Sampa The Great As Above, So Below

After a long stint living in Australia, Zambian rapper Sampa Tembo returned to the country of her birth to make her second studio album. A swaggering celebration of self-love and cultural identity, As Above, So Below sees Tembo incorporate traditional Zambian music as well as cutting-edge hip-hop and subtler stylistic cues from psych, blues and folk. “It has the traditional spiritual elements,” Tembo tells Apple Music, “but then we are venturing off into worlds that are not considered Zambian music and we are creating a new genre, which is really exciting for me.” As Above, So Below even showcases some of Zambia’s native languages, reinforcing the central concept of embracing home. “There’s a vibration in language,” says Tembo. “That's why I’m very adamant of adding my language to the situation. You can’t change it. You can’t change it and you can’t fake it.” This deluxe edition adds seven new live versions of album tracks, all recorded at a 2022 concert in the Zambian capital of Lusaka. Tembo recruits a vibrant cross-section of Zambian talent for these renditions, including spoken-word performer Gabbi Chansa Lamba, singer Solomon Plate and the emboldening iMitundu Choir.