Sampa the Great Remixes Hiatus Kaiyote

Sampa the Great is a breath of fresh poetic air to Australia’s hip-hop/soul scene. Hailing from Africa, the poet and singer songwriter has the ability to hold your attention from her opening word. You might recognise her from her travels with grammy-nominated Hiatus Kaiyote who brought Sampa along as support on their recent Australia tour.

Apart from killer sets while touring, Sampa has also given her readily growing fan base Weapon Chosen a mashup of 6 tracks from Hiatus’ critically acclaimed Choose Your Weapon album.

“We’d just been on tour with Hiatus and they hit me up for a remix so I flipped 6 or so tracks over a few days,” Sampa’s producer and band-leader Godriguez said. “I’d arranged the beats into one long-flowing track and Sampa came over (having not heard the beats at all) and jammed one long take over them. There was a special energy to the music we were flipping and the way the beats turned out and how Sampa put down her parts. 7 odd days after they’d asked if we wanted to do a remix we’d finished a lil’ mixtape.”

The unique collaboration pays homage to Sampa’s African roots, from the background drumming of Shake It Off to the soulful melodies sounds of standout track Owl Chant and the rainy outro Natural. Sampa takes on various rolls throughout the mix, using her voice as an instrument in parts as well as raps and lyricism, the result is a beautiful 13 minute mixtape that will have you clicking repeat. You can download it for free via Bandcamp.

Sampa’s debut The Great Mixtape has landed her some much deserved attention. She’s going on from supporting Hiatus to support the one and only Thundercat, as well as selling out her debut headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne last week. Make sure to catch her play.

Sampa The Great Tour Dates are: