海角大神

Musician Fantastic Negrito wants to spread the light. He first had to face his past.

Fantastic Negrito鈥檚 new album is about his experience running away from home to live on the streets. He was 12 years old. The year prior, his father had stopped talking to him.

鈥淓very time one of us hit puberty, he would disown you,鈥� the musician, raised with 13 siblings, says during a video call.

Music saved him, he has said many times in the past. Upon discovering that his pop star hero, Prince, was self-taught, the teen picked up a guitar. Then he started sneaking into music classes at the University of California, Berkeley, and signed with Interscope Records in the 1990s.

After a serious car accident damaged his strumming hand, he left music for a time. Then, after learning to play guitar in a different style, he reinvented himself as Fantastic Negrito.

The rock star was born Xavier Dphrepaulezz. Except that name isn鈥檛 entirely real, either. His well-educated father, born in 1905, fabricated the family鈥檚 last name. Also puzzling: Why did his dad fake a Somalian accent and claim he was of royal heritage?

His just-released sixth album, 鈥淪on of a Broken Man,鈥� is an open letter to his long-deceased father. The rock-, funk-, and R&B-influenced artist鈥檚 previous albums focused on social commentary. (Fans include Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama, and Sting, who duetted with the musician on this summer鈥檚 single 鈥淯ndefeated Eyes.鈥�) This time, he鈥檚 chronicling his search for identity and belonging. The Monitor spoke with the three-time Grammy Award winner in a conversation edited for length and clarity.

You began to explore your heritage on your 2022 album, 鈥淲hite Jesus Black Problems.鈥� ... How did the revelation that you鈥檙e a seventh-generation descendent of a Scottish grandmother make you think about race and identity?

To me, it鈥檚 all a construct that鈥檚 made up. Five hundred years ago, a Black person didn鈥檛 exist. You were a Nigerian, Bantu, or Yoruba, or you were an Englishman or you were a Scotsman. [Race] didn鈥檛 exist. It鈥檚 a construct, and we鈥檙e obsessed with it. We鈥檙e mostly all alike and the same, probably in more ways than we think. I didn鈥檛 know I was 28% European. Go figure. And then on my dad鈥檚 side, this guy lied about everything. We were raised to think he was from Somalia. That was a lie.

When you were a teenager in foster homes, which you describe in the new song 鈥淟iving With Strangers,鈥� how did that impact how you thought about your own self-worth?

Some of it turned to anger. That鈥檚 what made me compelled to write the album, to just try to lay it on the line [for people who know me]. I鈥檓 really sorry for how I鈥檝e treated some of you. A lot of my behavior is so toxic and so bad and so destructive because I just don鈥檛 feel that good. I started to call myself a recovering narcissist. 鈥淪on of a Broken Man鈥� made me comfortable being unsure, not knowing what this album is going to be. I鈥檓 sitting there writing this thing, and I鈥檓 crying my eyes out. And maybe that鈥檚 OK.

You started dealing drugs and burglarizing homes. But as you sing in 鈥淐alifornia Loner,鈥� 鈥淚f you could only see me now / I鈥檓 not so bad.鈥� You wish that your dad, who died while you were still in foster care, could have witnessed that. But you have a son now. Is this album a message to him?

Absolutely. Everything I write, I write for my son. I try to stop my dad every day. The bad guy who lives inside of me. I haven鈥檛 been great all the time. But that鈥檚 my fight. And I think if I鈥檓 more transparent, I become stronger at my fight. So I can tell my son, 鈥淢an, I鈥檓 sorry. I didn鈥檛 know what I was doing.鈥� I鈥檓 continuing on this generational trauma thing. But I鈥檓 going to stop, and I鈥檓 going to hug you and tell you, 鈥淚 love you.鈥� I鈥檓 going to kiss you every day. And I do it.

How old is your son?

Fifteen. We鈥檙e in a good space because I鈥檓 trying to be vulnerable. I was raised with this tough-guy [attitude]. But it鈥檚 more tough to show vulnerability and love. I鈥檓 learning that. If I seem a little bit corny, that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 going to do because I believe it鈥檚 my salvation. I keep on writing this stuff, and it鈥檚 helping me do better. If I鈥檓 better, the world鈥檚 better. If I鈥檓 a better dad, the world鈥檚 better. If I鈥檓 a better husband. If I鈥檓 a better friend. Better uncle. I really feel like that鈥檚 the meaning of life. We鈥檙e supposed to improve, be creative, and help each other. Repeat. Repeat.

On Instagram, you posted a note about living on the streets from age 12 and you wrote, 鈥淥nly the dreamers survive,鈥� which echoes a lyric in the title track. How did discovering music like Prince and Led Zeppelin and Funkadelic show you that you could take this whole different path in life?

All of those people you named were just titanic visionaries. They envisioned a world probably that we all couldn鈥檛 quite see. They were brave and they did what they believed. Those are dreamers. And all that music still enriches our lives. I remember writing that lyric, writing that song like, 鈥淚 want to be on the side of the dreamers. ... Everything is infinitely possible.鈥� I love that.

The penultimate track is a cover of the gospel standard 鈥淭his Little Light of Mine.鈥� Tell me what that song means to you.

My grandmother and her affinity and love of spirituals really heavily influenced me. She was the person that could drag me to church. I remember going on social media and just feeling that it鈥檚 just dark all the time. Everybody鈥檚 screaming at the top of their lungs. The left is screaming. The right is screaming. Nobody鈥檚 talking to each other in a way that鈥檚 civil or [engaging in] any discourse that can actually be productive. I wanted to do a song where I wanted to say to the world ... 鈥淗ow do we paint this place a new face? How do we step up to the next level here in life?鈥� I鈥檓 going to let it shine. I know that comes from a very old tradition in church. A salvation. It鈥檚 a little light, but, man, I鈥檓 going to shine it all around the world.