Backxwash - HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING ALBUM REVIEW
I’d just love to have this cover on a shirt, you know?
I’m ready to fully admit that this review is coming out way later than I was hoping it would, but I’m glad I’m writing it at all. I’ve spoken about Backxwash (a.k.a. Ashanti Mutinta) in the past and even got the chance to get an advance copy of her last album, I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES, which ended up being one of my favorites of that year. The overall darkness of her sound has just been so compelling to me and feels so different from not just rap but from music alone. That being said, there’s no reason for me to doubt that whatever she did next would be one I’d look forward to. We now have HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING, the conclusion in a trilogy of albums that she’s been releasing for the past three years, the cherry on top being its Halloween release date. Let’s not waste any time and get into it.
While this whole series of albums that started with God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It have been pretty therapeutic and, at times, tough to listen to, HIS HAPPINESS might be the most aggressive out of the three. The album’s Bandcamp page describes it as Mutinta’s dive into “environmental influences during her youth and times pre-dating her existence.” Moving into the earliest parts of her life and even before that seems like the right trajectory in terms of this series of projects, and even if I cannot match the exact experience that she’s had (being an autistic bisexual young white man from Ohio), it’s clear that the experiences that Mutinta details throughout are heartbreaking and borderline traumatic. At least that’s how I can word it, since I didn’t outright experience the events.
Talking about this album is a bit of a tightrope walk for me, which is the main reason why this is coming out so late after the project’s release. For example, the use of drugs and suicide are main topics on this project, and it’s definitely not glorifying them. It rips the Band-Aid off many times over and you feel the pain of damn-near everything. There are some things here that I don’t wish to talk about, mainly because I cannot relate to them or I relate to them too much. Nonetheless, this hit home for me in a few different places. It’s also no secret that the sound of the album matches the content, with some of the best tracks of her career landing on HIS HAPPINESS. The best of the bunch, in my opinion, is the closing track of the whole trilogy, “MUKAZI.” Even if it’s not the most intense track on the album, the message of self-confidence and finally getting closure on your past is a feeling that can barely be matched by anything in the world. It felt like an unexpected uplifting conclusion to one of the most disturbing horror movies you’ve seen, and it blew me away.
It goes without saying that HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE SUFFER has honestly made me speechless. What Backxwash has done with not only this project but with God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It and I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES alongside of it is nothing short of legendary. Yes, it’s loud and disturbing and visceral in its sound, but looking at the bigger picture of all three shows hope for the future. Hope for her future. Hope for our future.
10/10
Listen here
Spotify (link will be added when available)
Apple Music (link will be added when available)
YouTube (link will be added when available)
Bandcamp
HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING is self-released.
I’m ready to fully admit that this review is coming out way later than I was hoping it would, but I’m glad I’m writing it at all. I’ve spoken about Backxwash (a.k.a. Ashanti Mutinta) in the past and even got the chance to get an advance copy of her last album, I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES, which ended up being one of my favorites of that year. The overall darkness of her sound has just been so compelling to me and feels so different from not just rap but from music alone. That being said, there’s no reason for me to doubt that whatever she did next would be one I’d look forward to. We now have HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING, the conclusion in a trilogy of albums that she’s been releasing for the past three years, the cherry on top being its Halloween release date. Let’s not waste any time and get into it.
While this whole series of albums that started with God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It have been pretty therapeutic and, at times, tough to listen to, HIS HAPPINESS might be the most aggressive out of the three. The album’s Bandcamp page describes it as Mutinta’s dive into “environmental influences during her youth and times pre-dating her existence.” Moving into the earliest parts of her life and even before that seems like the right trajectory in terms of this series of projects, and even if I cannot match the exact experience that she’s had (being an autistic bisexual young white man from Ohio), it’s clear that the experiences that Mutinta details throughout are heartbreaking and borderline traumatic. At least that’s how I can word it, since I didn’t outright experience the events.
Talking about this album is a bit of a tightrope walk for me, which is the main reason why this is coming out so late after the project’s release. For example, the use of drugs and suicide are main topics on this project, and it’s definitely not glorifying them. It rips the Band-Aid off many times over and you feel the pain of damn-near everything. There are some things here that I don’t wish to talk about, mainly because I cannot relate to them or I relate to them too much. Nonetheless, this hit home for me in a few different places. It’s also no secret that the sound of the album matches the content, with some of the best tracks of her career landing on HIS HAPPINESS. The best of the bunch, in my opinion, is the closing track of the whole trilogy, “MUKAZI.” Even if it’s not the most intense track on the album, the message of self-confidence and finally getting closure on your past is a feeling that can barely be matched by anything in the world. It felt like an unexpected uplifting conclusion to one of the most disturbing horror movies you’ve seen, and it blew me away.
It goes without saying that HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE SUFFER has honestly made me speechless. What Backxwash has done with not only this project but with God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It and I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES alongside of it is nothing short of legendary. Yes, it’s loud and disturbing and visceral in its sound, but looking at the bigger picture of all three shows hope for the future. Hope for her future. Hope for our future.
10/10
Listen here
Spotify (link will be added when available)
Apple Music (link will be added when available)
YouTube (link will be added when available)
Bandcamp
HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING is self-released.
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