Ten years after winning the initial , Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, more commonly known by his stage name, Fantastic Negrito, is back with a new record. On "Son Of A Broken Man" Negrito writes about the complex relationship he had with his father growing up.
He caught up with 瓜神app music reporter Brian Burns to talk about the record before his show at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro on February 20.
This is an excerpt of an edited transcript of that conversation. You can hear the full interview by clicking the LISTEN button at the top of this post.
I want to talk to you a little bit about your latest record, "Son Of A Broken Man." That's a really heavy title. Can you get into the meaning behind that?
I'm the eighth of 15 kids. I'm the middle child. My father was a complicated man. He was an abusive egomaniac, but also gave me some good values and a work ethic at the same time. He was 33 years younger than my mother and by the time most of us turned 12 we'd either run away or he'd put us out. We all grew up in the foster care system. I have all this trauma, and I thought, why don't I take that and make it useful. I ended up turning it into some of the best songs I've ever written in my life, so I'm thankful for that trauma.
The record is out now on your own label, Storefront Records. Tell us about the freedom that having your own label gives you as an artist.
You can actually be an artist. You can create for the sake of creation and the sake of, I don't want to say joy, because it can be torturous, but for the sake of contributing something, and you don't have to worry so much about, oh, my overhead, my bottom line, my stockholders. It's more like we're just making music here with the freedom of a seventeen year old and perhaps the wisdom of a grandfather.
On top of winning three Grammys in 2015 you also won the inaugural NPR Tiny Desk contest. Tell us how that impacted your career.
Oh, that did everything for my career. Before winning Tiny Desk, I was the middle aged guy at the train station here in the Bay Area, or playing in front of cafes. I was really happy doing it, but the Tiny Desk contest completely changed my life, and I owe where I am to Bob Boilen and NPR and the Tiny Desk.
