Fantastic Negrito at S.O.B.'s

At age 12, Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz moved with his large family from a secluded rural culture in western Massachusetts to a vibrant urban community in Oakland, California. Shortly after experiencing street life, he bounced between foster homes and began selling drugs. Inspired to teach himself to play music, he snuck into music classrooms at a nearby university despite not being a student there. By age 20, he had taught himself to play every instrument he could get his hands on. A near-death encounter with masked gunmen propelled him to relocate to Los Angeles, carrying a demo of his original music. In 1996, he released a rhythm and blues album under the mononym Xavier to little success. In 1999, he was in a near-fatal car crash, which left him in a coma for three weeks. He endured months of grueling physical therapy to regain use of his legs, but a mutilated playing hand seemingly signaled the end of his musical goals. He eventually returned to Oakland, planted vegetables, raised his own chickens, and generated an income by growing and selling marijuana. In 2014, at age 45, he returned to music and reinvented himself as Fantastic Negrito, playing his interpretation of black roots music on street corners and subway stations. He won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest in 2015 and the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2017. Fantastic Negrito released his third and most recent album, Please Don't Be Dead, on June 15, 2018.

Fantastic Negrito has grown more comfortable and confident as a performer, as demonstrated at S.O.B.'s tonight. His roots-based music has become less definable in genre and he has taken more liberties spicing his songs with curious story-like introductions and mid-song narratives.  Backed by guitarist Tomas Salcedo, keyboardist Bryan C. Simmons, and drummer Darian P. Gray (the bassist was missing from this performance), Negrito's set recalled old-time blues, but it broke out of the cage like a raging lion on nearly every song. Negrito sang with a big voice and narrated with an equally big personality. Although raised as a Muslim, he showed all the swagger of a Pentecostal preacher in high gear, moving in cadence with the music all over the small stage and driving the hip-shaking songs to maximum energy. Many of the lyrics wrapped around insightful social commentary about living out hard times, and the urgent impact of his rocking ensemble made the potent message feel desperate and even explosive. The arrangements borrowed from funk, folk, rock and roll and hip hop, anything to build more dynamics into the songs. If this edgy mix of music was the blues, then it ranged from sky blue to midnight blue and many shades in between.

Visit Fantastic Negrito at www.fantasticnegrito.com.

Setlist:

1. Bad Guy Necessity
2. Nobody Makes Money
3. Working Poor
4. Scary Woman
5. A Cold November Street
6. Hump Thru the Winter
7. An Honest Man
8. Lost in a Crowd
9. Rant Rushmore
10. A Boy Named Andrew
11. In the Pines
12. Bullshit Anthem
13. Plastic Hamburgers
14. The Duffler