Sampa the GreatZambia |1993| EnglishSampa Tembo, better known as Sampa the Great, is a Zambia-born, Botswana-raised, and Australia-based rapper and hip-hop singer-songwriter whose music tells deeply personal storytelling.
Growing up in a musical household, she began writing poetry at nine, unknowingly shaping her future. After studying music for visual media in the U.S., she moved to Australia in 2013. "The Great Mixtape" (2015) introduced her to the world, but "Birds and the BEE9" (2017) won her first Australian Music Prize (AMP), making history with "The Return" (2019) as the first artist to win twice.
She has performed at Glastonbury, Coachella, and NPR’s Tiny Desk, won an ARIA Award and continues to advocate for African representation in global music spaces.