Montreal rapper Backxwash wins Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album
God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It is a mix of aggressive raps and industrial sounds inspired by her personal struggles.
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Montreal and Ottawa-based rapper Backxwash has won the Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album.
The transgender artist’s self-released second album, God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It, was selected above nine other shortlisted albums, including works by previous Polaris winners Kaytranada, Lido Pimienta and Caribou, as well as R&B star Jessie Reyez and indie artist U.S. Girls.
“It feels great,” said Backxwash, 29, laughing over the phone from Ottawa on Tuesday. “I can’t believe it. It feels awesome. It’s great validation. It took a minute to settle in. It’s such a DIY (do it yourself) album. We didn’t expect any of this.”
Originally from Zambia, Backxwash — whose real name is Ashanti Mutinta — moved to Vancouver at age 17 to study.
God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It is a combination of tormented, aggressive raps with murky heavy-metal samples and industrial sounds, inspired by her personal struggles.
“It came out at the right moment,” Backxwash told the Montreal Gazette last month. “It was a time where I thought I should be as honest as possible. … It was also a harsh time. (I was having) depression, suicidal thoughts, dysphoria and just feeling really down, trapped and really, really messed up.
“I think it’s something I always struggled with, and for the first time it came out in the music.”
Winning the Polaris prize after struggling to find her place in the music world is vindication, according to Backxwash, not just for herself but for trans artists everywhere fighting to be heard.
“I think it just puts more visibility on us, and if more visibility inspires more people, that would be awesome for me,” she said Tuesday. “It’s been hard trying to get through doors, especially when you’re a trans person. … It was definitely an underdog story. I definitely saw a few things that were in my way. It’s very trippy that this happened at all.”
The Polaris prize comes with $50,000 in money, which Backxwash says will go straight back into the music.
Though she has been living in Ottawa for the past two years, her musical base is in Montreal. It is here that she came out as a trans woman in her mid-20s, and where she felt the urge to explore new musical directions.
“The Montreal environment allows people to freely express themselves, much more than where I was (in Zambia),” she said. “Montreal has got a lot of community for that, which kind of drew me to it.”
Yet as a trans artist, being yourself can still be a dangerous proposition, even in Montreal.
“It depends where I’m at or who I’m with,” Backxwash said. “Sometimes people are going to accept you, sometimes they get violent with you.”
She refers to God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It as a “quest of forgiveness.” The bracingly intimate 22-minute whirlwind of anger and vulnerability finds the artist confronting demons within and dangers in the world outside.
“I’m trying to save myself / And I will do it by myself / I don’t trust a soul / And I don’t need no f—ing help,” she rhymes on Into the Void.
“Maybe ’cause my skin or / Maybe it’s the way I dress,” she continues, “I’m walking down the street / I’m anticipating death.”
In contrast to such anxiety-filled proclamations, Backxwash was all sunshine on Tuesday.
Winning the Polaris prize may not bring more levity to her music, she noted, but it makes life a little brighter.
“It kind of says, ‘You’re doing the right thing. You should continue.’ ”
To hear God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It, visit backxwash.bandcamp.com.
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