![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/fantastic_negrito_lost.jpg\")
Thanks to my friend and former bandmate Jeff Japp, I discovered the music of Fantastic Negrito right around the time he released his stunning \u2013 and eventually Grammy-winning \u2013 debut, The Last Days of Oakland<\/i>. I\u2019ve also been lucky enough to see him live onstage no less than three times, and I\u2019ve had at least four interviews \u2013 including one in person \u2013 with him over the last several years.<\/p>\n
His releases are always compelling; it\u2019s a well-worn clich\u00e9 to say that a given artist \u201ctranscends genre,\u201d but there\u2019s no other way to describe Fantastic Negrito. Nominally a blues artist, he makes music that (as I wrote in a recent feature for SF Weekly<\/i>) is blues but almost never sounds<\/em> like blues. There\u2019s plenty of rock, soul, funk, hip hop and what-have-you to be found in his music.<\/p>\n His third album, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?<\/i> was released in August. As I expected \u2013 he\u2019s never less than a superb interview subject \u2013 our September conversation yielded more good content than the SF Weekly<\/i> story could hold. So herewith is an edited transcript of the best parts of what went unused.<\/p>\n What were some of the major issues that informed the music you wrote for the new album?<\/b><\/p>\n First of all, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet<\/i>\u2019s content is really based on mental health. Mental illness, mental wealth. Like, how are we existing, coexisting? I feel like there is a blooming mental health crisis in this country. There’s access to all these events whether it’s tragic, divisive, whatever they are, we can even overdose every day. And where it\u2019s specific to America it the level of violence. I would say, number one, the level of gun violence which we kind of accepted like Starbucks. Eight people will go into a place and shoot everybody. \u201cI\u2019ll have a tall latte\u201d shit, you know what I mean? It\u2019s in the same lexicon.<\/p>\n I started thinking, how does my bass player deal with that, how does my keyboard player deal with that? How does my keyboardist who lives in East Oakland and his seven kids deal with this information every day? It feels like everyday, we have this state-sponsored agency that we call the police that seems to arbitrarily shoot down \u2013 I call murder \u2013 people who look like him, African Americans. How do we process this media?<\/p>\n And I just took all these topics \u2013 and now Covid-19 \u2013 this virus that reveals how sick we really were, how much we are in need of therapy. My therapy is [music]. Every song that I wrote I targeted this person, that person. It\u2019s the hardest album I\u2019ve ever made, because I think I\u2019m on a more micro level. I felt like we can really be responsible for the stuff that happens on a micro level.<\/p>\n Having addressed topical issues on your past albums \u2013 and again now in a micro fashion \u2013 do you feel that you have a responsibility to keep doing that?<\/b><\/p>\n I have a responsibility as a living, breathing human being on this planet. Especially being a middle aged guy, I\u2019ve accumulated some wisdom. And I think this is why we live. Why do we wake up every day? We wake up every day to take care of those behind us. And take care of people who are less fortunate, to people who don\u2019t have all the opportunities, our children, our neighbors\u2019 children, our nephews and nieces. I think that\u2019s why we exist. So, absolutely, abso-fucking-lutely actually<\/i>, yes. Yes, and double-triple yes, I have a responsibility. And I\u2019m very pleased to have this responsibility, as imperfect as I am.<\/p>\n Your core group of musicians has remained consistent among all three albums. When you\u2019re writing, would you say you subconsciously have their skills, abilities and styles in mind?<\/b><\/p>\n Absolutely not. When I\u2019m doing the [basic tracks for an] album, I don\u2019t let anybody in the room. I write, I play it; it’s very cathartic, man. I play every bass note, every keyboard, guitar licks. [The other musicians come in later and add or replace parts.] Songs like \u201cHow Long?\u201d I kept a lot of my guitar as well; it just felt like it needed to be as funky as it wants to be. With this album I definitely was in a funkier mood than the last album \u2026 which is okay. You know, it’s like whatever the mood is. Masa Kohama plays some fairly extended lead guitar parts, which is a little different than the last couple of albums.<\/b><\/p>\n I want to be different every album. I invited rappers in on \u201cSearching for Captain Save a Hoe.\u201d And my [fellow] NPR [Tiny Desk Contest] winner [Tank] on \u201cI\u2019m So Happy I Cry.\u201d So I did open up the album more. And that guitar solo on \u201cYour Sex is Overrated\u201d was one take; it was very human. We were all sitting in the room, I\u2019m playing keys and I\u2019m like, \u201cThis is it; nothing else needs to be said.\u201d We did it awhile ago, actually; I had buried it, and I brought it back to life.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re writing, how much thought, if any, do you give to how a track will go over live?<\/b>
\nSo then later I bring everybody in and they scratch their heads: \u201cWhat have you got?\u201d That\u2019s kind of how it goes. They\u2019re like, \u201cOh, you have a Hammond B3 this time? No more apps and plugins.\u201d Yeah, I\u2019ve got the actually B3 that Tony! Toni<\/em>! Ton\u00e9<\/em> used on all their records.<\/p>\n
\nZero. I couldn\u2019t care less. Yeah, zero. I don\u2019t care about that, man. I just care about when you\u2019re in the studio it\u2019s a sacred, special place and you can feel the vibrations of what\u2019s happening in that studio which is definitely what\u2019s very important and very powerful and it can go wrong quick. When we\u2019re in that studio, no one\u2019s allowed in. No faults can get in; none of that. You\u2019re not a Grammy winner; none of that. You\u2019re in there and you\u2019re a human being fighting for your life. And I put zero thought into that because they\u2019re two separate, different things. Because it’s not a performance in the studio, I don\u2019t believe. You know, I think it’s like a sacred ritual. I\u2019m in there now [doing something]. You get your self and your spirit to connect with these vibrations from all this music that was laid down before us.<\/p>\n