Sampa the Great: Birds and the BEE9 wins Aus Music prize

Congratulations to Melbourne-based hip-hop artist Sampa the Great, who won the 13th annual Australian Music Prize last week.

Sampa the Great at WOMADelaide last weekend. Picture: Jack Fenby

Congratulations to Melbourne-based hip-hop artist Sampa the Great, who won the 13th annual Australian Music Prize last week for her debut album, Birds and the BEE9, which was released independently late last year. She beat out finalists such as Paul Kelly and Jen Cloher to take home the $30,000 prize, whose previous winners include hip-hop duo A.B. Original (2016) and indie rock songwriter Courtney Barnett (2015).

Shortly before her powerful performance at WOMADelaide on Sunday — where she shared the stage with her friends and collaborators in Melbourne hip-hop group REMI — I caught up with the artist. Having performed at a festival in Tasmania the day before, she was clearly still riding a well-deserved high from her win.

Born in Zambia, Sampa Tembo moved to this country four years ago to study audio engineering. Birds and the BEE9 was conceived as a way of igniting an uncomfortable conversation about race and identity, based on her experiences. “I’m very new to Australia,” the 24-year-old told me. “I think it’s interesting to come and find a very under-the-rug history, and to actually be living it and wondering why people don’t see it. The album stood to call out those things that they say they don’t see, and a musical platform felt like the best way for me to do that.”

The album’s 13 tracks form an accomplished artistic vision that includes elements of soul and reggae, while its message is delivered with unerring urgency. On Black Girl Magik, Tembo raps: “No, I’m not your voice, I just wanna be equal / Gotta stand tall, we the ones, we the people / Look me in the eyes, this the cards you’ve been dealt / I don’t need your table, I can sit by myself”.

Tembo’s first writings were in her diary, which later morphed into poetry, and then lyrics. The sound and style mapped out ahead of recording Birds and the BEE9 scared her, as it was a significant departure from her previous release, 2015’s The Great Mixtape, yet the AMP win — judged purely on artistic merit rather than popularity — has shown her the value in embracing the uncomfortable.

As it happens, her friends in REMI won the AMP in 2014 for the album Raw X Infinity. What advice have they now offered her? “To take this as a sign that you’re doing what you need to be doing,” she told me. “Continue to better your music. Trust in your intuition, and the sound that you want — and don’t be afraid to speak on what you want to speak on.”

Nearby her WOMADelaide dressing room sat REMI’s producer and drummer Justin “Sensible J” Smith, one of three beat-makers to appear on Birds and the BEE9. He spoke of his collaborator with fondness, and a smile on his face.

“She’s got an amazing vision,” Smith said. “She knows exactly what she’s doing. She can hear how it’s all going to sound, before it’s done. She’s going to be worldwide, because she writes art with depth.”

As for spending the $30,000, Tembo is unsure of her plans — other than investing in a new microphone so that she can record at home in Melbourne, where she lives with her sister. While her father cautioned her to use the money wisely, Smith was more specific. “It’s a bonus thing that comes out of nowhere, so my advice would be to put it back into music,” he told his friend. “Use it on your art.”