ALBUM REVIEW: HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING
Backxwash - HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING
Horrorcore, metal rapper Ashanti Mutinta—aka Backxwash—returns with her fourth LP, HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING. The album serves as the final piece to a trilogy. The project opens with a short voice message from a man named Pastor Steve, which is backed behind a somber organ. The instrumental slowly bleeds into the next track “VIBANDA.” She prides herself in being different while grappling with the fact that she’s locked out of Heaven. The driving industrial bass, piano passage in the bridge, and hollowed church choir elevate this tension. The words “I confess, I’m a mess, I’m a dog, I’m a pest [...] I need sess, I need sess” repeated throughout demonstrates a straightforwardness that can be best described as a bleeding heart. Repression, pain, and resilience illustrate her vocal delivery and further illuminate the lyricsim. These qualities only strengthen on tracks like “NYAMA”—an electrifying collaboration with Pupil Slicer about being othered and seeking vengeance. The musical grittiness and blaring sirens add to the song’s ideas, and the Angela Davis speech sample further drives the message home.
The energy begins more subdued and returns to previous themes of childhood trauma on “ZIGOLO.” Backxwash is more subdued, but pointed in her approach. She discusses the way her parents shamed her out of religiosity. “Everything is sacred except me/ I’m a commodity, I am the embodiment of all the world’s obscenities...” describes this relationship, and that’s why she seeks to destroy “the mantle.” In the latter half, her energetic cadence returns as she discusses how fallen angels hold the foundation for this perfect world but are repaid in dirt. This track does a great job of embodying Backxwash’s spirit: rebellion, rebirth, resilience, and revolution. Her lyricism is rich with self awareness, color, specificity, and ultimately radical love for oneself in a society that seeks to eliminate Blackness, queerness, and transness. “MUKAZI,” the closer track, nicely wraps up these sentiments with a beautiful soul sample and lyrics embodying this acceptance of self and closure from the past.
If you’re into the hardcore and the emotionally intense, look no further than this album or Backxwash as a whole. She is one of the most unique, innovative voices in music today.
- Kai Wayans aka DJ Truant
Recommended Tracks: “VIBANDA,” “NYAMA,” “ZIGOLO,” “MUKAZI”
RIYL: Soul Glo, Ho99o9, Ghais Guevara, Black Dresses, Lingua Ignota
FCC: Explicit — (all)