A 36-year-old male was found to have a 7.0 cm left upper pole renal mass on renal ultrasound. Following nephrectomy, the mass was grossly ill-demarcated, friable and red-brown, invading renal parenchyma, hilar fat and the renal vein. Microscopically, the tumor had a nested and papillary architecture. The cells demonstrated abundant clear and eosinophilic cytoplasm and focal intracytoplasmic melanin pigment. Nucleoli were prominent. By immunohistochemistry, the tumor was positive for TFE3; HMB-45 stained approximately 5% of tumor cells corresponding to the histologic melanin pigment, which was confirmed with Fontana-Masson stain with bleach. Immunostains for PAX8, CD10, MiTF, and CAIX were negative; keratins Cam 5.2 and AE1/AE3 were focally positive. Targeted next-generation sequencing revealed an ARID1B-TFE3 gene fusion. Melanotic Xp11 renal cell carcinoma is a rare, pigment containing translocation variant demonstrating overlapping features with melanoma and is usually associated with an SFPQ-TFE3 gene fusion. The patient is alive and without evidence of disease 7 years after his diagnosis. The combination of high grade histopathology, the presence of melanin, absent PAX8, keratin positivity, and relatively indolent clinical behavior with a unique translocation may warrant recognition as a distinct renal cell carcinoma translocation subtype.