Masterfully constructed album
Sampa The Great is a Zambian rapper, singer and songwriter who has risen to prominence with albums such as The Return which won numerous awards. She released her sophomore album, As Above, So Below on September 9th, 2022.
The first song on this project, “Shadows” starts the album off with a great vibe with hard bass and great vocals. The hook is pretty catchy and her voice complements the instrumental, particularly the bass, very well. The track then transitions to “Lane” featuring Denzel Curry, a prominent rapper who released one of the most critically-acclaimed albums of 2022, Melt My Eyez, See Your Future. The beat is hard and both Sampa and Curry perform wonderfully on the track. Both have vocals that complement the beat and they use it to their advantage throughout the track.
“Never Forget” is a track with a great message. Sampa raps about her heritage and how music is an art form passed down by many generations before her. Much like the previous tracks, the chorus on this track is amazing and very catchy. The features are impressive and they deliver and stay on par with Sampa. Despite there being three features in a runtime of just over three and a half minutes, the track doesn’t feel too crowded as it could have, and it is one of the best on the album. The next track, “Mask On” also features an artist that released one of the best albums of 2022, Joey Bada$$, the album being 2000. Much like on 2000, Joey Bada$$ successfully showcases his impressive lyrical ability and flow in the time he has on the track. Credit is to be given to Sampa as well as her verses, which are toe-to-toe with Joey’s which is not an easy feat to accomplish. Overall this track is amazing with stellar production as is the norm on this album.
“Can I Live?” and “Imposter Syndrome” are both great songs on the project with great verses and beats. On “Imposter Syndrome” especially, the beat is amazing combining both modern and traditional musical instruments to form a fusion that works perfectly together. The hard bass and the drums in the background both are opposites of each other but at the same time complement each other. This is the same with Sampa and James Sakala.
“Tilibobo” is a more carefree track without any of the hard basses that some of the other tracks on this album featured prominently. It also highlights Sampa’s vocal ability along with her lyrical ability which is a great addition to this album as it shows how her musical ability isn’t one-dimensional and is actually pretty impressive. “Lo Rain” features some of Sampa’s best flows on the album. It once again proves how versatile of an artist she is and how she can adapt herself in between songs.
“IDGAF” goes back to the hard bass lines of the previous tracks but also shows off her vocals once again which works surprisingly well with the bass. The last track on the album, “Let Me Be Great” is probably the most upbeat track on the entire album and it’s a great outro to it as well.
Overall, this was a masterfully constructed album by Sampa. It definitely contends with some more mainstream releases as a top album of 2022. The features on the album are all amazing and there is not a single one that takes away from the album’s flow or message and they all fit the song they are on. The production on this album is also beautiful as many of the songs fuse more traditional music such as drum beats together with modern instruments like heavy bass lines. Sampa also shows off her lyrical ability and vocal range and cements herself as one of the best rappers of today.
Leave a Comment