Photo Credit: Kenney Mathieson
Live Album
Fantastic Negrito Alive!
Out July 17
US & Europe Dates This Summer Tickets Here
“Reimagining the blues for a new age — and audience.” – Los Angeles Times
“Ripping up any blueprint for how a blues album should sound.” – American Songwriter
“Something like Led Zeppelin’s debut, Negrito is too weird and wired to stay in the blues channel, though he is unlikely to head off toward hobbits. He is headed somewhere, that’s for sure.” – Pitchfork
“His story is, by any criteria, extraordinary, and the enjoyment he derives from sharing it is infectious.” – The Guardian
“It’s the truest testament in believing not only is change gonna come, but it is here.” – Rolling Stone
“You’ll see that newly rediscovered purpose in his eyes and hear it in his voice.” – NPR
Today, Oakland’s three-time GRAMMY® winning artist Fantastic Negrito (Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) shares single + video “Please Computer,” the second single from his upcoming live album Fantastic Negrito Alive! due out July 17 —a raw reflection on identity, technology, and human connection in a rapidly changing world. Recorded live, the track captures the intensity of his performances, driven by the refrain: “Please don’t let computers and the man change your mind.” “Please Computer” takes aim at the influence of screens, social media, and digital culture on how we see ourselves. In a time when identity is shaped by comparison and online validation, the song is a call to hold onto independent thought.
“We’re living in a moment where people are looking for meaning through a screen—through likes, through followers, through comparison,” says Fantastic Negrito. “There’s also a real anxiety in the air around AI, people are afraid of losing control, of losing what makes us human.”
Alive! was recorded across performances in Trieste, Italy, Brooklyn, New York, Rubigen,
Switzerland, Sogliano, Italy, and Leeds, UK blending both into a seamless live experience. “I have a powerful connection with Italy,” he adds. “That night in Trieste was electric. The connection with the audience was deep, you can feel it in the music.” Built on the energy of a live audience,
Alive! presents Fantastic Negrito at his most immediate and unfiltered. “Who knows,” he says,
“the new revolution could be human beings actually talking to each other face-to-face.”
Fantastic Negrito will be across the globe this summer with tour dates in the US, Europe, and more. Information on dates here.
“Please Computer”: Watch / Listen
Three-time GRAMMY® Award winner and critically acclaimed artist Fantastic Negrito returns with a new single and forthcoming album Fantastic Negrito Alive that capture the power of human connection at a time when culture is increasingly mediated by algorithms. The new project documents an artist whose performances have been described as “church without the religion,” as gatherings where listeners don’t just observe, but participate.
Composed of grit, soul, funk, rock, foot stomps, handclaps, and blues, Fantastic Negrito has built a global following through performances that transcend genre and dissolve the boundaries between stage and crowd. His live shows are not simply concerts, they are collective experiences driven by emotion, vulnerability, and fearless musicality. This new album captures that experience in its purest form.
The forthcoming album continues this theme, presenting live performance as one of the last truly collective art forms: completely human, unedited, and shaped in real time by the exchange between artist and audience. Negrito’s concerts are known for dissolving the boundary between stage and crowd, creating an atmosphere that feels immediate, participatory, and deeply alive.
Since winning the inaugural NPR Tiny Desk Contest, Fantastic Negrito has continued to redefine contemporary roots music, blending blues, soul, rock, and funk into a sound that is unmistakably his own. His performances have earned praise from audiences across major festivals including Glastonbury, Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza, WOMAD, and collaborations with artists such as Sting, E-40, and Tank and the Bangas further demonstrate the broad reach of his artistry.
US Tour dates:
| Aug 20 | Phoenix, AZ @ Musical Instrument Museum |
| Aug 21 | Santa Fe, NM @ Santa Fe Plaza |
| Aug 22 | Tucson, AZ @ La Rosa |
| Sep 26 | San Francisco, CA @ Davies Symphony Hall (with the SF Symphony) |
Fantastic Negrito Alive Tracklist: 1. Honest Man
- How Long?
- Living With Strangers
- Bullshit Anthem
- Night Has Turned To Day
- In The Pines
- Beat Salad
- Good Feeling
- California Loner
- I Hope Somebody’s Loving You
- Eat Less Sugar (Interlude)
- Working Poor
- Plastic Hamburgers/Long Long Road
- The Duffler
- Please Computer
Follow Fantastic Negrito:
Instagram | Tik Tok | Facebook | Bandcamp | Youtube | Bio
