 Hi, this is Matt McDonald with Cal TV entertainment news I'm here at outside lands with Javier from Fantastic Negrito. How are you doing today? I'm doing great though. How about you? I'm doing well. I saw your set earlier today. It was a pretty early set, but you had a pretty big crowd How was that? Well felt great. I feel like I kind of almost opened up the festival today, but um, I Love large crowds small crowds intimate The stadium doesn't matter. I feel at home in all of them So you experienced your transformative years in Oakland. Was it like is there a special Anything special about being able to play a festival that's in the Bay Area close to home? Yes, it's uh It's like being the home the hometown hero. I like it very much and the Bay Area has been very supportive of uh What I'm doing even back to the time when I was playing at the train stations So I really had to get the pass from the people in the Bay Area first Would you definitely say that the Bay Area Created or definitely influenced the type of music that you're making Yes, in a sense of in the Bay Area and its truest sense is that we Really strive and celebrate originality And it doesn't matter if you're e e 40 or Metallica Or too short. I think the Bay Area is really about artists being extremely original Also, what I love about your music is each song seems to tell a story So what is it in particular about music and blues music in particular that Really enhances your capacities as a storyteller and allows you to express your creativity What for me? I this the simplicity and uh The blues has a great tradition of storytelling that went All the way back to uh the days of slavery and uh Into rap It's it's got a very long reach And um, it's a great way to connect with people Because I think the blues Black roots american roots music is in all of our dna No matter which side of the fence we're on It's something that we can all relate to Um as a oakland resident, how have you what has what how do you feel about the changes since when you were growing up in oakland to Well at the time when you left oakland to move to la to then now coming back to oakland How do you feel about how the city has changed and what are your hopes for its future? You know everything about me, don't you? Well, I'm uh change is inevitable So I'm not one to cry over change. I think when you have to adapt you have to adjust and you have to try to become part of the force that is changing and try to uh implement the things That you have I have those years of growing up here. And so I try to uh Bring that to the table. I like to kind of be a bridge, you know the old and the new it's okay Some things suck in the old some things suck in the new some things are great in the old some things are great in the new That's it's just life life is always evolving and always changing and I feel that uh You got to roll with it Awesome. Well, thank you so much for speaking with me today and uh catch out the rest of our coverage of the festival on our youtube channel