Fantastic Negrito Releases His Most Personal Album Yet With “Son Of A Broken Man”
the grammy-award winning artist released his eighth studio album on october 18th
3x Grammy Award winner Fantastic Negrito released his new album, Son of a Broken Man, produced by Storefront Records, on October 18th. The new album sees Fantastic Negrito encapsulating the inimitable elements of his celebrated body of work to date, from hard-hitting distorted guitar riffs to melodic and expressive ballads, all fueled by the unexpected twists that have become his trademark. The album is perhaps his most personal thus far, exploring family, deception, and the human desire to hide the true self as he dives deep into one of the oldest conflicts in human history: the struggle between father and son.
Beginning at a young age, Negrito was served untruths by his father. A made-up last name, a fabricated ancestry, and a fake Somali accent. Why lie? Why create this false narrative? These are the questions Negrito had to ask himself and the questions that lie at the heart of Son of a Broken Man.
Son of a Broken Man was first heralded in early September with the premiere of two album highlights, “California Loner” and “Runaway from You.” These were followed by the songs "I Hope Somebody's Loving You," and "Crooked Road."
A stark and beautiful official music video for the rare ballad "I Hope Somebody’s Loving You" also came out in the week before the album’s release. "This video encapsulates the feeling of desolation and loneliness that the song conveys," says Fantastic Negrito. "It can be a lonely world out there."
The album was preceded by the release of the song “Undefeated Eyes” this summer. The track is a deeply soulful collaboration with seventeen-time Grammy Award winner and rock legend Sting, and was recorded in 2020 at Fantastic Negrito’s West Oakland studio, just days before COVID lockdown policies went into effect. An official music video co-starring the two iconic artists, filmed last month in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, accompanied the track, and is now streaming on YouTube.
Fantastic Negrito will be celebrating Son of a Broken Man with a grandiose international tour. Having just performed a triumphant album-release show at New York City’s Sony Hall, he will be making stops across South America, the UK, and Europe through late November. He will also be making a top-billed home state festival appearance at the inaugural DeFord Bailey Legacy Festival, honouring the harmonica virtuoso’s impactful legacy as the first Black star of the Grand Ole Opry. His slot at the festival is set for Berkeley, CA’s Freight & Salvage venue on Sunday, December 15. For complete details and ticket availability, please visit www.fantasticnegrito.com/tour.
ABOUT FANTASTIC NEGRITO
Born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, Fantastic Negrito grew up in an orthodox Muslim household in Massachusetts before moving to Oakland at the age of 12. After many setbacks – the doomed major label deal that turned him off of the music industry altogether, the near-fatal car crash that permanently damaged his guitar-playing hand—his luck turned in 2015, when he played the first-ever NPR Tiny Desk Contest. In the years that followed, Negrito would go on to take home three consecutive Grammy Awards for “Best Contemporary Blues Album”, share stages with everyone from Sturgill Simpson to Chris Cornell to Bruce Springsteen, collaborate in the studio with the likes of Sting, E-40, and Tank and the Bangas, perform on countless worldwide headline tours and at such festivals as Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Newport Folk, and Byron Bay Blues, and found the Revolution Plantation, an urban farm aimed at youth education and empowerment. Fantastic Negrito’s fifth studio album, 2022’s White Jesus Black Problems, marked the first release under his own label, Storefront Records. 2023 saw the release of Grandfather Courage, an acoustic reimagining of White Jesus Black Problems, recorded with his touring band and hailed by PopMatters as “a compelling, affecting work of acoustic blues and roots music, speaking to the deep currents of blues as an American art form.”
