KADEEM. & Sampa the Great

Biography

Sampa Tembo, known professionally as Sampa the Great, was born on August 9, 1993, in Ndola, Zambia, the middle child of five in a musical family. Her father, Alfred Tembo, an insurance broker and guitarist, moved the family to Gaborone, Botswana, when she was one year old due to political unrest and economic reforms in Zambia. Raised in Botswana with frequent visits to Zambia, Sampa displayed early curiosity and storytelling tendencies, nurtured in a household where her mother was a former dancer. Despite familial skepticism toward music as a career, she pursued her passion for rap, initially studying Music for Visual Media in California before transferring to Audio Engineering in Sydney, Australia, in 2013.[3][4][2]

Sampa launched her music career unconventionally as an international student in Australia, releasing her breakout project The Great Mixtape during her final university year, flipping the typical path of local dominance before global expansion. Early tracks like “Rhymes to the East” and “Black Girl Magik” addressed identity, race, belonging, and spirituality, establishing her in the Australian hip-hop scene alongside Black artists like Sensible J, Kaiit, and REMI. Her 2019 debut album The Return earned critical acclaim, including the Australian Music Prize—making her the first artist to win twice—and tours with Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar. She became a voice for an African renaissance, though often burdened by expectations to represent Africa.[1][2][4]

In 2020, amid the pandemic, Sampa returned to Zambia, her birthplace, seeking wholeness after years of nomadism across continents. This move informed her sophomore album, allowing her to shed ambassadorial pressures and focus on personal expression. Her music blends hip-hop, jazz, soul, and Zambian heritage, emphasizing self-love, ancestry, and freedom, with Zambia now embodying her sense of home where she feels most authentic.[1][2][5]

Fun Facts

• Sampa was the first female person of colour to win a hip-hop category award in Australia, highlighting systemic racism in the industry, and later became the first musician to win the Australian Music Prize twice for The Return.[4]
• She describes herself as the 'diplomat' or 'negotiator' of her family as the middle child of five.[3]
• Sampa experienced significant culture shock and racist encounters while studying in San Francisco, realizing her deeper interest lay in people's stories rather than technical film analysis.[3]
• Her career began outside her home countries; she launched as a rapper in Australia while planning to return home, but music took over.[1]

Musical Connections

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia