Sampa the Great – As Above, So Below
Sampa the Great returns with As Above, So Below, and it is a force, with Sampa's ability to play hard and soft the driving core of the album
The juncture of influences and styles found across Sampa the Great's new album, As Above, So Below, is tripping and magic and Sampa’s immense ability to play hard and soft is the driving core of the album. Mask on (feat. Joey Bada$$) is the album’s popping standout; it contains genre and vibe switches so strong – mask off, mask on? – in tempo and pace that her flow bounces from slow to fast to slow again, but the whole time remains hard, single-minded yet delicate.
Throughout the album, kalindula rhythms, guitar licks and bass are layered to build the wall of influence that Sampa traces to Zamrock in groups like WITCH, but ranges from R'n'B choruses to trap bass. The track Never Forget (feat. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanjé) feels this out, again, in magic switches and layers that the listener can unpick. Let Me Be Great (feat. Angélique Kidjo) closes off the album with its threaded vocal choruses and brass and is a powerful closer in its message and polyrhythms. The refrain ‘Let me…let me’ bites, and inspires the listener to their own ‘greatness’. This is one of the strongest threads in the album – despite anything, you can achieve your own greatness.
Listen to: Mask on (feat. Joey Bada$$), Imposter Syndrome (feat. James Sakala), Let Me Be Great (feat. Angélique Kidjo)