Fantastic Negrito

Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz (born January 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, is an American singer-songwriter whose music spans blues, R&B, and roots music. His 2016 album The Last Days of Oakland won a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 59th Grammy Awards. In 2019, his album Please Don't Be Dead won the same category for the 61st Grammy Awards. His 2020 album, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? won Fantastic Negrito his third consecutive Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. His most recent album, Son of a Broken Man, was released in 2024. His Somali-Bahamian father was a deeply religious Muslim who, Dphrepaulezz recalls, had "a lot of rules" for his children.

Career Dphrepaulezz signed an early record deal with Prince's former manager. In 1993, he signed with Interscope Records. He was in a near-fatal car crash in 1999, which left him in a coma for three weeks. and developing a style that he calls "black roots music for everyone". In 2015, he won NPRs Tiny Desk Contest. In 2016, his album The Last Days of Oakland was released on the Blackball Universe label. Dphrepaulezz won his first Grammy in 2017, when The Last Days of Oakland received the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

Dphrepaulezz won his second Grammy with his next album, Please Don't Be Dead, which won another Best Contemporary Blues Album award at the 2019 Grammy Awards. His third Grammy in that category was awarded in 2021 for his album Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? His fifth album as Fantastic Negrito, White Jesus Black Problems, was released in 2022. An acoustic reworking of that album titled Grandfather Courage was released in 2023. The album Son of a Broken Man, informed by Fantastic Negrito's relationship with his father, was released in October 2024.

Discography The X Factor (Interscope, 1996) (as Xavier) Fantastic Negrito (Blackball Universe, 2014) The Last Days of Oakland (Blackball Universe, 2016) Please Don't Be Dead (Cooking Vinyl, Blackball Universe, 2018) Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? (Cooking Vinyl, 2020) White Jesus Black Problems (Storefront Records, 2022) Grandfather Courage (Storefront Records, 2023) Son of a Broken Man (Storefront Records, 2024)