Four years have passed since Sampa The Great released her most recent LP, 2022’s As Above, So Below. The Zambian singer and rapper returns today with news of her third studio project, Nu Zamrock. The record includes last year’s track “Can’t Hold Us,” and the freshly issued single “Simon Says” is available now.
Nu Zamrock was executive produced by Cadenze, and it draws on the discovery that her blood uncle George Kunda (Groovy Joe) helped establish Zambia’s legendary psychedelic rock outfit WITCH. “Zamrock is part of my family legacy,” Sampa notes. “It’s my voice. Being Zambian, being loud, being defiant — that’s what Zamrock is.”
“Nu Zamrock is not nostalgia,” she adds. “It is the future remembering where it came from. This album is a reclamation of my lineage and bloodline: it is my homage to the disruptive, rebellious spirit that Zamrock represented at its peak and carried Zambia forward with, reintroducing the genre to the world, in my own way.”
On “Simon Says,” she describes, “This track is my honest reflection on the pressure of visibility — being watched, judged, and shaped by endless rules. What should a ‘star’ look or act like? The industry seems to value numbers over artistry. Simon Says critiques the industry, where ‘Simon’ is the system telling artists how to be.”
Along with the song, she’s sharing a prelude visual introduction, titled Ukwamba: (To Start). Check it out below along with “Simon Says.”
Nu Zamrock is due 10/30 via Loma Vista. Pre-order it here.
