Fantastic Negrito
The Last Days of Oakland

An anonymous (in every sense): “Conte, excuse me, do you like Fantastic Negrito?”

Il Conte (perplexed and already irritated): “Who??!! What nonsense are you talking?!”

The anonymous (stammering but, nevertheless, confident about the tip): “I thought you knew him, he's great and has made a couple of albums that, in my opinion, you might like.”

Il Conte (annoyed but open-minded): “I'll take note but if he's rubbish, as I expect... let's just drop it”... (I'm so erratic, but with my smirking face, you never can tell when I'm joking and when things might get nasty).

What's the problem?! At DeBaser they know everything, I'll go and get informed.

There's nothing on DeBaser, disappointment; another indication directing everything towards a colossal flop.

But then, that silly name like a young rapper or trapper inventing a nickname to spew out his nonsense more compellingly, what sense does it make?! A flop, I'm almost sure of it.

Google! There at least I can see who he is.

First surprise! He’s as old as me! And the album was the Blues disc of 2016!
Good news ahead. I’ll go and find out more.

It seems this guy, native of Massachusetts but raised in Oakland, has had a crazy life. After all, if at fifty you’re considered a newcomer, something strange must have happened to you.

He ran away from home at 12 and lived on the street playing guitar, dealing crack, messing with local gangs between fights and shootings. He gets noticed and taken “under management” by Prince's managers. He is considered a kid with enormous potential, goes on tour with people like the Fugees, De La Soul, Arrested Development. He records an album, where everyone pins so many hopes, but commercially, it turns out to be a flop.

The psychological backlash on Xavier Dphrepaullez (his real name) is big, and an (almost) fatal accident is the final blow to his desire to continue playing.

He retreats to the countryside to grow marijuana (another of his passions) which he distributes legally in California, then organizes illegal parties in Los Angeles for the rich and famous. For the perfect novel, all that's missing is an arrest and then the birth of a child that rekindles his desire to tell stories, to write music. Said and done, a novel masterfully achieved.

Xavier - X(J)avier I like a lot, it reminds me of the noble Captain - once again chooses the streets.

“I had written these new songs and thought that testing them in the street was the best way to get an authentic and sincere opinion on the tracks. If you can grab the attention of people coming home from work with no intention of listening... well then it's done!” Not bad.

Great story, genuine. Far too much. I struggle to believe it's all so damn and perfectly bluesy. But I don't really count, I no longer trust anyone. Let's say it's half-true and that's still fine.

What I am convinced of is that this album is splendid.

“I grew up with hip-hop. I only recently discovered the Blues and my black roots: it’s a genre that has always accompanied me, I listened to it absent-mindedly all my life, but I hadn't yet connected with it... That original sound of the Mississippi Delta, that passion that Skip James and Robert Johnson put into it, finally penetrated me and I realized I found something I really feel attached to...”

And well done my “Negrito”, I've been living with the Demons of the Blues for thirty plus years, now you're done for.

But don't be fooled, we are far from a classic Blues album like Bloomfield or Ray Vaughan.

Here the Blues is more in the air than in the sound. A street album, Blues and Hip Hop atmosphere. So much Black Music all together is a pleasure for the soul. As if James Brown, Betty and the Funkadelics, BB King, Sister Rosetta and Mr. Marshall had decided to play together for everyone's good.

And so much Rhythm and Blues, so much Soul, Gospel laments and Tribal rhythms, Funky and Rock’n’Roll merge into one crazy groove with “modern” sounds.

This is the greatest virtue. It's old but not “old” at all.

All the songs are really beautiful, you start listening and go full throttle, also because the album is a crescendo.

Acid Rhythm and Blues and lots of blackness in the wonderful “Scary Woman” and “The Niggar Song” and the Funky Rock’n’Roll of “Hump Through The Winter” (listen how similar it is to a black version of “Black Dog” from my Zeppelin”) that gets you moving, while the soul and gospel mixed with Hendrix knock you flat with “Lost In The Crowd”, “The Worst” and “Rant Rushmore”. The final “Nothing Without You” is so beautiful it could be the most beautiful song written by Prince.

And I'm not kidding, listen and then tell me... also because the few I forgot, it’s only because I don’t remember the title and I don’t feel like going to read it again.

He railed against capitalism, greed, and the exploitation of today's society and states that “Money and power are the roots of all evil”..... mmmmhhhh might this Negrito have been listening to me for decades?!...

I go to the Anonymous and ask what he knows about him. He tells me that the new album just released is as good as this one or maybe better and that he got to know him two years ago when he went to see Chris Cornell and he was opening for him.

Oh Chris, great and sensitive rocker soul...

He tells me, he doesn’t stop anymore Marco. Marco is no longer anonymous, in fact, he never was... he was just shy and I should stop being so impulsive in my (pre) judgments only because I no longer believe in anything and only because most of the time I'm right (unfortunately negatively). There are still noble people out there, very few, but there are.

Thank you, Marco.

Good nobles, enjoy this gem and now I’ll listen to the new one.