INTERVIEW: Sampa The Great releases stunning new album 'As Above, So Below': "It was a really huge, deep dive into what I've been doing as an artist the past seven years

Interview: Jett Tattersall

Zambian artist Sampa The Great (real name Sampa Tembo) first garnered international attention for her rap-blues-hip-hop music with her 2017 mixtape BIRDS AND THE BEE9 which won the Australia Music Prize in 2018 and praise from across the globe.

In 2019, her debut album The Return made her something of a superstar in Australia, the country she lived in between 2013 and 2020 and where her music career first took off. It peaked in the top 20 of the ARIA album charts and across 2019-2020 she received eight ARIA Award nominations, winning four awards including Best Female Artist in 2020 and Best Hip Hop Release in 2019, the first woman to ever win an award in this category.

Today she releases her second album, As Above, So Below. It is a stunning album and takes Tembo’s music to new creative heights. Relocating to her home country at the beginning of 2020 and feeling the pressure to make the dreaded ‘sophomore album’ after the huge success of her first, she took the opportunity to take things back to the beginning: rediscover the feelings of younger Sampa and experiment freely with her sound. The end result sees her staying true to her rap-hip-hop-R&B roots, while also introducing a greater focus on the music of Zambia.

There is a definite progression in her soundscape, a sheen, a confidence as well as a strong sense of experimentation. There is R&B, hip-hop and rap but also a greater emphasis on electronica seeping into the music, along with the pop music unique to Zambia - Zamrock, which essentially merges Western rock with traditional African music, and kalindula, which is more upbeat and pop. Many of the tracks are a intriguing mix of multiple genres, such as ‘IDGAF’ where Tembo regularly switches between an angelic, almost lullaby feel to hard rap, while ‘MaskOn’ moves from African inspired chanting to forceful hip-hop and then to sweet and smooth R&B-pop.

Standout track ‘Lo Rain’ features vocals from Tembo’s sister Mwanjé. It is Tembo’s first ever love song, with a sultry, funky feel with throwbacks in its sound to the 1970s and an almost whimsical rap from Tembo. The album closes on a powerful note with ‘Let Me Be Great’. It is a stirring song, with Tembo’s rapping backed by horns and sparkling electronic trills, before breaking into a soaring chorus featuring vocals from legendary Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo.

Tembo has created a career highlight with As Above, So Below. It has a soundscape enriched by experimentation and melding of genres, and perhaps most importantly the growing confidence from an artist who seems to have found herself after a period of personal struggles. The album is not only a collection of musical gold, but a powerful statement from one of music’s most important figures. We recently caught up with Tembo to chat more about the creation of the album.

I'm going to go straight into how blown away I was by As Above So Below. It's so different, but not at the same time. What was your intention going into this sophomore release?
The sophomore pressure! As Above, So Below was a journey to get here. When The Return had come out, everything was great it was done [and] people were talking about the new album, I was like not in that headspace and left that at that. Then at the beginning of the pandemic, things were pretty intense, and making music was also pretty intense, so I didn't even think about the next project. The music industry I'm in is maybe not going to be here in the next year because of this pandemic, so who am I without my job, who am I without this music? So it was a really huge, deep dive into what I've been doing as an artist the past seven years with the projects that I've done. As beautiful as they were to me and as proud as I am of those projects, I do also know that the battle scars that were attained to make those projects were pretty deep, especially in the context of the place I was creating the projects.

I took upon myself to have this huge ambassadorial role to make sure I represented black artists in Australia, African Australians and what they're going through. It just felt like a huge pressure to be the ambassador for all these groups of people, even if they hadn't asked me to be the ambassador for them. Relocating back home, and coming back to the place where the dream of being an artist began, I started to look back to why I started making music in the first place: to connect with other human beings, as a form of therapy, to be my happiest. It was such a relief when I came back home that the armour that I had created in order to be this ambassador sort of slowly started to slip off and I was more interested in showing the complexities of who Sampa is. Just going back to the younger Sampa who loved making music and having that journey and documenting it through the album.

I remember sitting with my executive producer going over the music that we were inspired by, what is it to be a Zambian artist and what is Zambian music and exploring the music that came before us so: Zamrock, kalindula music and being ‘how do we expand this music versus trying to recreate the music? How do we add four or five different genres in one song?’ it just became this new exciting thing again versus ‘I have to prove myself again.’

You can hear the freedom in the album, and there's so much diversity and joy in your vocals and your delivery. You're exploring new territory with your voice as well. When I listen back to The Return and to your mixtapes, they're so beautiful, but they are very much: ‘this is me, this is what I stand for, this is my plan, this is my agenda, I'm ticking these boxes.’
Exactly, exactly. Very meticulous, very stoic, very, ‘this is what we're going to talk about, this is what's been happening’. With this one, it was more like, ‘what are you guys doing?’ But the same topics are being talked about. I'm still experiencing life as a black woman and I'm still experiencing life as an African woman. It’s beautiful to see it in the perspective of an African woman who's having fun, exploring her sensuality, versus just one take on what it means to be an African woman, especially in a space where you have to constantly defend being an African woman. And that's where the fun seeps in. That's when you actually get to explore other sides of Sampa. It feels more freer, it feels more happier.

I want to talk to you about 'Lo Rain', because this is a completely different Sampa than we're used to. There’s your sister, the harmonies, we've got hip-hop, we've got the piano, and even the Disney villain lyrics! Please break down this song for me.
it's so funny. I don't consider 'Lo Rain', a quote unquote love song. But my sister Mwanjé is like, ‘you know, this may be your first love song!’ The beautiful thing about having family members involved in the music is you see yourself in them, nd with Mwanjé, she's just been such a joy to watch grow into her own artist because she's effortless in showing her feminine energy, effortless in showing her vulnerability. So when it comes to stuff like showing love songs, I'm like, ‘I'm just gonna keep that to myself!’ And with Mwanjé, it's like, ‘let's do it. Let's let's talk about relationships.’ It just brought a very beautiful part of me to the table and even instrumental wise it just reminded me of an old Disney movie, with the harmonies. It really does remind me of a Disney cartoon. It was just beautiful to add both of our expressions to that song.

I also wanted to talk to you about 'Let Me Be Great', because I mean, first of all, collaboration - hello! Angélique Kidjo! How did that come about?
Oh my gosh! We were able to do an NPR Tiny Desk when they were having at home sessions. And then I get a DM from Angélique Kidjo after we release it on our socials. And she's like, 'this is so beautiful'. I was just so shocked and scared that there is a DM by Angélique Kidjo! To give you some insight I met Angélique five or six years ago, in Adelaide when she was doing a festival called WOMAdelaide. She was signing people's vinyls, and I give her my vinyl and I'm like, ‘I'm such a huge fan of you!’ It's just so funny that I went from this fan 'can you sign this?' to her DMing me and not only showing love and support for what we've just done, but saying, ‘I have an album and I want you to be a part of that.’ I was so scared to DM her back and be like, ‘here's the verse for your song, would you like to be on my album?’ Like while I have her here! I just did it. ‘I'm also writing an album, I don't know if you'll be interested’ and sent her the song. She was like 'Yeah, send me the words to the chorus'. This is mad! This is a person who my parents listened to, she has paved the way for me to do what I'm doing. Just to be recognised by someone who is doing something that you have a goal to do is always encouraging as a young artist. It's just such a beautiful and powerful experience that I'll never forget, and just another testament to how people connect with music. She inspired me and now she's inspired by me and that's just a wild full circle.

As Above, So Below is out now via Loma Vista Recordings. You can buy and stream here.

To keep up with all things Sampa The Great, you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.