At the 2019 ARIA Music Awards she won Best Hip Hop Release for her second single, "Final Form".

In March 2020 Sampa became the first artist to win the Australian Music Prize twice: for Birds and the Bee9 (November 2017) and The Return.

[4] Her mother Theresa, a dancer, is from the Bemba people while her father Alfred, an insurance broker and some-time DJ, is from the Tumbuka.

[7] Tembo moved to Sydney in 2013 and was based there until 2018,[9] she completed a bachelor's degree in audio engineering at SAE Institute in 2015.

[13] Sampa the Great was featured on the second single, "Beauty" (September 2015), by future soul singer-songwriter Wallace (a.k.a.

[5] The artist described it as "a search for creativity, laughter, purpose and rhythms",[2] and credits her African youth for inspiring the "political consciousness" on the record.

[25] On 28 April 2017 Sampa the Great released a single, "Everybody's Hero" featuring British singer Estelle.

[27][28] Sampa the Great issued a second mixtape, Birds and the Bee9 (10 November 2017), which "crosses hip-hop, soul, jazz, gospel and reggae",[12] via the Big Dada label.

On 5 April 2018 a music video, "Black Girl Magik" featuring Nicole Gumbe, was issued.

[35] On 29 November 2018 the artist released her single, "Energy" featuring Nadeem Din-Gabisi along with an accompanying music video.

"[39] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019 Sampa the Great was nominated in two categories: Best Video (directed by Sanjay De Silva) and Best Hip Hop Release for "Final Form".

[40] Upon winning Best Hip Hop Release the artist was "snubbed" by ARIA when the TV broadcast switched to a commercial rather than show her acceptance speech.

[41] As the first female person of colour to win a hip hop category the move exemplified systemic racism in the industry.

[41] In March 2020 Sampa the Great won the Australian Music Prize for The Return; becoming the first musician in its 15-year history to win the award twice.

[44] She also performed at the 2020 ceremony through a video-link to Botswana and delivered "a strong statement" on "lack of diversity of the Australian music industry" and specifically took aim at the ARIA board for her snubbing in the previous year.

[47] Her track, "Never Forget", is a tribute to Zamrock; she also worked with Emmanuel Jagari Chanda lead singer of Witch.

[52][53] Sampa featured on vocals on the first track "Life Goes On" of the Ezra Collective’s album Where I'm Meant to Be, which won the Mercury Prize in September 2023.

[6] Sampa the Great's early work "was inspired by spiritually-minded gospel, with nods to neo-soul and hip-hop intertwined with her no-holds-barred political outlook.

[11] She has performed as a supporting act for Joey Bada$$, as well as Kendrick Lamar, Thundercat,[29] and Denzel Curry.

Sampa the Great won Best Hip Hop Release at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, from two nominations.