Cooking Vinyl is proud to announce a new partnership with the 2017 Grammy-winning artist Fantastic Negrito and his imprint Blackball Universe. The label will re-release Fantastic Negrito’s album The Last Days of Oakland with two new additional tracks, just in time for his U.S. tour supporting Sturgill Simpson.

The new tracks -- “Push Back” and “The Shadows” -- are both produced by Xavier Dphrepaulezz (a.k.a. Fantastic Negrito). The extra tracks are now available for download and streaming, and will be released along with the rest of the album on CD and 180g vinyl in the U.S. on August 11, 2017. Hear the full album here: https://soundcloud.com/fantastic-negrito

Earlier this year, Fantastic Negrito's The Last Days of Oakland took home the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy Award. While blues is an integral part of Fantastic Negrito's overall foundation, his music defies genre, blending hip hop, rock, and other styles to create a sound that led Pitchfork's Greil Marcus to say "he could be inventing the blues for the first time."

Last Fall, Xavier made his national television debut as Fantastic Negrito on the season finale of Fox’s Empire, performing both his single “Lost in a Crowd”—the track that brought him to national attention, winning NPR’s inaugural Tiny Desk Concert Contest—and the hit song “Good Enough” alongside “Empire’s” Jamal Lyon.

Fantastic Negrito: NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert - https://youtu.be/ymYjwsFz8iM

Watch Fantastic Negrito performing “Scary Woman” (a track off The Last Days Of Oakland), Live At The Viaduct in downtown Los Angeles:  https://youtu.be/BiCY8FDq-k0

"Fantastic Negrito - Scary Woman (Live from Viaduct)" - https://youtu.be/BiCY8FDq-k0