Sampa The Great shares ‘Location’, a Cadenza-produced rock burner from her third album ‘Nu Zamrock’, out Oct. 30 via Loma Vista
Sampa The Great is turning up the volume and pointing it at the industry. The Zambian rapper and singer has shared ‘Location’, a taut, rock-charged new single and the third preview of her album ‘Nu Zamrock’, due Oct. 30 via Loma Vista Recordings. Produced by Grammy-winning collaborator Cadenza, the song takes aim at the global music economy’s imbalance, and at what she calls “the cost of creating outside the West.”
Her point is simple and pointed. African music shapes sounds around the world, she argues, yet the systems behind the industry rarely support the artists who create it. ‘Location’ turns that frustration into fuel. Tight, rock-leaning guitars push against her piercing vocal, and the arrangement hits hard, giving the song the feel of a statement rather than a lament. It is the most confrontational song of the campaign so far, and arguably the most urgent.
A Family Sound
The album behind it began with a discovery. Sampa learned that her blood uncle, George “Groovy Joe” Kunda, was a founding member of WITCH, the Zambian psychedelic rock band whose 1974 debut ‘The Past’ helped define Zamrock. The genre emerged in Zambia in the 1970s, fusing Western rock with local rhythms, and has enjoyed a cult revival in recent years. Sampa has said the discovery gave her a kind of permission to fully claim the sound.
‘Nu Zamrock‘ reimagines that legacy through Sampa’s own lens, folding it into hip-hop, poetry and soul. “Nu Zamrock is not nostalgia,” she says, describing the record as a reclamation of her lineage and a tribute to the rebellious spirit that carried Zambia forward, reintroduced to the world on her terms. ‘Location’ shows what that looks like in practice: the defiance of the original movement, aimed squarely at today’s industry.
Building the World of ‘Nu Zamrock’
The rollout has been patient. Sampa returned late last year with ‘Can’t Hold Us’, featuring Mwanjé, her first new music in nearly three years, followed by ‘Simon Says’ alongside the album announcement. ‘Simon Says’ wrestled with the pressure of being watched and judged. Each single has revealed a different side of the project, from celebration to self-scrutiny to protest. Cadenza, a frequent collaborator, served as executive producer. The tracklist also brings in Sia on ‘Supernova’, KAMAUU on ‘Star’ and Nicole on ‘Gone’, alongside a ‘Nicole’s Interlude’.
In many ways, the album completes a thread she started years ago. Her 2019 debut ‘The Return’ explored identity and belonging, and 2022’s ‘As Above, So Below’ already folded Zamrock textures into her sound. Its single ‘Never Forget’ was framed as an ode to the genre and later soundtracked a trailer for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. ‘Nu Zamrock’ takes that influence from accent to foundation.
From Zambia to the Blue Note
Sampa will celebrate the release in London with early and late shows at the Blue Note on Nov. 4, an intimate setting for a record built to fill much bigger rooms. Two sets in one night also hints at the demand around her return.
The timing feels deliberate. African music has never been more visible globally, from Afrobeats to amapiano, yet questions about who benefits from that visibility remain unresolved. ‘Location’ does not offer a neat answer. What it offers is a voice, loud, defiant and Zambian, refusing to let the conversation happen without her. That is exactly what Zamrock was built for.
