Pochette officielle – Loma Vista Recordings
Sampa the Great releases her third album, Nu Zamrock, today via Loma Vista Recordings. Four years after As Above, So Below, the Zambian-Australian rapper and singer shifts scale : she is no longer just telling her own story, she is reviving a forgotten chapter of music history — Zamrock, Zambia’s psychedelic rock scene from the 1970s.
The spark came from a family discovery : her blood uncle, George “Groovy Joe” Kunda, was a founding member of WITCH, one of the pioneering bands of that movement, which fused distorted guitars, African rhythms and psychedelic groove in post-independence Zambia. For Sampa the Great, Nu Zamrock isn’t an act of nostalgia, but one of transmission : in her own words, “the future remembering where it came from.”
An album that traces Zamrock back to its roots
On Nu Zamrock, Sampa the Great claims a direct lineage with the electric, hypnotic sound of 1970s Zambian bands, crossing it with the rap, spoken word and soul that built her reputation since her 2019 breakout, The Return. The result moves in waves, through distorted guitars, African percussion and a measured flow, without losing the raw energy that has always defined her writing.
Loma Vista, the label behind the release, describes a record that is “fierce and uncompromising,” built as a statement rather than a request for approval. That is also the point of the title : by coining the term “Nu Zamrock,” the artist allows herself both tribute and reinvention, without being boxed into a simple retro exercise.
Three singles to set the stage
The album’s release was preceded by three previews that already hinted at its direction. “Can’t Hold Us,” featuring singer Mwanjé, laid down a defiant, elemental anthem. “Simon Says,” out in September, takes a more direct aim at the pressures of the music industry : Sampa the Great describes “Simon” as the system dictating how artists should behave and look. Finally, “Location,” released in early October, rounded out this trio of singles ahead of the full album.
- Sampa the Great’s third studio album, after The Return (2019) and As Above, So Below (2022)
- Released October 30, 2026 via Loma Vista Recordings
- Inspired by the story of George “Groovy Joe” Kunda, a founding member of Zambian band WITCH
- Preceded by the singles “Can’t Hold Us” (feat. Mwanjé), “Simon Says” and “Location”
An artist who has always blended her heritages
Born in Zambia, raised partly in Botswana before settling in Australia, Sampa the Great has built her career on this movement between continents and musical languages : American rap, African spoken word, soul and jazz. Her previous album, As Above, So Below, was already praised for fully owning her Zambian roots in an industry that often pushes diaspora artists to flatten their origins. Nu Zamrock pushes that further still, dedicating an entire record to a little-known chapter of her home country’s musical history.
Zamrock itself has seen a sharp rise in international interest in recent years, driven by reissues of bands like WITCH and Musi-O-Tunya and by a documentary devoted to a scene nearly erased by the AIDS crisis and the exodus of many Zambian musicians during the 1980s and 1990s. By claiming it so directly, Sampa the Great joins that rediscovery movement while updating it with the tools of her own era.
Nu Zamrock arrives the same day as another major rock release : Queens of the Stone Age’s new album, Perfecth. Two very different ways of questioning the genre’s legacy, one through a roots revival grounded in Zambian history, the other through restless studio experimentation.
