Backxwash


Backxwash is the stage name of Ashanti Mutinta, a Sambian-Canadian rapper based in Montreal, Quebec. She is most noted for her 2020 album God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It, which is a shortlisted nominee for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.
Born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia, Mutinta began rapping and producing music in FL Studio before moving to Canada at age 17 to attend university.
After completing her degree she moved to Montreal, where she began performing at jam nights and released her debut EP F.R.E.A.K.S. in 2018. She followed up later the same year with the EP Black Sailor Moon. Around the same time, she came out as transgender.
God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It, her first full-length album, was released in May 2020. In June, she was announced as part of the lineup of Saint-Jeanne, an LGBTQ-inclusive Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day livestream coordinated by singer-songwriter Safia Nolin, and including comedians Tranna Wintour and Karl Hardy, actress and writer Gabrielle Tremblay, songwriter and producer Annie Sama, and drag queens Kiara, Matante Alex and Gisèle Lullaby.