God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It (?)

God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It is the second studio album by Zambian-Canadian rapper Backxwash. It was self-released on May 28, 2020, through Grimalkin Records. Production was primarily handled by Backxwash herself, along with Fatherfake, Skin, and Will Owen Bennett, who are featured on the project as well as Black Dresses and Malldate. The album won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.

Critical reception

God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Album of the Year, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 88 based on four reviews.

Scott Simpson of Exclaim! wrote that "with most songs clocking in at under three minutes, this release has a real sense of immediacy and urgency while still managing to weave a compelling larger story". Merlin Alderslade of Metal Hammer praised the album, saying "the whole thing is barely more than 20 minutes long, and yet it's packing more ideas than many bands manage in an entire career. And it's fucking brilliant". Lloyd Best of God Is in the TV stated, "a raw and aggressive, mostly self-produced album with a level of honesty that is commendable and a showcase of skill that sets the bar high". Anthony Fantano said: "with its chilling mix of rap, goth, punk, and noise, God Has Nothing to Do With This has a huge impact for such a concise project".

Personnel

Ashanti "Backxwash" Mutinta – main artist, vocals and producer (tracks 1–4, 6–8, 10), executive producer

Ada Rook – featured artist (track 2), electric guitar

Devi April McCallion – featured artist (track 3)

Nikki "fatherfake" Baldwin – performer and producer (track 5)

MallDate – featured artist (track 6), electric guitar

Skin – performer and producer (track 9)

• Will Owen Bennett – featured artist and producer (track 10), executive producer
• Mechant Vaporwave – creative director