Backxwash, The Metal-Sampling Rapper, Turns Fury Into Forgiveness
"I don't know if I would call myself a metalhead, but I do like metal... so maybe I am?"
Backxwash belies racialized stereotypes surrounding the preferences of young, Black listeners. You can hear an expanse of musical knowledge in her occult-themed hip-hop, but especially with how she samples metal bands, which has garnered positive (and rare) attention from the metal community and magazines like Kerrang! As a queer Black woman, Backxwash embodies and performs with just as much hyper-masculine aggression as her male contemporaries.
The Montréal-based rapper and producer opens with a cryptic loop from 's "Black Sabbath," as pleads, "Oh, no, God, please help me!" The album title itself is worthy of , but is actually based on the 2017 Spanish film about a teen who makes the grave mistake of using a for 2020's Polaris Music Prize, an annual award for independent Canadian artists.
