Fantastic Negrito
White Jesus Black Problems

There are artists who do not simply represent a genre, who do not just (and that’s saying something) appear among the top exponents of a musical genre, but become the custodians of that genre's spirit itself. Our artist is Fantastic Negrito, born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, and this genre is the blues.

There is a lot in Fantastic Negrito, in terms of musical influences beyond the blues, as he has demonstrated in the works released so far: there is soul, plenty of funk, R&B, folk, but more than anything else, the blue demons hidden among the spirituals sung in the fields of the southern United States by slaves and among the first pieces by wandering guitarists emerge with force. No one today resonates the same devils that have inspired (and tormented) Robert Johnson or still nestle among the notes of Son House's "Death Letter Blues" quite like him.

Fantastic Negrito's new studio work is simply wonderful; this "White Jesus Black Problems" complete with its short film released on YouTube once again manages to offer this unique and recognizable sound, with alternating rhythmic verses and choruses with voice and electric guitar shouting in unison, as in "Man With No Name" or with hammering Texas-style blues riffs, as in "Oh Betty", yet without sounding too familiar, because our artist loves to vary and offers us songs with completely new nuances, see the very amusing "Nibbadip". The sounds are stunning, dynamic, alternating raw moments like dry land with calm moments like the night sky. The guitars are, as always, superb ("Venomous Dogma"), with hammond and keyboards reaching excellent levels ("You Better Have a Gun") and the rhythm section delivers a superb performance ("Highest Bidder"). In terms of atmosphere, everything is there, ranging from the most represented electric blues-rock to ballads like the beautiful "They Go Low".

White Jesus Black Problems is an album to listen to over and over again, also for its themes (which certainly refer to the genre's stylistic features, with particularly inspired lyrics); an album to consume in the scorching heat of this 2022, whether on the asphalt streets or among the parched fields; an album that cannot be ignored by lovers of blues and blues-rock, and that for anyone who loves good music in general, well-written and well-produced, is a breath of air, perhaps not fresh but dusty and dirty, yet still a gust of wind that bitterly makes us feel alive.

THE CONCERT (Genoa, Porto Antico, Arena del Mare - 24/07/2022)

When the news comes out that Fantastic Negrito will play with his band in Genoa, I immediately buy the ticket, months in advance, to avoid missing the concert of one of my favorite artists. At the Arena del Mare, during the Balena Festival 2022, however, there are few of us, very few. To think I showed up at the gate opening two hours before the concert started. Something that made it possible to comfortably buy the ticket a quarter of an hour before. In front of one of the most incredible performances I've ever witnessed, there were maybe 300 people in a half-empty square. I'm in the front row, to my right a couple of Germans who tell me they've been to all of Xavier's European live shows, more excited than ever, and to my left a girl (of rare beauty) who came to the concert specifically from Naples, like me, alone as the only fan of the bluesman in her circle of friends. I realize that yes, we are few, but we are all there knowing that soon we would listen to and experience something truly special. So between initial demoralization and euphoria, a mix of bitterness and joy was unleashed, shout after shout, melisma after melisma, riff after riff. Ladies and gentlemen: here comes the blues.