Fantastic Negrito Hump Through The Winter

The Last Days of Oakland is an album by Fantastic Negrito. It earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

Fantastic Negrito’s upcoming album and short film White Jesus Black Problems was inspired by a search into his ancestry where he found that his 7th generation grandmother was a Scottish indentured servant who entered into a common law marriage with an African American enslaved man, his 7th generation grandfather, in open defiance of the racist laws of 1750’s colonial Virginia. Their love story is a healing testament to standing up against inhumane and brutal systems with love as your only weapon. Their perseverance is a lesson in today’s polarized society on the virtues of constant struggle in the face of ignorance, fear, and violence, which is still present in the contemporary embodiments of white supremacy, bigotry, and hatred. It's important to tell the story of how those who suffered much greater indignities and violence than we do in contemporary times were nonetheless able to preserve their humanity through human connection and the determination to love. If they can do it in 1759, we can do it 2022.

After winning his second 'Contemporary Blues Album' Grammy for the acclaimed Please Don't Be Dead, Fantastic Negrito is back with his new album Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?. This album focuses on mental health, while providing commentary on the political and social state of America. Lead track I'm So Happy I Cry features fellow Tiny Desk winner, Tank, from Tank and The Bangas. Additional focus tracks Chocolate Samurai, Searching for Captain Save a Hoe (featuring E-40) and How Long? see him exploring hip-hop, R&B, and rock in a way like never before, providing a glimpse into the full versatility of Fantastic Negrito as an artist.

There is desperation and urgency in Fantastic Negrito's new album "Please Don't Be Dead." The record sees the Devil around the corner, and each song is plea to make you aware of what's waiting for you. The artist is screaming at you because he knows what comes next. The album art features a real life photograph of Fantastic Negrito waking up from a three week coma. His body is shattered, his eyes are staring past you. They're staring at the Devil. But with his new album we hear the voice of an artist who put that Devil in the rear view. Now he's asking America to do the same. Like Negrito in that photograph, our country is driving off a cliff. We're letting our worst inclinations lead us: hate, division, greed, superficiality. It is going to be a fight to pull ourselves from this toxic mire, and this album is a roadmap by an artist who survived the same journey…battered, scarred, but determined to wake us all up. "Please Don't Be Dead" is a man standing over something wounded. Something he cares about. He's looking around, and he's saying: "do something."