Backxwash
Backxwash | |
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| Backxwash 2021 press photo Backxwash 2021 press photo | |
| Background information | |
| Born | October 4, 1991 Lusaka, Zambia |
| Origin | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2018–present |
| Labels |
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| Website | backxwash |
Ashanti Mutinta (born October 4, 1991), known professionally as Backxwash, is a Zambian-Canadian rapper and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec.[2] She is most noted for her 2020 album God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It, which won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.[3][4]
Biography
[edit | edit source]Born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia, to a family of Tumbuka and Chewa ancestry,[5] Mutinta began rapping and producing music in FL Studio before moving to British Columbia, Canada at age 17 to attend university for computer science.[6][4]
After completing her degree she moved to Montreal, where she began performing at jam nights and released her debut extended play (EP) F.R.E.A.K.S. in 2018.[6] She followed up later the same year with the EP Black Sailor Moon.[7] Around the same time, she came out as transgender.[8]
God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It, her second album, was released in May 2020.[9] Her musical style blends hip hop with heavy metal and post-rock, including Black Sabbath samples and instrumental interludes influenced by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.[10] However, the album featured numerous uncleared samples, which have forced its removal from online music stores and streaming services, meaning that it is now available solely as a free download from Backxwash's Bandcamp page.[11]
She would then release her third album, I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses,[12] on June 20, 2021, to generally positive reviews. I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses was longlisted for the 2022 Polaris Music Prize.[13]
Backxwash's "Don't Come to the Woods" and "Devil in a Moshpit" appeared in Season 1, Episode 2 of the Showtime series, Work in Progress.[14]
Her fifth album, Only Dust Remains, launched on March 28, 2025, was also longlisted for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize.[15]
Artistry
[edit | edit source]Backxwash's primary sonic influences derive from traditional Zambian music, industrial metal, post-rock, and experimental hip hop.[16] Her music often deals with contrasting themes of queerness and being transgender and religion, inspired by her heavily Christian upbringing, as well as subjects of mental health, existentialism and political themes. She was drawn to horrorcore music as a conduit for "painting her emotions".[17]
During her childhood in Zambia, Mutinta was inspired to become a rapper by musicians such as Big L, Kanye West, J Dilla, Method Man, Prodigy, and The Notorious B.I.G., saying that Mo Money Mo Problems was her first exposure to hip-hop as a child. She has cited rappers Danny Brown and JPEGMafia, musician Lingua Ignota, and metal and rock artists Liturgy, Nine Inch Nails, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor as inspirations on her style and artistry; in particular, she called Brown's Atrocity Exhibition a "perfect record" that greatly influenced her outlook while creating music.[18][19]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Raised in a heavily Christian household, Mutinta is a practitioner of indigenous Tumbuka and Chewa religion, with a major theme of her 2020-22 album trilogy being her experience moving away from Christianity and towards her indigenous practices. She described her family life in Zambia as one where Christianity and fear of God were imposed upon her, her family switching Christian denominations regularly, and she felt outcast as a child because of her feminine expression; practicing her traditional religion as an adult allowed her greater self-expression and reclamation of her culture.[20][21]
Discography
[edit | edit source]Studio albums
- Deviancy (2019)
- God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It (2020)
- I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses (2021)
- His Happiness Shall Come First Even Though We Are Suffering (2022)
- Only Dust Remains (2025)
Extended plays
- F.R.E.A.K.S (2018)
- Black Sailor Moon (2018)
- Stigmata (2020)
References
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- ^ Erik Leijon, "Trans hip hop artist Backxwash delivers unfiltered rhymes" Archived 2020-06-21 at the Wayback Machine. Cult MTL, June 6, 2020.
- ^ Philippe Renaud, "La Montréalaise Backxwash remporte le prix Polaris" Archived 2020-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. Le Devoir, October 19, 2020.
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- ^ a b Philippe Renaud, "Backxwash, elle et son autre" Archived 2020-06-21 at the Wayback Machine. Le Devoir, May 30, 2020.
- ^ Victoria Lamas, "Rapper Backxwash Releases Innovative EP ‘Black Sailor Moon’" Archived 2020-06-22 at the Wayback Machine. The Link, December 24, 2018.
- ^ Jesse Locke, "Montreal rapper Backxwash invokes self-altering fury" Archived 2020-06-21 at the Wayback Machine. Daily Xtra, May 25, 2020.
- ^ Scott Simpson, "Backxwash Turns Hip-Hop on Its Head with Masterful 'God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It'" Archived 2020-06-21 at the Wayback Machine. Exclaim!, May 28, 2020.
- ^ Matt Bobkin, "The Metal Influences That Shape Backxwash's Ferocious Hip-Hop" Archived 2020-10-25 at the Wayback Machine. Exclaim!, August 18, 2020.
- ^ Richard Trapunski, "Polaris Music Prize 2020: Montreal rapper Backxwash’s victory is for the unapologetic" Archived 2020-10-29 at the Wayback Machine. The Georgia Straight, October 20, 2020.
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External links
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- 1991 births
- Living people
- 21st-century Canadian rappers
- Canadian women rappers
- 21st-century Black Canadian musicians
- Black Canadian LGBTQ people
- Canadian transgender women
- Canadian transgender musicians
- Canadian LGBTQ rappers
- Zambian emigrants to Canada
- Musicians from Lusaka
- Polaris Music Prize winners
- Zambian rappers
- Zambian LGBTQ people
- Trap metal musicians
- 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- Women heavy metal singers
- 21st-century women rappers
- Transgender rappers
- Horrorcore artists
- Canadian rap rock musicians
- Musicians from Montreal
- Rap metal musicians
- Alternative hip-hop musicians
- Nu metal singers
- Transgender women singers
- Punk rappers