Today (August 25), Bay Area-based, Grammy-Award-winning artist, Fantastic Negrito, released his newest (stand-alone) single, “Rolling Through California,” which highlights the dangerous and ravaging wildfire epidemic on the west coast.
Using his signature gravelly voice and guitar-based writing, Fantastic Negrito (a.k.a. Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) wrote a surprisingly pleasant, dance-worthy song about something very dangerous. Taking the perspective of the fires themselves, he sings subversively, I be rollin’ through California, I’ve got so much on my mind!
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The music video, which includes a very serious-faced, tired young firefighter, depicts Fantastic Negrito and singer, Miko Marks, in a very dry area. The lyrics continue, noting that folks in California used to laugh at dry, hot places like Arizona. But now California is no different, reeling from drought and its effects. It’s burning to the ground, they sing. I can hear the sound.
According to a press release from the 53-year-old artist, the song is meant to call “for solidarity and collective action in the wake of drought, water management challenges, accelerating climate change, and the growing calamity of California’s annual fire season.”
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