Music Spotlight - Sammus
Time for more music for today's spotlight! Maybe I'm accidentally becoming a music blog rather than a video game blog, or some bizarre mixture of both? Not that I'm trying to be any particular kind of blog at all! But after blogging about the work of aivi & surasshu yesterday, it made me remember that they once did an amazing collaboration with another one of my favourite artists of all time.
Sammus, also known as Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo, is an incredible rapper, writer, and producer, as well as a professor of Black feminist sound studies. Her unique, creative, and nuanced sensibilities as a Black feminist rapper feel so beautifully present in her work, felt in elements like her lyricism and powerful highlighting of subjects like the pressures of aging as a woman, colourism, navigating anxiety and mental health, and more. Her artistry is stellar, evident in the delightfully clever writing and flow of her lyrics, and in the wide range of sonic details she puts into how she builds the beats she produces for her own tracks. Of course, as her moniker indicates, video games make up some of the biggest influences on Sammus' music, alongside cartoons and other pop culture media. Reminiscent of the way that video game music needs to be interesting yet mellow enough to remain in the background of the player's experience, Sammus' production excellently provides chill yet upbeat electronic soundscapes for her dynamic lyrics to navigate. I also definitely find it super fun keeping an ear out during Sammus' music especially for all of the witty game references and sound effects from the likes of Metroid, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros, Final Fantasy, and more!
All of this is channelled incredibly into ANOTHER M, a seven-track EP that retells the story of Nintendo's Metroid video game through the perspective of its protagonist, the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran — as imagined by Sammus, as a Black feminist rapper whose moniker is inspired by Samus Aran being one of the earliest instances of empowered female protagonists in video games. I really think the album simply needs to be listened to rather than described, but there's so much I love about it. It is an immersive journey from start to finish. The foundation of every track comprises of beats remixed directly from the game's original soundtrack, transporting you directly into the world of Metroid. Then Sammus, as Samus Aran, takes the stage, and you get to feel like a companion and witness to the bounty hunter's journey as she battles her way through the planet Brinstar, boss battles like Ridley, Kraid, and Mother Brain, as well as her own emotional reflections as a woman triumphantly subverting all the expectations around her. There are also additional flourishes like brief lines of narration, dialogue, and scene-setting sound effects that bookend the tracks, like tiny vignettes from an audio play, to invite you deeper into the experiences of Samus/Sammus. All of it adds fantastic layers of emotional resonance, vulnerability, and characterization to the original narrative of the game. To me, this album is a masterpiece and Sammus' depiction of the character is what comes to mind when I think of Samus Aran.
(Special mention to my favourite track on ANOTHER M, which is "Crown". That song makes me feel invincible. Plus, the line "If you ever fought a boss get yo’ hands up" is just so, so good, coming from a woman — whether it is Samus or Sammus speaking — fighting her way through a male-dominated industry.)
Other albums by Sammus are just as beloved to me. Infusion and Pieces in Space tackle subjects no less daunting than battling monsters in space, as Sammus raps about topics like being a woman on the internet, wrestling with self-doubts and anxiety, or wanting the full complexity of her identity as a Black woman to be respected or represented. Some of my most-played tracks from these albums are: "Time Crisis", a rebuttal to the imposed expectations on women as they age; "Childhood", a cozy and nostalgic revisiting of memories from the joys of being a kid; and "Nighttime (feat. Izzy True)", about fighting with your own mind as an anxious person. Another standout is the deeply personal "1080p", initially released as a single before receiving an album version featuring the legendary Jean Grae, a courageous expression of Sammus' experiences with navigating mental health struggles, support, and healing. Throughout all of Sammus' tracks, her Black feminist perspective enables her to deliver much-needed and authentic social commentary that is strengthened by her often confessional-style lyrics.
Sammus was probably one of the first artists that got me really excited to delve deeper into the work of other independent, socially conscious artists, and particularly of Black feminist rap and hip hop artists. I'm so appreciative for all the art and work she has put out there, and how foundational it feels to anyone else inhabiting similar spaces of feminism, intersectionality, and video games or other nerdy spaces. Like, it's so nice to listen to a track and not have to constantly brace myself for all the misogyny and other pitfalls of popular, often male, rap artists. Sammus' music helped me feel like there actually is space for someone like me to appreciate hip hop and rap and relate to it more authentically, an experience that I continue to cherish.