Fantastic Negrito Teams With Sting For Undefeated Eyes

by | Jul 4, 2024

Ahead of his performance at Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK next month, three times GRAMMY® award winner Xavier Dphrepaulezz – AKA Fantastic Negrito – shares the new single Undefeated Eyes featuring the legendary Police frontman, solo artist, and 17 times GRAMMY® winner, Sting. The release also comes with the news that Fantastic Negrito will play a headline show in London on the 29th October at Islington Assembly Hall.

Fantastic Negrito

Fantastic Negrito (Press)
Fantastic Negrito (Press)

Undefeated Eyes is a soulful, sentimental, and grooving track; and the first release of 2024 for Fantastic Negrito and Storefront Records. Written and produced by Xavier Dphrepaulezz, the track was born in 2020, just days before COVID lockdown policies went into effect. Sting spent the day in Fantastic Negrito’s West Oakland studio laying down what you get to hear today.

Fantastic Negrito and Sting let their voices be the perfect complement to each other as they tail off on their own only to mesh back and forth throughout the track. Elegantly gritty, harrowingly soulful, and at the end of it all, full of life; Undefeated Eyes tells a story of misplaced trust and takes a deep dive into the sometimes low points of relationships.

Dphrepaulezz explains, “I was heading for a divorce, then I connected with Sting and recorded this song. There is enough chaos hate pain, destruction, infidelity, and fame whoring in the world. I always strive to not be a part of that”.

Listen to Undefeated Eyes below:

Fantastic Negrito and Sting will share a stage on Friday 19th July at the Beach Festival in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, ahead of his next performance in the UK at the Cambridge Folk Festival on the 26th July. Today also brings further news of a UK and Europe headline tour, including London’s Islington Assembly Hall on the 29th October 2024.

Fantastic Negrito & Sting

Fantastic Negrito & Sting (Press)
Fantastic Negrito & Sting (Press)

A larger than life character, Fantastic Negrito’s own story is stranger than fiction. He first released an album in 1996, but a near fatal car crash in 1999 effectively ended the first chapter of his career. It resulted in him spending three weeks in a coma and initially losing almost all movement in his right hand, drastically limiting his ability to play guitar. Effectively reborn under his new artist identity of Fantastic Negrito, his career got underway when his phenomenal, charismatic performance won NPR Music’s prestigious Tiny Desk Concert Contest. Check it out below:

All three of Fantastic Negrito’s previous studio albums have won the GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album: The Last Days of Oakland, Please Don’t Be Dead and Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?. He has toured with artists as varied as Sturgill Simpson and the late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, collaborated with Sting and E-40, launched his own Storefront Records label, and founded the Revolution Plantation, an urban farm aimed at youth education and empowerment.

Squeeze Are Cool For Cats As Pyramid Stage Openers At Glastonbury 2024

Twenty Flight Rockers @ 100 Club (Adrian Hextall)

Twenty Flight Rockers Make A Triumphant Return To London After 39 Years At The 100 Club

It has been 39 years since Twenty Flight Rockers last played in London, but the wait is finally over. Persuaded that the time is right for a reunion, the band have returned for a short run of shows celebrating the release of Live ’85, the live album originally intended to be their debut release. For those of us who remember seeing them in their heyday, this is a chance to revisit a band whose rockabilly-fuelled energy has clearly lost none of its appeal. I can hardly believe it has been almost four decades since I last saw them perform.

RAYE @ All Points East 2023 (Dnieper Cruz)

RAYE Brings Her Mercury Prize Winning ‘THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE’ To BST Hyde Park 2027

RAYE is set to make her BST Hyde Park debut next summer, joining the 2027 line-up as its second headliner. The South London-born singer-songwriter will take to the Great Oak Stage on Saturday 10th July, with rising star Sienna Spiro confirmed as a very special guest. Further artists are still to be announced.

Lip Critic @ Revenge - Mutations Festival 2026 (Owen Mills)

Mutations Festival 2026 – Friday: From Harp Strings To Bedlam And Everything In Between

Ever since first attending Mutations in 2022, I have described it as a more manageable, densely packed version of The Great Escape. Since the festival condensed into two days, that description has become even more apt. Spanning multiple genres and a good selection of the city’s venues, it is a no-brainer for local live music fans looking to broaden their horizons and discover their next favourite band.

Arabella Lucia @ B.R.A.T. Denmark Street (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

Arabella Lucia Strips Back The Rock And Roll At Yungblud’s B.R.A.T Cave

Beneath London’s Denmark Street, in the intimate, sweat-soaked surroundings of Yungblud’s B.R.A.T Cave, Arabella Lucia trades the full-band electricity of her usual performances for an acoustic set that puts her voice, songwriting and personality firmly in the spotlight. For the self-proclaimed Rockstar Princess, this is an opportunity to reveal the vulnerability beneath the punk-rock attitude, and to show just how much she is developing as an artist.

Desperate Measures @ Hope and Anchor (Louise Phillips)

Desperate Measures Celebrate 45 Years With A Raucous Punk Birthday Party At The Hope And Anchor

Forty-five years on, Desperate Measures remain as combustible as ever. Presented by Vive Le Rock Magazine, this anniversary party at The Hope & Anchor on Saturday 24th October 2026 brings the New Zealand punk veterans together with two energetic support acts for a night of fast guitars, furious vocals and unapologetic attitude. Having reformed in London around a decade ago, the band are now preparing for a homecoming tour of New Zealand next May. First, though, there is unfinished business to attend to on home turf.

Serra Marinheiro (Press)

Serra Marinheiro Casts A Spell With New Single ‘spells in my living room’

Singer-songwriter Serra Marinheiro continues her creative rebirth with spells in my living room, a captivating new single that further establishes the sound and identity of an artist embracing a newfound confidence and freedom of expression following her departure from her former musical project, POESY.

The Wellermen (Polocho)

The Wellermen Announce Debut Original Album ‘Homeward Bound’ And Unveil New Single ‘Samhain’

Transatlantic folk collective The Wellermen are set to take a major step forward with the announcement of their new album, Homeward Bound, arriving on 12th March. Marking the group’s first full-length collection of original, self-written material, the 13-track record sees the five-piece draw on their diverse musical backgrounds to create a collection rooted in traditional folk storytelling, rich harmonies and contemporary songwriting.

Sojo (Press)

SoJo Turns Heartbreak Into A New Beginning With ‘Arena For Love’ Ahead Of Debut Album ‘Feeling Free’

Singer-songwriter SoJo transforms personal heartbreak into an uplifting declaration of independence with her new single Arena For Love, released ahead of her debut album, Feeling Free, arriving on 4th December.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing