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Hip Hop - R&B LP Pressed on Red Vinyl -Zambian-born Australian singer-songwriter and rapper Sampa The Great has come a long way in a short space of time. Fans will note her empowering sounds have become common fodder for TV and film soundtracks and now comes her second album As Above So Below. It finds her again exploring identity with shamrock, hip-hop, jazz, r&b and neo-soul sounds all chucked into a fascinating melting pot. Lovely harmonies, highly rhythmic percussion and rap confidence define these tunes which were recorded over two weeks in Zambia with local musicians.
The latest masterpiece is a celebration of family and heritage, taking inspiration from Zamrock, Zambia's fusion genre.
Relocating home to Zambia during the pandemic, Sampa sought to reconnect with a different side of herself, a side that is freer and closer in resemblance to the younger artistry she cultivated growing up in Africa. This process of discovery would become the gateway to revealing her highest version of self. Choosing to collaborate with creatives Rochelle Nembhard and Imraan Christian from South Africa, As Above, So Below introduces us to a 360 Sampa, unveiling her many sides for the first time. From the funny to the serious to the sensual, As Above is Sampa outside’s self, and So Below, is the Sampa within, together uniting to reveal the most authentic version of Sampa, without a mask, or role to play.
As Above, So Below is anchored by spoken word in Bemba. The record delves into Sampa’s memories of Africa, Africa’s relationship to the world and what womanhood in Africa means to the world. We are also introduced to the persona of Eve, the highest version of Sampa that speaks to all facets of her womanhood.
The musical styles of As Above, So Below reflect the hybridity of Sampa’s upbringing. Raised in Botswana (a different country to her birthplace in Zambia), and then going on to attend school in different countries again, Sampa picked up varied musical influences along the way. Each style has attached itself to her own musical encyclopedia, and finds a new mode for expression throughout the record.
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Sampa Tembo, known professionally as Sampa the Great, is a Zambian-born Australia-based rapper and songwriter. Her debut solo album, The Return, peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019 she won Best Hip Hop Release for her second single, "Final Form". In the following year she won the same category for The Return, as well as Best Female Artist and Best Independent Release.
Sampa Tembo was born in 1993 in Zambia and was raised there and in Botswana, as the middle of five children. She received both piano and singing lessons and started writing poems/lyrics from the age of nine. In the early 2010s she studied music for visual media at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, for two years and Los Angeles for a year.
Tembo moved to Sydney in 2013 and was based there until 2018, she completed a Bachelor degree in audio engineering at SAE Institute in 2015. As of 2018 she is based in Melbourne. The artist acknowledges her family and communities in both Botswana and Zambia as the foundation of her success.
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