The triumph of a rapper

At the end of the line, she kept giggling. Winner of the Polaris Prize for the best Canadian album of the past year, Montreal transgender rapper Backxwash savored her triumph by detecting a form of validation for having followed the path she wanted instead of the one she had been traced.

“All that is still surreal”, she found a way to say between two bursts of laughter, Tuesday noon, when The Newspaper joined her the day after the crowning of her album God Has Nothing To Do With It Leave Him Out Of It.

Backxwash, Ashanti Mutinta’s stage name, is a unique case within the local music scene.

Born and raised in Zambia in a hyper-conservative family who did not look favorably on her musical tastes and ambitions, she moved to British Columbia in 2009, at the age of 17, before setting the course. a few years later in Montreal, where she developed her musical project.

His career is atypical? Wait to listen to his music. A muscular, violent hip-hop, doped with his love of heavy metal. Not for nothing that the title track of his album contains a sample of the song Black sabbath, from the famous group of the same name.

This is why Ashanti Mutinta talks about validation when she tries to dissect what this Polaris price means for her. Against all odds, especially her family, she followed her path.

“This award tells me that I should keep doing what I’m doing and that if someone else wants to do like me, they have the chance to do it.”

Backxwash is the sixth Quebec artist to win the Polaris since the creation of this prize, awarded annually following a vote held with members of the media from coast to coast, fifteen years ago.

She succeeds Patrick Watson, Karkwa, Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Kaytranada, who was in contention again this year, four years after his album victory 99.9%.

Ashanti Mutinta believes that landing in Montreal was beneficial for her artistic journey.

“It’s such a vibrant city from a point of view of experimentation and expression. There are incredible artists here. ”

And what will be next? “I’m going back to the studio,” concludes the rapper, motivated as never before.