Sampa the Great and Krown Rage Against the Music Industry in “Time’s Up” Video

The video aims to raise awareness for mental health care for African youths in Australia.
Sampa the Great and Krown Rage Against the Music Industry in “Time’s Up” Video

The video aims to raise awareness for mental health care for African youths in Australia.

Words: Kim March

July 21, 2020

Sampa the Great released her debut LP The Return nearly a year ago, but today the Zambian-born, Botswana-raised, and Australia-based emcee is returning with a new video for the Krown-featuring album track “Time’s Up,” which feels particularly relevant in the wake of the conversations that have arisen in the music industry lately. While Sampa cites its origins as being based specifically in the Australian music industry, (“An industry that has often been careless in protecting the wellbeing of Black artists,” she claimed in a press release), it surely extends to how things are run in the States and elsewhere.

That’s why she’s sharing the new video, which arrives in tandem with the news that the rapper will be pairing with Pola Psychology, a Melbourne-based, “culturally responsive” psychology institute aimed at addressing the mental health concerns of young African musicians in the community. The clip pays homage to the tradition of rap videos from the turn of the century, with surreal visuals mimicking those of Missy or Busta.

“We’re playing with the tongue-in-cheek aspect to the song and dialling it way up by incorporating metaphors like the padded room—to represent the way the industry sees Black artists—to the imagery of the industry literally shaking Sampa’s culture out of her for their profit,” explained the video’s director, Sanjay de Silva, who’s collaborated on a number of projects with Sampa. “We referenced some very specific ’90s music videos throughout, from Tupac’s ‘Hit Em Up,’ to videos from Busta, Da Bush Babees, Jamiroquai, and De La Soul—each one is utilized to convey a powerful message about how the music industry has treated and continues to treat and exploit Black artists.”

Watch it below, and read more about Pola here.