The Zambian-born, Botswana-raised artist is set to drop her sophomore album soon after a recent string of high-profile TV features.
Sampa the Greathad her playful 2019 track “ OMG ” turn up in Michaela Coel ’s stellar HBO series , I May Destroy You , and her soulful “ exemption ” remains high atop the official playlist ofThe Michelle Obama Podcast . But the Zambian - ground doorknocker , singer , and poet ’s meridian locating in the final season of Netflix ’s gain seriesOzarkis the one that caught fire . There ’s a scenery near the show ’s end when Ruth Langmore , a fan - favored underdog and coxa - record hop read/write head played by Emmy Award - winning actor Julia Garner , is on a plane to Miami , finally feeling her development from trailer trash to savvy businesswoman , and the hoopla song blaring in her headphones is the head - nod tribute to distaff resilience , “ vigor . ”
Tembo moved to Australia in 2013 , where she assume the moniker Sampa the Great and neglect her first transcription , 2015’sThe Great Mixtape , the same twenty-four hour period she received a degree in sound engine room . A dexterous freestyler and dexterous MC still honing her style , Tembo quick observe the locals did n’t involve her as an single artist , but as a kind of identity embassador — a ready - made placeholder for South African Black woman . “ I feel like mass wanted me to be a Viola Davis graphic symbol , ” Tembo say , cracking up with a half - serious , did - I - go - therelaugh . “ I felt like everyone , as they do with Black women today , expected me to just be everything : Be the nurturer , the defender , the ambassador . That was a lot for me , and a lot of system of weights to carry . ”
That duty only intensified as her visibility rose . With increased visibility , she feel perpetual pressure , as if every activeness was n’t just her own , but a statement on behalf of Blackness . In 2019 , she get ahead the Australian Recording Industry Association ( ARIA ) laurels for Best Hip - Hop Release in the overdue class ’s inaugural year and have an adoption voice communication calling for more Black artwork diversity in Australia — but her supplication was handily veer from the awards ’ internal telecast , which doubly proved her point . “ As an African cleaning lady , you ’re always crusade with people ’s sentiment of what an African woman is , ” Tembo says . “ Were those [ stereotypes ] break and hoi polloi represented during the process ? Yes . But were there a lot of battle mark too ? For sure . ”
Photo by Constance Spence
As an African woman , you ’re always fighting with the great unwashed ’s view of what an African woman is .
— Sampa the expectant
So , when the pandemic draw her back to Zambia , the move offer a sense of originative relief . “ It feel like , ‘ Oh , it ’s just metre to represent Sampa — I know how to do that ! ’’ Her time spend sitting still functioned as a kind of chrysalis and a raw aspect of her identity element emerged , one Tembo has nickname Eve and integrated into spoken word of honor and songwriting . “ If I ’m go bad to break out these generational expectation of what women can do — I’m touring around the humankind , I ’m never home , I ’m never fudge — I’m gon na be the first [ of all that ] , I ’m the Eve . ” In other words , if Sampa the Great ’s redefining what it means to be an African woman , she might as well give that come out ideal a name .
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Returning home had always been part of the programme , but COVID-19 fast - tracked that timeline . “ My long - term goal has always been to come back to Zambia , bring the knowledge I ’ve learned from all these dissimilar industries , and make something at home with it . ” With producer in Australia , there had been an inherent learning curve ball . “ A wad of the meter , it was me telling the producer about a phone from Zambia or Botswana that I want them to revivify . ” When she wrangle South African talent to produce her unexampled album — executive producer Mag44 and co - producers Sam Nyambe , Sammy Masta , and Solomon Plate — they not only understood her reference work point , they did n’t lie with life without them .
Finished in just two weeks , the result is the coming projectAs Above , So Below(out September 9 via Loma Vista Recordings ) , Sampa the Great ’s 2nd proper , full - distance , and quickest - completed record album to day of the month . With appearance from New York City rapperJoey Bada$$ , British - Ghanaian hip - hop artistKojey Radical , and a dreaming - come - true collaboration with Beninese doyenneAngélique Kidjo , the album is “ hybrid medicine , ” Tembo says . True to work , her conflict with different genres has always been porous , yakety-yak - rapping over masterfully whirlpool elements of hip - hop , idle words , ’ 90s R&B , individual , Gospels , spoken parole , outspoken harmonies , traditional African medicine , and more . The first undivided , “ Lane , ” have labelmateDenzel Curry , continues with this topic , with Tembo refusing to be pigeonholed over a religious doctrine organ and lying in wait beat .
Photo by Constance Spence
As Above , So Belowalso digs into her country ’s ethnical account with “ Never draw a blank , ” a worshipful ode to Zamrock , a short - populate ’ 70 genre that meld traditional Zambian music with late-’60s psychedelic rock . Less than a decennary after the state ’s 1964 liberation from Britain , a community of self - teach musicians animate by the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix sprung up , making garage - stone single and three- or four - chord proto - punk jams until curfews and blackouts made the logistics of carrying into action impossible . Tembo had never get a line of the motion until she moved home and meet one of its few survivors , Emanuel " Jagari " Chanda . “ How do we as Zambians not babble about this ? ” she says . Maybe that will soon change : Chanda ’s originative groupWITCHalso shit a cameo on the album .
In other way , Tembo has conscientiously used her platform to advance her country ’s creatives . For an other 2022 string of North American performances , she assembled an all - Zambian live band that ’s been touring with her ever since . Just a few months ago , they made history as the first Zambian band to play Coachella and Glastonbury . “ Being the first Zambian band to play those festival is just like , ‘ Wow ! ’ ”
Looking forward , she ’ll expend the rest of the summer hopscotching around North Americanmusic festivals , likeOsheagain Montreal , Newport Jazz in Rhode Island , and Outside Lands in San Francisco , before embarking on aEuropean tourthis fall — something she revere might be an impossibility just two years ago . “ To be on degree again and see the great unwashed singing back ? It ’s like , ‘ Oh ! You still care about my music ! ’ ” she says merrily . “ We almost all had an asteroid moment and when my music still resonates , that ’s dope . ”
But first comes Sampa the Great’sLollapaloozadebut in Chicago subsequently this calendar month . “ We ’re emotional to do Lolla , ” she says , assure “ a really cool performance ” that ’ll include unreleased track fromAs Above , So Belowand a cast of dancers . Her advice ? “ Bring a heap of energy . ”
