Born in Zambia, raised in Botswana, and now based in Melbourne, her upbringing continues to bear an influence on her music. Moving to Australia six years ago, the connections she made there have propelled her to where she now stands. Living in Sydney when she first arrived, it was the shock of losing a close friend which prompted her to take the leap to try to become an artist. Going to the city’s weekly Jazz Hip-Hop Freestyle sessions for the first time, she went on stage to join the band and continued to go there each week, building up a network of like-minded music heads. It was there that she connected with producer Dave Rodriguez (Godriguez), who she worked with on 2015’s “The Great Mixtape” and again for the ‘Blue Boss’ single. In 2016 Sampa released “Heroes Act 2” a collaboration with Estelle and Rahki as part of a project with Red Bull Sound Select. Following the success of “BEE9”, Sampa capped off 2018 with new single ‘Energy’ – premiered via Zane Lowe’s show on Apple Music’s Beats 1 and clocking up over 1M views on Youtube. She also recently collaborated with Denzel Curry on his Triple J ‘Like A Version’ session.
Original content from Sampa the Great and l’Astral, adapted by PAN M 360.