He won NPR Music's first Tiny Desk Contest back in 2015 as well as a Grammy in 2017, and there is nothing subtle about him. He is Fantastic Negrito. On his slatest album, Please Don't Be Dead, he ignites and electrifies the blues to tackle addiction, poverty, racism and gun violence. His own life story involves growing up in the 70s with a strict Muslim father in New England as the 8th of 14 kids. He ran away from home at 12 and snuck into practice rooms at Berkeley to teach himself piano. He also nearly died in a car accident and lost a million-dollar record deal. Hear Fantastic Negrito's gripping life story and live performance at World Cafe.