Back in July, in the thick of the BLM uprising, the Australian-based African MC dropped the video for “Time’s Up”, her biting diatribe against another dimension of the systemic second-classing of Black people worldwide (off her excellent 2019 album The Return). Ms. Tembo, in dialogue with rapper Krown, attacked the music industry’s exploitation of Black artists, and used the video’s release to highlight her partnership with Pola Psychology, an Australian initiative for the mental health of Black youth. Time is not up for “Time’s Up”, though. The track is back as a leaner, meaner remix, with an extra assist from Brooklyn rapper Junglepussy, tightening the focus to the supplementary struggles of women in the hip hop game. The clock keeps ticking – Sampa and Junglepussy will be judging the submissions to the #TimesUpRemix competition, concurrently announced as a fundraising effort for Pola. Black women and non-binary folks worldwide are encouraged to bang out their own 16 bars on the topic. “Speak on the industry or your experience,” says Sampa, “speak in vernacular, speak on how proud you are to be who you are.” More details, as well as the instrumental for download, are at Sampa’s Soundcloud page. September 30 is the deadline, so time is almost up on that front…
