Grammys star on a political mission
TWO-TIME Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito – the artist also known as Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz – grew up the hard way.
The Oakland-bred titan used to be a gun-carrying drug dealer and was nearly killed in a car smash.
He ran an illegal nightclub before fame called with his socially engaged, genresmashing alter ego on breakthrough album The Last Days of Oakland.
That 2016 debut and its follow-up, Please Don’t Be Dead, were both awarded Best Contemporary Blues Album at the Grammys.
So, can new firecracker Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? – with its personal but political songs served in a furious funk soul and rock’n’roll cocktail – complete a Grammy hat-trick?
“I’ve always felt like I’m a bit of an outcast,” said Fantastic, 52. “I came up busking on the street and when I won my first Grammy, I wasn’t on a record label.”
His fame spread to the fashion industry when he appeared on the red carpet and name-checked Oakland designers.
He said: “I love supporting local designers that think outside of the box.”
Fantastic calls himself a “recovering narcissist” and the new album partly deals with mental health issues.
He added: “I was trying to express the challenges of life in America – gun violence, police brutality, racism, sexism. They have a devastating impact on your nervous system and psyche, and we are living with the results of that right now.”
The issues he has addressed on previous Grammy-winning albums are now centre stage – and that does not surprise him.
He said: “My songs were, and always are, social commentary. I don’t mind singing about race, class, religion or wage slavery. I never wanted to be your ‘safe negro’. In my heart, I am some kind of screaming punk rock Al Green.”
So, does he keep his Grammys on display?
He said: “I keep them in a safety deposit box and far away so when I’m in the studio, the creative process can be pure.
“But winning was great – especially to be honoured by your peers. I’m also very competitive. I’m the eighth of 14 kids. Growing up in my house, it was all about competition. It was a madhouse.”
● Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? is out now.