Rapper, singer, songwriter and producer Sampa The Great (aka Sampa Tembo) has been appointed the poster-child of various movements, communities and cultures—without acquiescence—and, as such, she’s no stranger to myopic perceptions, reductive takes and misrepresentations. While she was born in Zambia and raised in Botswana, she’s often described as an Afrobeats (a West African genre) artist. She lived in Melbourne, Australia for several years and …
Sampa the Great (aka Sampa Tembo) will release her second full-length album, As Above, So Below, in September and Vinyl Me Please has it in an opaque peach colorway, available for pre-order now. The Zambia-born, Botswana-raised artist has spent time living in Australia and the US, but returned home in 2020 and made the album there in just a few weeks. With hip-hop underpinning the …
Rina Sawayama: Catch Me In The Air Aiming to craft a song that sounds as if Irish group The Corrs “pitched something to Gwen Stefani,” Rina Sawayama has released “Catch Me In The Air,” a soaring pop anthem that’s a tribute to her mother. The British-Japanese singer/songwriter says of the uplifting track, written by Oscar Scheller and Gracey, “I wanted the whole song to sound …
