SAMPA THE GREAT
Wins Best Hip Hop At 2019 ARIAs
+ Plus Takes Home Titles At J Awards
And Music Victoria Awards
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SAMPA THE GREAT
confirms rise this award season
BEST HIP HOP RELEASE – ARIA
DOUBLE J ARTIST OF THE YEAR – J AWARDS
TRIPLE J VIDEO OF THE YEAR – J AWARDS
BEST HIP HOP ACT – MUSIC VICTORIA AWARDS
after releasing acclaimed debut album
‘THE RETURN’
BUY / STREAM HERE
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After releasing her highly anticipated debut album, The Return in September, Sampa The Great has capped off her incredible 2019 with an impressive collection of accolades this award season. Receiving industry acclaim from the ARIAs, The J Awards and Music Victoria Awards, Sampa has found success via her most affirming full length to date, The Return.
Bringing in a new era for ARIA, The Return’s debut single “Final Form” has made history as the first winner of the ARIA’s “Best Hip-Hop Release”. Released back in June, the track declared a new era for Sampa, forcing the world stand to attention for the “young veteran”. As not only the first recipient, but also the first woman of colour to take home Best Hip Hop release (and in the previously known category, Best Urban Release), “Final Form” has been recognised for it’s poignant rhymes and all encompassing sound, as a proud declaration of returning to one’s heritage as a form of empowerment and self fulfilment.
Sampa The Great on winning Best Hip Hop release: “It’s really bittersweet that in 2019 I’m the first woman of colour to win in a hip-hop category. I really hope I’m not the last. I hope the change of this category pushes us to talk about how diverse black music can be and I hope the Australian music industry starts to reflect what our community looks like”. Watch the full acceptance speech below.
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Sampa’s ARIA win joins a long list of industry accolades in 2019, including two J Awards for “Double J Album of The Year” and “Triple J Music Video of the Year” for “Final Form”. While Sampa delivered her acceptance speech for Album of The Year all the way from Europe, “Final Form” director, Sanjay De Silva accepted the Video of The Year Award, expressing the importance of the video was in “sharing Sampa’s culture and country with Australians.”
Sanjay on the “Final Form” visual: “[It’s about] where she’s from and the importance of representation, the importance of having black and brown faces on our screens and behind our cameras, and what it means to people of colour in this country.”
Wrapping up the award season, Sampa has defended her title of “Best Hip Hop Act” for the second year in a row at the 2019 Music Victoria Awards. Joining a long list of 2019 achievements, Sampa The Great has found self affirmation in going back to her roots and celebration from not only within herself and community, but also from the industry for her most authentic body of work to date.
Recently wrapping her Australian headline tour and into her sold out European leg, Sampa The Great has come into her destined stardom in 2019 and throughout The Return. Peaking at #12 on the ARIA charts and #1 on the vinyl charts, the 19-track album sees Sampa delve into conversations of freedom, expression, heritage and displacement that have filled a four year journey towards finding home within herself. Finding love across the airwaves nationwide, The Return was Feature Album at Double J, FBi, Triple R, PBS, SYN, Radio Adelaide, RTR and 2SER, while receiving praise from the likes of The Guardian, NPR, Pitchfork, The FADER, Billboard, OkayAfrica and countless others. Beats by Dr. Dre’s latest Beat x Beat recently shared a 3-minute video, giving an inside look at how Sampa and producer Silent Jay created “Final Form” – check it out here.
The Return has become more than a walk to self-discovery, rather a formative climb to enlightenment and contentment fuelled by Sampa The Great’s experiences as an artist in Australia and the physical, spiritual and cultural influences of her ancestors and birthplace in Zambia. Culminating in praise from her fans, community, peers and now the industry, Sampa The Great has found success through a four year journey towards finding home within herself and The Return exists as the legacy of her evolution.
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THE RETURN
is out now via NINJA TUNE
BUY/STREAM HERE
THE RETURN
TRACKLIST
1. Mwana ft. Mwanjé Tembo, Theresa Mutale Tembo, Sunburnt Soul Choir
2. Freedom
3. Wake Up (Interlude)
4. Time’s Up ft. Krown
5. Grass Is Greener
6. Any Day ft. Whosane
7. Dare To Fly ft. Ecca Vandal
8. OMG
9. Light It Up (Interlude)
10. Final Form
11. Heaven ft. Whosane
12. Diamond In The Ruff ft. Thando, Krown
13. Leading Us Home
14. Summer ft. Steam Down
15. Brand New ft. Silentjay
16. Give Love (Interlude)
17. The Return ft. Thando, Alien, Jace XL, Whosane
18. Don’t Give Up ft. Mandarin Dreams
19. Made Us Better ft. Blue Lab Beats, Boadi, Lori
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