’t have left to climb back up.

So what do you do?

I was born in The Bronx to a single mother. My siblings were older and already out of the house by the time I came along. My father? He was just a man I called Dad, well, on the very few times I remember seeing him, that is.

To some who were raised with two parents, that probably sounds sad, but to be honest, it wasn’t, Not for me. How does the saying go? You can’t miss what you never had? And did he love me? I’m sure he did, he just loved that booze a little bit more.

Like most of us raised in the ‘70s, I spent a lot of time in other people’s homes, those I entered through my television set. Most of them had two parents, except The Partridge Family, but all I really got from that show was a yearning to be in music business.

The Brady Bunch had both parents, and so did Good Times. Even Lamont Sanford had Pop.

But the one that hit home the most was What’s Happening!!, a strong single mother raising good kids while working hard and still keeping the house together. Funny how life works… as the star of that show, Raj (Ernest Thomas), has been a close friend of mine for over 30 years.

Growing up, I boxed and played football. Mom would buy me whatever it was I needed. and always encouraged me to participate in whatever I was interested in, however, she didn’t attend any of those events, and that was fine with me. She worked all day and probably exhausted by the time she got home. I kind of liked the freedom of being able to go to a lot of these places on my own, though it did come at the cost of not having anyone there to personally cheer me on.

School? I hated that shit. Hated it so much that even now, over 40 years later, I still get that same messed-up feeling in my stomach whenever I even think about it.

And yeah, I got left back three times, 3rd, 8th, and 10th grade. But when it came time for the GED, I took it with a group of friends and somehow I was the only one who passed. WTF?

Then came the ‘80s… and with it, a whole lot of cocaine. Jackson Heights in Queens, NY was flooded with it, and like almost everyone around me, I too indulged. “Crackhead” and “coke fiend” weren’t yet popular terms, though it wouldn’t be long before those titles were assigned.

Right when I was getting deeper into the music business, addiction grabbed me by the ankles and spun me through the revolving doors of the penitentiary more times than I’d like to remember.

All the Freestyle artists I work with today, my peers, I watched them blow up on TV, from the day-room of whatever facility I was at, my wife included.

When I finally came home, still in my early 20’s, addiction was always lurking in the shadows. Every day was a fight to just stay on the straight and narrow, not just for myself, but for my mother, who I had put through more than any parent should ever have to endure. And even though she never showed it, it took a toll on her… and the thought of my life without her was beginning to creep in.

Mom used to tell me I’d never understand the love she had for me until I had my own, and the day my son Adam was born, I totally understood! That love hit me instantly. Not over time. Not slowly. Like a damn light switch… boom! There it was. A whole new purpose t keep me going.

And just in time, too. Because ten lightening fast years later, and only four months after my daughter Erica was born… Mom was gone.

Losing her shifted my entire life, and from that moment on, and from deep down in my soul, I made a vow to the universe, that nothing and no one would ever come between me and my kids. Ever!

Raising my children was a mix of everything both my parents taught me. Mom taught be all the great things a parent should be, dad taught me everything they shouldn’t, and the rest? Well, those game from God.

I had an incredible childhood. I really did. Magical, even. And Christmas was one of the biggest parts of that magic. Mom was very observant, because I remember getting absolutely everything I ever wanted. Back then, and probably still today, toy commercials on TV were even more exciting than the TV shows themselves, and like all kids, I pointed out everything I liked, and Mom took notes. In fact, the only gift I never got was the one I asked my father for. Funny how shit like that sticks with you, huh?

When I became a father, I wanted to recreate that same magic, and at first, I didn’t think I could. But now, looking back, I think I did.

Christmas changed as the kids got older, but you adapt, recreate, and shift the magic. For a moment, the holidays become an adult thing again. And then your kids have kids… and a whole new generation starts. You’re excited to sprinkle some of your old school magic on the grands, while also sitting back and watching your kids take over.

As the years move on, the composition of your holidays begin to change. Grandma who used to sit on the couch and watch the family open their gifts has passed her seat on to Mom, or maybe it’s you. That dinning room table that used to be set with a dish at every seat, now has vacant places.

The landscape changes. So you redesign it. You take what you loved, you honor it, and you add to it. Maybe it doesn’t sparkle the way it used to for you, but trust me, it’s blindingly bright for the kids coming up under you.

When my mom passed, I felt as though the holidays would never be the same, But in time, it developed it’s own bit of magic, and begin to dazzle us once again, that is until another loss strikes, and our entire composition shifts once more.

I’ve said it before, this newsletter is built on my own thoughts and observations, not just about Freestyle, but about life. And over the last few years, my life has been going through some serious shifts. I know many of you are feeling your own. And the holidays? They have a way of turning up the volume. But that’s alright… we’ll take it one step at a time, and we’ll take it together.

I started writing this last month and almost got rid of it a couple of times for being too heavy. But every time I sat down to delete it, I would reread it and end up writing more. It stopped feeling as though I was writing for others, and felt more like I was writing for myself, like a journal, and I know I’m not the only one feeling this way, so if this hits home… well then this one’s for you too.

As we move forward, let’s hold onto the memories and traditions that raised us, while giving ourselves permission to create new ones, because the holidays should never lose it’s magic… but simply change hands.

To all of you who subscribe and continue reading The Freestyle Blast as we enter our 5th year, thank you, truly.

From my family to yours… Happy Holidays.