Sampa the Great is quite possibly Australia’s best rap artist. She ingeniously combines African instrumentation with modern hip-hop rhythms to talk about issues that deserve our consideration. The Sydney-based musician Sampa Tembo states that her newest release “Mona Lisa is a song about not catering to the myth that a young woman must compromise her integrity in the pursuit of success. The song explores ideas surrounding women's self image, standards of beauty and belief in one's own abilities.” She also turns to one of the languages from her birthplace Zambia to shed fresh light on the potent significance of all that Leonardo da Vinci’s painting symbolises. Tembo goes on to explain that in the Bemba language ‘mona’ means ‘look at’, so each time she calls out ‘mona lisa’ in the song, we’re reminded of the unsolicited attention that the female image is given and why it still happens today. It’s not Sampa The Great’s duty to provide the answers here, but she does pose an excellent question. ‘Mona Lisa’ is another powerful track from this prominent rapper and it’s one that packs a punch not only through provocative lyrics, but also through the pairing of traditional African dances and modern studio techniques. - HT