Sampa The Great Unveils Single 'OMG' + NZ Shows Announced

Zambian rapper Sampa The Great has been dropping bombs on the regular, with her massive recent single 'Final Form' (featured on UTR's July playlist) and collaborative cuts with NZ / Rwanda hip hopper Raiza Biza on his awesome Black Hole Sun EP with REMI. Sampa The Great has now unleashed new single 'OMG' and got fans fizzing with the news her debut album The Return is releasing this September via Ninja Tune – exploring themes of "what it means to feel at home, to feel excluded, and to see someone as an outsider". The bumping latest track comes with a jaw-dropping clip you can experience below, directed by Sanjay De Silva, filmed between South Africa and Botswana, and featuring appearances from the Sydney-based artist's parents. 

UPDATE: Aotearoa tour dates have been revealed for Sampa The Great, with two headline events lined up for Auckland and Wellington...

Sampa The Great - The Return | NZ Tour
Friday 11th October - Wellington, Meow
Saturday 12th October - Auckland, Hollywood Avondale
Tickets available from Monday 15th July
 

Press release:

Following recent live performances at Glastonbury, Love Supreme Jazz Festival, Dark MOFO, we’re pleased to announce Sampa The Great will perform two shows in New Zealand this October as part of her The Return tour.

Sampa The Great creates a sense of home on her debut album - “The Return”. A characterful record, its reference points range from classic hip-hop to ancient Southern African sounds. Built on four years of personal and musical soul-searching, it’s an assured statement, the product of meaningful musical connections and of Sampa having to redefine her self-identity away from the comforts of family and old friends.

Building on her formative works, “The Return” sees Sampa tackle bigger questions, exploring what it means to feel at home, to feel excluded, and to see someone as an outsider.

"Home is described in a lot of ways and means a lot of different things to different people,” she says. “I had to redefine in my mind and in my spirit what home means.” The album is both a re-telling of that journey, and the realisation of her aim; the album walks us through that return to home, while the accomplished sound and lyricism underscores the steps she’s made as a person and artist.

However, “The Return” is a reference to a physical journey, as well as a spiritual one; Sampa returned to Zambia and Botswana, where she was born and raised, respectively. There, she recorded the videos for both ‘Final Form’ - the triumphant single which sees her embrace the struggle of growing as an artist, and ‘OMG’. She is also set to release a short film titled ‘Homecoming’ about her experiences returning home to play her first shows on African soil. Across every aspect of “The Return”, from the music and the lyrics, to the visuals and the artwork, Sampa The Great returns to the foundations propping up her sense of self and in doing so makes a bold statement about who she is as an artist.

“The Return” is out on 13th September on Ninja Tune.