"I was A Boy Named Andrew,” says Negrito. “I grew up in foster care feeling like an outsider, and I wanted to write a song about it - about the real stories and real people I met that may not get their stories heard."
"The video was shot on location in Milan. We love Italy and the energy of the people there. It was directed by a talented 18 year old named Freddy Macdonald. Thanks Freddy for all your time and energy making this happen."
With over eight million streams ofPlease Don’t Be Dead, another Grammy nomination and a number of summer festival appearances announced including Lollapalooza, Vive Latino, Byron Bay Bluesfest and Black Deer Festival, Negrito is gearing up for an even bigger 2019.
When you listen to Fantastic Negrito, you're invited to hear the story of life after destruction. Each song is a real story about a musician from Oakland who experienced the highs of a million dollar record deal, the lows of a near fatal car accident that left him in a coma, and is now in the midst of a rebirth that took him from the streets of Oakland to the Grammy stage.
On the way he toured the world and played alongside artists ranging from Chris Cornell to Solange to Sturgill Simpson.
ACCLAIM FOR PLEASE DON’T BE DEAD
'A descendant of ‘What's Going On’, delivered by a resilient Hendrix-style dandy'
Mojo
"... James Brown updated for the Black Lives Matter era"
Uncut
An album that is very special indeed'
Blues & Soul
“…something totally unique and original, making it the blackest, deepest 21st-century blues, you’ll ever hear.”
Hi-Fi Choice
“Genre-mashing modern blues at its very best”
Classic Rock
“…carefully crafted to provoke some much needed conversations”
Wire
“Addressing subjects from addiction and gun crime to censorship and obscene over-consumption, the anger is righteous but leavened with the hope of change.”
Uncut
“…there may be no-one earth who can deliver a line like “I get knocked down / But I keep on fighting” with the sincerity and wisdom of experience as Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz. ‘Please Don’t Be Dead’ is a monument to resilience built on the ashes of missed opportunities and fear.”
Afropunk
"When you've been a small-time drug hustler, experienced a brush with death, a false start as a major label artist, and life as a busker, you're well-positioned to sing the blues - as Fantastic Negrito does on his incendiary, consciousness-raising new album, Please Don't Be Dead."
Entertainment Weekly
"Over a series of heaving, stomping riffs, it's a cranked-up, slow-grinding attack on addiction and consumerism with a chant-along chorus: "Let's break out these chains/Let's burn it down."
New York Times
"…fills the middle ground between modern protest music for the political rally and sweaty, sexed-up baby-making music for the bedroom."
Rolling Stone
