Fantastic Negrito belongs to a generation of blues artists who treat the form as a living language rather than a stagnant museum piece. Like Gary Clark Jr., he drags it through hip-hop, punk, funk and hard rock, while the political fire in his writing reaches back to Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and Public Enemy. He is not interested in being a guitar hero. He is closer to a soul preacher, using the blues to talk about race, survival, sex, power and what it means to be a Black man in America.
At the New Morning, all of that comes wrapped in sweat and groove. The room quickly becomes a furnace, the audience pulled into the heavy funk of “Bullshit Anthem,” the blunt force of “Lost in a Crowd” and the darker pull of “Dark Windows,” his tribute to Chris Cornell. Much of the set comes from the excellent Please Don’t Be Dead, but live the songs become rougher and more physical: classic soul dragged through Jon Spencer, The White Stripes and a filthy strain of Led Zeppelin.
Fantastic Negrito is obviously a persona, but he is not a character being worn for the evening. Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz seems to contain all of it at once: hustler, preacher, lover, sinner, poet, scam artist, circus ringleader, guitar player and soul singer. There are flashes of George Clinton, Prince, James Brown and Chuck D in the performance, but the combination is entirely his own.
And the politics never arrive as a lecture. This is church, only the congregation is dancing. The dirtiest songs carry a message; the most socially conscious ones still demand movement. Sensual and spiritual, serious and ridiculous, sacred and profane, Fantastic Negrito thrives exactly where those things collide.
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