ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: THE BIG ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 2019

Sampa The Great. A name that already indicates confidence and flair.

For the Zambia-born, Botswana-raised emcee, poet and songwriter, her journey towards fulfilment and greatness has been an ongoing one. Calling Australia home since 2014, Sampa’s presence on the Australian music scene began with the release of The Great Mixtape in 2015; an introduction of a fresh and exciting voice out of Sydney that would change the hip-hop landscape in Australia indomitably.

Since relocating to Melbourne, Sampa has become a significant voice to be reckoned with in the thriving musical community that fuses hip-hop, funk, jazz and soul with ease. Her acclaimed mixtape, Birds and The Bee9, experimented sonically, while thematically, Sampa Tembo’s exploration of what, creatively, formed her own identity was laid bare on record.

As a live performer, Sampa The Great has become a favourite on the Australian scene while international love has also come her way. Supporting the likes of Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar, while also growing her own headline presence impressively, Sampa’s talent has long been seen as a powder-keg ready to detonate.

She definitely feels the love, too. “I can’t wait for the touring that’s about to come because we’re playing all the songs, most of the songs on the album are going to be played live. Everyone can feel it, they can feel the difference. They can feel the growth. It’s something else. The whole band can feel it as well.”

With a massive run of Australian touring on the near horizon, including a stop at this year’s Lost Lands Festival, Sampa The Great is currently preparing to introduce fans and newcomers alike to the sounds of her new album, The Return. If the Australian Music Prize-winning Birds and The Bee9 was an introduction, The Return is a powerful, confident statement of intent.

“We were breaking down in the sessions,” Sampa remembers. “On that level, already I was like, ‘This is way different’. Not hella different to the other sessions, especially BB9, where you’re super vulnerable, you’re talking about issues that affect us, but this one was really the naked truth. It is what it was. Now we’re not scared to say anything; this is where we are.”

Dropping the first hints of the return in singles ‘Final Form’ and ‘OMG’, Sampa The Great unleashed a beast of musicality that proved to be an exciting smack to wake listeners up. A rallying sense of strength permeated both singles as well as the music videos, filmed on Sampa’s latest trip back to Africa. Re-engaging with her homeland in Zambia, bringing her music home for the first time, was a daunting experience.

“We were all excited, obviously.” she remembers. “We were preparing the venue and I meet one of Zambia’s finest rappers - Chef 187 - and we’re just talking about how he used to spend the first half of his career wishing he was doing what I’m doing and I spent the first half of my career wishing I was doing what he’s doing. There was that realisation. I could with all my mind, wish that my career started somewhere else, but there are many people wishing the opposite.”

Imposter syndrome, an emotional and mental struggle many can encounter, is something Sampa is open about experiencing. Even now, as her star is rising in Australia and international attention is turning her way, that desire for that connection and platform back home is something that has remained, even in a small way.”

“It’s still a thing.” she says. “There’s always going to be a sense of imposter syndrome. I experienced a small, minor sense of displacement whereas you know, some of my friends can’t go home to South Sudan. That made me explore what is ‘home’ to me and all these different answers came out in this album, with the conclusion that home is also yourself. The body. Your soul has made a place in this body which is your home. How do we live with that, how do we deal with that without the culture that we’re from? How do we deal with this one, first of all?”

“As much as I still feel imposter syndrome, I am learning things and Australia has provided a lot of opportunities and avenues that I can bring home and help people back home with.”

Navigating themes of self-satisfaction, fully embracing one’s identity and exploring a connection to a culture one finds themself not living in day in, day out, The Return is equal parts love letter to Sampa’s heritage as it is a touchstone of the artist she is today - an artist stood at the doorstep of global influences, being welcomed in with open arms.

“With The Return, it’s no longer a question of finding myself and who I was,” she says. “It was like, ‘This is me. I’ll show you where me came from and I’ll show you where me is going. This is solid. This is who I am, guys. Anything after this is just growth.’ It’s more assured. It’s more assured of who I am. It’s the journey as a whole.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Michelle Grace Hunder
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC VAULT, APRIL 2019

A cultural movement derived from oppression. A musical genre that has illuminated struggle and identified a sense of belonging amongst the marginalised and in doing so, became an art form of empowerment. It became a unifying presence in communities seeking it. From its beginnings in the Bronx, hip hop has since developed into a dominating force in pop culture today. A simple glance at commercial pop music charts and its prominence is clear.

Internationally, each guise of the genre has represented the unique identity of the society from which it has been born. Links to its African-American origins have remained in varying degrees, however, the development of hip hop in other countries has become a powerful (and oftentimes very entertaining) soundtrack to the changing of many a societal identity.

Australian hip hop is a perfect example of this. From charged messages against racial injustice and discrimination in the 1980s and 1990s, through to the localisation of the music being embraced by the wider Australian music industry in the 2000s and now, with an ambitious new generation of artists picking up the mantle, there is no other sector of Australian music in as much flux as Australian hip hop.

“I’ll be the spanner in the works of your f*cked up plans…”
TZU, 'Recoil' 2005

Cultural and identity politics have been a steadfast foundation of Australian hip hop’s evolution, whether it be Munkimuk’s ‘Dreamtime’, The Herd’s ‘77%’ or more recently, A.B Original’s ‘January 26’, the representation of the financial, racial and governmental fractures within Australian communities has long been subject of artists’ bodies of work.

Though largely influenced by groups including Public Enemy, politically-charged Australian hip hop laid strong foundations for musicians at the head of today’s resurgence three decades ago. Emerging from a thriving creative underground, artists including Brothablack, Wire MC, Munkimuk and the South West Syndicate vocalised issues affecting Aboriginal communities and setting a powerful precedent for expression through rap with that the likes of Briggs, A.B Original and BIRDZ continue to champion today.

As the culture of Australian hip hop became further embraced by the wider music industry through the 2000s, once more we saw a distinctive voice filter through the beats. There was a notable strive for an ‘Australian identity’ that was less reliant on a heavy borrowing from the US, more on highlighting the Australian lifestyle and the ups and downs that had come with it.

“We’re staying dedicated to perfection…”
Hilltop Hoods, ‘Still Standing’ 2009

Music by Koolism, 1200 Techniques, Def Wish Cast, The Herd and the Hilltop Hoods became orchestral in the establishment of Australian hip hop’s new chapter. As ARIA began to recognise the public’s growing interest in the genre, the industry became home to thriving voices including Illy, Drapht, Thundamentals and Horrorshow. A familiarity found in accent and cadence, humour and content matter, gave rise to Australian hip hop with a large demographic of music fans, yet it was not without its criticisms.

The ‘redneck rap’ label is one that Australian hip hop artists have been shirking as the climate for hip hop globally has also been changing. As hip hop merges more and more with pop, electronic and indie music, new influences have emerged. Collaboration with musicians outside the genre, from both Australia and abroad have brought international attention and acclaim to not just Multi-Platinum selling artists like the Hilltop Hoods, but also to trailblazing names like Tkay Maidza, Sampa The Great and L-FRESH The Lion.

“Pour up the love, let the healing begin…”
Sampa The Great, ‘Energy ft. Nadeem Din-Gabisi’ 2018

In the music of a younger generation, Australian hip hop breathes a new and ferocious fire. Urgency comes from the pens of wordsmiths like Sampa The Great, Genesis Owusu, Tasman Keith and Remi. Rising up as a powerful voice for those marginalised communities still suffering, Australian hip hop is fast regaining a platform to affect, uplift and encourage change. The idea of looking back in moving forward, charges this new music with potency and musically, Australian hip hop is seeing a renaissance of classic and contemporary hip hop, R&B and soul carving out a dominating presence within the genre.

Australian hip hop is music that represents growth without ignoring the fact it still has quite a way to go in achieving an ideal balance that allows for new voices to shine brightly. Women, a largely underdeveloped sector of the culture in Australia, are now emerging as key players in taking Australian hip hop forward.

In the lyricism of Sampa The Great, Tkay Maidza, OKENYO, Coda Conduct, Kaylah Truth, Nardean and Jesswar, Australian hip hop has adopted a fierce, opinionated and wickedly charming new guise. Their stories and records stand toe to toe with their predecessors.

For each lover of 1200 Techniques’ Choose One, there’s a mutual love and respect for Sampa The Great’s Birds and The Bee9. Just as TZU’s Smiling At Strangers album entertained while injecting sharp edge into the songs, so too does OKENYO’s defining release, THE WAVE.

“We were fruits from the trees, now you watch us grow…”
Genesis Owusu, ‘Wit Da Team’ 2018

As the Aussie hip hop fan demographic continues to diversify, so does the music tastes of the wider audience of Australian music fan. The emergence of Baker Boy, Dallas Woods and Kaiit in the recent peripheries of not just the Australian hip hop industry, but fans too, marks an exciting counterpoint for the culture moving forward. Young, potent musical storytellers completely in charge of their artistic direction, contributing to strength in Australian hip hop’s new guard with musicianship rooted in individual style and delivery.

The history of Australian hip hop and its evolution is impossible to consolidate into a strict framework. What can be gleaned from the last three decades of releases, triumphs and cultural shifts is that Australian hip hop is a genre that continues to look inward at itself, at its history, as new generations of storytellers establish a new identity for the culture.

Artists today are unafraid to acknowledge the failures of the genres past, but also the achievements of those who have come before.

The future of Australian hip hop has never looked brighter.