Zambian-born, Botswana-raised artist Sampa the Great came to the world's attention with her 2015 release The Great Mixtape. Since then, she's dropped two albums: 2017's Birds and the Bee9 and 2019's The Return. Today, we're getting the first new single from the poet and rapper since then, which features Florida rapper Denzel Curry. "Lane," which is also the first music she's released on Loma Vista, is accompanied by a powerful Rochelle Rhembard and Imraan Christian–directed short film.
Visually, "Lane" combines imagery of virtual reality, gorgeous landscapes, angel wings, and machine guns stuffed with roses. A younger version of both Sampa and Denzel are also depicted in the video as Curry raps about not being boxed in, sacrificing vices, and overcoming both of those obstacles. The visual intertwines the bouncy trap beat of the single as well as a spoken word piece titled "Origin." "Lost, trying to remember the laughter / Shrinking down to half versions of what once was / In the end we try to piece it all together to recollect purpose / Through this new normal," Sampa recites on the latter.
In a statement about the release, she said: “We’re not going to stay in one lane, we’re going to create multiple ones... My truest self encourages me to explore different lanes, and go beyond what I think I know of myself.”
Watch the visual below.
