Santiago’s parents were never married and when he was young, they separated for good. Santiago and his father had a close relationship, and even after the separation, they stayed close. His father moved around a lot due to his job, which made it hard, but eventually his father ended up in Florida. Even though Santiago still keeps in contact with him, it became harder over the years to go visit. 

 

At the age of 5, Santiago’s mother met his stepfather. They were married when he was 11 and Santiago never had a problem with his stepfather.

 

“It took me a little while to adapt to the idea of another dad,” he said. “But then I realized that he was going to be the father figure in my life and was there to help me better myself and for that I am forever appreciative of him.”

 

The issues that led Santiago to unbearable times and his depression, however, did stem from his mother and stepfather. For as long as he can remember, his mother was an alcoholic. The fighting that occurred between his stepfather and his mother because of the alcoholism, was daily. There were times that he can recall when cops showed up at his front door because neighbors were worried when they heard yelling and things breaking.

 

“When the cops showed up to my house the first time, I was young and it was really scary,” Santiago said. “I was so used to my parents arguing but when the cops came I thought someone was going to get arrested.  I was frightened but I couldn’t show it because I didn’t want my younger brother to be afraid. Eventually they came about once a week and at that point, you get used to it.”

 

The fighting got worse between his parents when he was in his sophomore year of high school.

 

“That’s really when everything started happening, but it blew up when I was a junior,” he said.

 

His parents’ fighting was constant and at times very bad. He started to feel like the “rock of the household,” especially for his little brother, AJ, at the time. Which was hard for Santiago. Especially since he was still in high school, still trying to figure out what was going on and why it was going on. He was trying to take care of himself as well as his little brother, trying to make things better for his little brother when Santiago couldn’t even understand how to make it better.

 

“I couldn’t help others when I couldn’t help myself,” he stated.

 

Due to the family problems, Santiago felt like he had no one to turn to. Having no one there for him, Santiago turned to something that had always been there his entire life, music. Before everything started to happen in his family, music was just music. But now, when it was the only thing that seemed to be there for him, music became more. It started to have a meaning, and became an escape. A way to get away from everything that was tugging him in different directions and give him time to himself.

 

“The thing about music is that it’s always going to be there, no matter what,” he said a smile coming to his face and a calmness going over his features.

It was also extremely easy for him to relate to music when he knew the artist was going through hard times himself. An artist known as Kid Cudi was one that Santiago always turned to.

 

“Kid Cudi is an uplifting guy,” Santiago stated. “His music was written when he was going through a tough place himself and it’s just so easy to connect to. He wrote about what was real and what was actually going on.”

 

There was one song that Santiago connected most to, a song called “Immortal.”

 

“It’s about not letting anything take you down,” he said. “And with everything I was going through, it was something I needed to be reminded.” Music became an outlet for him. It helped him learn to just worry about himself, not about other people or what they think about him.

 

When Santiago arrived at The University of Rhode Island in 2014 for his freshman year, he furthered his passion and in a way followed in his biological father’s footsteps. Santiago joined the WRIU team, the university’s radio station. Hosting his own online show on RIU2 every Monday night, Santiago gets to put his passion out there. He plays the hip hop music he knows and loves, the music that helped him get out of the hard times of his past and he even brings local artists on the show in hopes to learn more about them, get their message out, and to maybe even give someone a way to get out of the hard times they may be going through themselves.