Words by Declan Whelan // Images by Barun Chatterjee
Premiered by Zane Lowe overnight, it’s Sampa The Great’s first release of 2019.
And more than worth the wait if you ask us. Produced by longtime collaborator Silentjay, the triumphant track samples The Sylvers classic ‘Stay Away From Me’, and has a proud, reminiscent hip hop feel to it. Ghostface Killah, J Dilla, Madlib and MF DOOM (and many more) have all sampled the popular 70s outfit previously, and in that sense ‘Final Form’ is a marriage of hip hop and cultural traditions.
Lyrically it’s a declaration of excellence as Sampa bars up on the track and speaks to believing in your potential, cutting through negativity and levelling up en route to your final form. The video sees her return to Zambia, where she was born, to explore the traditions and communities of her roots and was filmed in the lead up to Sampa’s first ever shows on African soil last month. Whether this is her final form or not, Sampa the Great keeps winning.
