Sampa The Great Concerts Tickets

About Sampa the Great

Singer, songwriter, rapper, poet and visual artist Sampa the Great was born Sampa Tembo in Ndola, Zambia, in 1993. Raised in Botswana, Sampa began rapping after hearing 2Pac's "Changes" as a child and falling in love with hip-hop.

After spending time studying in San Francisco for two years and Los Angeles for a year, she moved to Sydney in 2014 to study audio production at the SAE Institute. During her time in Sydney, Sampa established herself as part of the city's flourishing hip hop scene at cyphers and jazz jam sessions.

Career

2015-2016: Career beginnings

In September 2015, Sampa featured on the song "Beauty" by future soul singer-songwriter Wallace. She followed a month later with her debut, The Great Mixtape, which launched the single "F E M A L E" in December.

She released the stand-alone single "Black Dignity" in January 2016, followed by another stand-alone, "Blue Boss", two days later. Both singles were well-received and had airplay on BBC Radio 1 and Australia's Triple J.

That March, she featured alongside OKENYO on the Urthboy track "Second Heartbeat" from his album The Past Beats Inside Me Like a Second Heartbeat.

She followed with two more stand-alone singles: "24" and "Blessings", which were released together on 25 May.

Then came two music videos in October: "HERoes (The Call)" and "HERoes (The Response)".

2017-2018: HERoes Act 2 and The Birds and the BEE9

In spring 2017, Sampa released her debut EP, HERoes Act 2, featuring British singer Estelle, which launched three singles: "Everybody's Hero", "The Plug" and "Paved with Gold".

That November, she released the mixtape The Birds and the BEE9. The mixtape was critically acclaimed and in March 2018, it won the Australian Music Prize, which aims to "financially reward and increase exposure for an Australian artist (or group of artists) who have produced and commercially released what specially appointed judges vote is the best contemporary music album in any one calendar year".

2018-present:

Sampa released "Energy" featuring Nadeem Din-Gabisi as a single with a video in November 2018.

Her debut studio album, The Return, was released on September 13, 2019.