As Fantastic Negrito, Oakland songwriter finds fame

A near-fatal car accident and bum major-label deal nearly drove Xavier Dphrepaulezz to an early retirement.

But this year the Oakland musician came back in a big way. Inspired by delta bluesmen such as Skip James and R.L. Burnside, he reinvented himself as Fantastic Negrito. Then he went on to beat 7,000 other competitors in NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert competition, thanks to a one-take video showing him performing the raw and ravaged song “Lost in a Crowd” with a three-piece band and a slab of sheet metal in a freight elevator.

Now the singer-songwriter is an international sensation.