Fantastic Negrito's visionary White Jesus Black Problems sounds like everything else and nothing else

White Jesus Black Problems is Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz’s fifth album as Fantastic Negrito, and surely his finest

White Jesus Black Problems cover art
(Image: © Storefront Records)

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

It’s quite a story. Back in 1759, in Virginia, Elizabeth Gallimore, an indentured white Scottish servant, fell in love with a black slave whose name has been lost in the mists of time. All these years later, their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson, Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, aka Fantastic Negrito, has discovered he is 27 per cent white and has written an album based on their tale. 

There’s darkness to spare. There’s casually dispensed pain; legal proceedings (fuelled by Joe Meek-style keyboards, the gritty Nibbadip goes into the court case for “unlawfully cohabiting with a negro slave” in funky fashion), and overt racism on the interlude You Don’t Belong Here. But there’s redemption too, when the couple’s children are freed.

The previous three Fantastic Negrito albums won Best Contemporary Blues Grammy. This one won’t, since, without spurning what made him so vital in the first place, Dphrepaulezz is painting from a richer, more varied palette where his gravel-encrusted vocals – part Corey Glover, part Johnny Cash – glide over the Frank Zappa-esque swirl of In My Head or the percussive throb that propels Register Of Free Negroes

As a story it’s inspiring, and only a fool would fail to notice a rum selection of contemporary parallels. Encompassing American and African blues, gospel, rock (Man With No Name is a conscious, surprisingly successful attempt to merge James Brown with Black Sabbath), stentorian keyboards, country (You Better Have A Gun) and soul, White Jesus Black Problems is a wide-ranging sprawl of sound.

On a purely musical level, it’s all over the place in the best possible sense, from the opening clatter of Venomous Dogma, which twists and turns like Prince covering Muse, to the closing Virginia Soil with its ‘freedom will come’ mantra. 

They Go Low, the possible standout, begins with cascading piano, before banks of massed vocals kick in on the way to an irresistibly catchy chorus, while the unfortunately titled (to those who remember Frank Spencer), but super-tight Oh Betty is built around an distinctly Doorsian keyboards squall. 

So, yes, with Red Hot Chili Peppers-style guitars popping up as frequently as finger-clicking harmonies, White Jesus Black Problems is indeed a mess. So what? Even without the back story, it works as a testament to one man’s musical vision. And on this showing, Dphrepaulezz is on the cusp of establishing himself as a major player. He may sound like almost everything, but there’s nothing quite like him.

John Aizlewood

As well as Classic Rock, John Aizlewood currently writes for The Times, The Radio Times, The Sunday Times, The i Newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and Mojo amongst others.  He’s written four books and appears on television quite often. He once sang with Iron Maiden at a football stadium in Brazil: he wasn’t asked back. He’s still not sure whether Enver Hoxha killed Mehmet Shehu…

Read more
Benjamin Booker publicity photo
"They would literally laugh in my face": From Haitian voodoo to slavery, sex and school shootings, Lower is the album Benjamin Booker's old label didn't want him to make
The Wildhearts: Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts
“An ode to the litany of wankers we all have to deal with every day”: The Wildhearts prove once again they’re one of the UK’s greatest bands with The Satanic Rites Of…
Mogwai – The Bad Fire
“Some bands would think such an unlikely chart-topping feat would require them to lurch into a new chapter. Instead, Mogwai retreat to their discomfort zone”: The Bad Fire is reassuringly blurry
Jonathan Hulten – Eyes Of The Living Night
“Sometimes his lyrics are so indistinct they may as well be wordless. Sometimes they are actually wordless”: Jonathan Hultén’s Eyes Of The Living Night is brilliant and beautiful
Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking cover art
"Fuelled by despair as usual but also simplicity, the songs are rock throughout": Manic Street Preachers show that rage never sleeps on Critical Thinking
Imperial Triumphant press
"Those sultry licks get weirder and weirder, until they resemble the sound of a UFO taking off." Masked metal weirdos Imperial Triumphant go straight on new album Goldstar
Latest in
Foreigner at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2024
Foreigner will complete their Historic Farewell Tour with four different singers – and one of them has recorded Spanish versions of their hits
Pete Townshend - The Studio Albums cover art
"This collection embodies both the best and worst of Townshend the artist and arch conceptualist": An overview of the solo career of Pete Townshend, the man who never meant to have a solo career
Linkin Park 2024
Linkin Park launch "the best song we've ever made" Up From The Bottom
Vera Farmiga in 2021
The Conjuring star Vera Farmiga announces debut album with her heavy metal band The Yagas
'Emo' Ed Sheeran busking
Watch Ed Sheeran cover Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club on the New York subway while disguised as an emo busker
A close-up shot of the Marshall Major IV on-ear headphones on a turquoise, blue and black background.
I’ve never seen the Marshall Major IV headphones this cheap before - get them for half price in Amazon’s big spring sale
Latest in Review
Pete Townshend - The Studio Albums cover art
"This collection embodies both the best and worst of Townshend the artist and arch conceptualist": An overview of the solo career of Pete Townshend, the man who never meant to have a solo career
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Sex Pistols at the RAH
"Open the dance floor, you’ll never get to do it again." Forget John Lydon's bitter and boring "karaoke" jibes, with Frank Carter up front, the Sex Pistols sound like the world's greatest punk band once more
Arch Enemy posing in an alleyway
Arch Enemy promised they'd throw out the rule book for Blood Dynasty. They didn't go quite that far, but this is the boldest album of the Alissa White-Gluz era - and it kicks ass
The Darkness press shot
"Not just one of the best British rock albums of all time, but one of the best debut albums ever made": That time The Darkness added a riot of colour to a grey musical landscape