Sampa The Great - Bona (Official Video)

Photo Credit: Travys Owens

ARIA-Award winning, Zambian-born Botswana-raised poet and rapper, Sampa The Great today shares her newest single, “Bona”, taken from her impending sophomore full-length album, As Above, So Below, arriving on September 9 via Loma Vista Recordings.

Much like its recent predecessor “Never Forget”, “Bona” takes further influence from the music Sampa heard as a child, while raised in Botswana. Produced by Zambian royalty in Mag44, with co-production from Sampa herself (making this her first official producer credit), the track is influenced by Kwaito and Amapiano, fusing the genres into a hybrid hip hop blend. A slowly descending swipe of chimes opens the song with ethereal beauty, before a bouncing bassline tos-and-fros setting a fiery tempo. Sampa raps utop the frenetic pace, before a dynamic and majestic chorus of call and response unfolds. A self-defined moment of Southern African Swag, Sampa’s wide-reaching message of “Bona” to be yourself and not succumb to the intimidation of others, unveils more from the narrative of her forthcoming album, As Above, So Below.

Directed by Travys Owen, the track's experimental visualiser sees Sampa inhabiting a fluorescent dreamscape, performing whilst she flickers through a series of prismatic scenes. From immersion underwater and acceleration through frenetic flashing lights on the back of a motorcycle, to celestial choreography cocooned by an ethereal glow, the visualiser serves as an expansion of Sampa's future-forward universe - all while embodying the self-assured energy contained within "Bona".