Zambian-Canadian rapper delivers a cocktail of horror rap, industrial beats, and samples of (black metal) bands

Zambian-Canadian rapper Backxwash (ZM/CA) delivered a musical uppercut at Utrecht’s Le Guess Who? Festival in 2023. The combination of her music – horror rap, industrial beats and chopped-up samples of black metal bands – with a barrage of images of Angela Davis, Malcolm X and Nina Simone, made for a true aural exorcism. Her stage presence is just as striking, with corpse paint serving as both a stylish and sincere tribute to black metal.

Backxwash – nom de plume of Ashanti Mutinta – moved to Canada when she was seventeen to settle the battle between her Christian upbringing and gender expression. The processing of that pain can be heard in her autobiographical trilogy God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It (2020) – for which she won the prestigious Polaris Prize ahead of countrymates like Caribou and Kaytranada – I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES (2021) and HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING (2022).
In the spring of 2025, Backxwash will release new work, with the single WAKE UP already making waves. Exclaim! Magazine wrote: “Backxwash's teeth - and pen - are sharper than ever. Evolving from metal with saturated, psychedelic textures to gospel-influenced rap.”