Backxwash

Zambian-Canadian rapper Backxwash produces a highly cathartic, volatile blend of hip-hop, metal, hardcore, and industrial noise, with harsh, unforgiving lyrics focusing on gender identity, trauma, race, and religion. Her breakthrough album, God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It, was awarded the 2020 Polaris Music Prize, and its follow-up, 2021′s I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses, garnered further acclaim.
Ashanti Mutinta was born in Lusaka, Zambia. An avid hip-hop fan, she began producing music at home with her older brother when she was 13. Mutinta moved to British Columbia to attend university at the age of 17; she lived with her siblings and studied computer science. After graduating, she moved to Montreal and resumed making music, debuting her alias Backxwash with the 2018 EP F.R.E.A.K.S., with lyrics exploring transfeminine identity and intersectionality. Black Sailor Moon, a much darker, more trap-influenced EP, appeared a few months after her debut. Third EP Deviancy was issued by queer artist collective Grimalkin Records in 2019.
Mutinta’s debut album, God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It, appeared in March of 2020. It featured guest appearances by Ada Rook and Devi McCallion (Black Dresses), as well as inventive samples of Black Sabbath, Eraserhead, and others. The release earned praise from metal, hip-hop, and experimental publications, in addition to winning the annual Polaris Music Prize and being named the best album of the year by Canadian music magazine Exclaim! Stigmata, an EP based around samples of various Christian metal bands, was also released in 2020. Backxwash released the full-length I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses in 2021. The album included guest appearances by clipping., Sad13, Lauren Bousfield, Censored Dialogue, and others. Backxwash additionally appeared on releases by Cadence Weapon, Cartel Madras, and Glass Beach. ~ Paul Simpson