Posts Tagged ‘Fantastic Negrito’

FANTASTIC NEGRITO – ” Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? “

Posted: January 2, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Can we talk about how this man is 52 years old? I had no idea. Since he’s only been around for four years, roughly 2016, I thought he was much younger. I’m only saying this as he always gives off the energy of someone younger. Ok onto the music, his third record starts off with “Chocolate Samurai” and about three quarters into the song he says “it’s never too late to achieve your dreams” and I mean it just goes with the age thing. He is beloved in the music world and he’s really doing what he wants to. His music goes in all directions, from roots and funk to rock and blues and even a bit of gospel.

He gets a little help from a few guests on the album, most notably Tank from Tank and the Bangas on the scorching track “I’m So Happy I Cry”. “Your Sex is Overrated” featuring Masa Kohama has Fantastic Negrito doing his best Prince send up, and it works. “King Frustration” speaks to everything happening today for Black Amerircans, not being able to function while worrying about every step taken throughout the day. It’s an angry song that deserves to be played loud through your stereo. If you’re not familiar with him for some reason, please go take a listen to all three of his records, you won’t be disappointed.

Fantastic Negrito: the perfect combination of brilliant performance, brilliant writing, and funky fucking music. This harkens back to the best r&b, funk, soul, and rock-and-roll of the 60sand ‘7s with a 2025 vision. 

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I came up with the name Fantastic Negrito to give the respect and honour to all of the human lives that lay the very foundation that we all build upon now. So many talented, brave, courageous souls with no names sacrificed their freedom, blood, sweat, tears and lives so that we could stand here and pick from the beautiful garden of Black Roots Music. When I imagined Fantastic Negrito, I was thinking of the greats Robert Johnson, Skip James, Howlin’ Wolf and Charlie Patton these amazing contributors these amazing architects of popular culture.

Released August 14th, 2020

Fantastic Negrito

FANTASTIC NEGRITO – ” A Honest Man “

Posted: March 3, 2015 in FESTIVALS, MUSIC
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-G8vBpG9o

Fantastic Negrito is a man’s truth told in the form of black roots music. Each song is a true story about a musician from Oakland who experienced the highs of a million dollar record deal, the lows of a near fatal car accident that put him in a coma, and is now in the phase of rebirth despite his playing hand being mangled. Negrito’s music emphasizes rawness and space. Slide guitar, drums, piano. Rather than update the Delta Blues, Fantastic Negrito leaves the original sounds of Lead Belly and Skip James intact, building bridges to a modern sound with loops and samples of his own live instruments. But the primary element that drives Fantastic Negrito’s music is uncut realness and zero concern for “pop” anything.

Fantastic Negrito calls himself a musician reborn. As a young man, the Oakland singer taught himself to play just about every instrument he could get his hands on. But after making a record that failed to take off, he felt his confidence and artistry suffer; disenchanted with music, he simply quit. The years that followed brought major life changes: a near-deadly car accident and the resulting coma, intense rehabilitation, marriage and the birth of his son. Now, renewed creative energy has spawned the musical project that is Fantastic Negrito. He chose the name, he says, as “a celebration of blackness. The ‘Fantastic’ is self-explanatory; the ‘Negrito’ is a way to open blackness up to everyone, making it playful and international.” Judges Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, John Congleton, Valerie June, Reggie Watts and Thao Nguyen agreed that this soulful, unbridled performance, captured at a makeshift desk in an Oakland freight elevator, stood out from the crowd.

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