Genre: Rap, Industrial
Period: 2018-present
Region: Montreal, Ontario
Ashanti Mutinta, known professionally as Backxwash, is a Zambian-Canadian rapper and producer based in Montréal. Her music and visuals draw heavily from horror-core, industrial, metal and hip hop. Raw and discordant industrial sounds are melded with songwriting that explores identity, faith, and addiction as Mutinta grapples with the trauma of her strict religious upbringing in Zambia and identity as a Black trans woman.
Her journey thus far has been cathartic and healing as her emotions are poured out into her album trilogy, which includes 2020’s God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out It, 2021’s I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses, and 2022’s HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING. The critically acclaimed God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It, won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize, making them the first transgender person in Canada to win the award. Her album, I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses was longlisted for the prize in 2022. Backxwash released her latest album, 2025’s Only Dust Remains, via her label Ugly Hag.
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The Canada Black Music Archives is a non-profit digital archive established as a division of Word Media Group Inc.
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