Fantastic Negrito has made a name for himself as a flamboyant rule-breaker and genre bender. He won the inaugural NPR Tiny Desk Concert competition, and since then he’s earned Grammy awards for best contemporary blues album in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Negrito (born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) was raised in an orthodox Muslim household. His father was a Somali-Caribbean immigrant who mostly played traditional African music. By the time he was 20, Negrito had taught himself to play every instrument he could get his hands on.

But his story is one of continual re-invention. In his twenties, he signed a multi-million-dollar deal on Interscope Records as the R&B artist “Xavier.” But his album flopped, and then he was in a terrible car wreck that left him in a coma for weeks and mangled his hands.

“And then I decided to just go,” Negrito said. “I gave it all up, sold all my equipment. I quit. I’d had it with the music business. I felt like it had defeated me. So, I moved back to Oakland, California, and invested what I had left in a marijuana farm, good investment at the time. I thought I’d never play music again.”

After starting a family, he was drawn back to music.

“And then, you know, I had a son and having children sometimes, they become your teachers,” Negrito said. “You know, they become the ones that say, ‘Hey, you know what? It may not be that bad, Dad.’ So, through the eyes and spirit of my son, I found music again. And I decided to busk on the streets just for my own happiness. And I was not in my twenties anymore. I didn’t want anything anymore. That’s the key here. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want recognition or fame. So, it led to freedom.”

How…