Fantastic Negrito conceived his fourth album as something more than a conventional record. White Jesus Black Problems is indeed a tightly constructed collection of funky contemporary blues, but it's accompanied by a film that allows Fantastic Negrito to fully explore the project's familial genesis. He bases White Jesus Black Problems on his seventh-generation grandparents -- an African-American grandfather who was a slave and a white Scottish grandmother who was an indentured servant. The couple lived in a common-law ...
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Fantastic Negrito conceived his fourth album as something more than a conventional record. White Jesus Black Problems is indeed a tightly constructed collection of funky contemporary blues, but it's accompanied by a film that allows Fantastic Negrito to fully explore the project's familial genesis. He bases White Jesus Black Problems on his seventh-generation grandparents -- an African-American grandfather who was a slave and a white Scottish grandmother who was an indentured servant. The couple lived in a common-law marriage, flouting the laws and conventions of 1750s colonial Virginia. Negrito spent a considerable time researching their story and their times, writing nearly 50 songs before whittling down to the lean, finished product of White Jesus Black Problems. Through the editing process, Negrito concentrates on the love that bound his ancestors, a focus that does make the moments when he addresses slavery, either in song or in cinematic interludes, quite bracing. Fantastic Negrito quite deliberately doesn't anchor White Jesus Black Problems in the blues. More than anything, the high-octane funk recalls Prince at his hardest, but the tapestry of harmonies, syncopated rhythms, call-and-responses, and cranking guitars can be a little dense; it's an album that shuns passive listening. Which isn't to say White Jesus Black Problems is a bleak record. Even with its weighty themes, there are such moments of joy as the updated doo-wop "Nibbadip" and, ultimately, Fantastic Negrito lands White Jesus Black Problems on a hopeful note. Love conquering all can sometimes be a hackneyed notion, but here Fantastic Negrito makes it feel earned. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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