Halifax-based hip-hop artist Lance Sampson, better known as Aquakultre, is still riding high after winning the 2018 CBC Searchlight contest, as seen when he entered his Sappyfest set clad in a robe.
His confident swagger never wavered throughout his performance, which found him delivering smooth, soulful vocals and hard-hitting, conscious rhymes to the tune of his three-piece backing band, featuring Halifax mainstays Nick Dourado, Nathan Doucet and Jeremy Costello.
Sampson wasn't afraid to make bold choices, like his cover of mid-2000s dance party staple "Cha Cha Slide," and gathering a cohort of audience members to serve as a choir for his closing number. Even when spitting bars like "capitalism and prison systems / I can't tell the difference," the mood was upbeat. Drawing on funk, R&B and hip-hop, the quartet gave the Sappyfest main stage crowd plenty of grooves to dance to.
His confident swagger never wavered throughout his performance, which found him delivering smooth, soulful vocals and hard-hitting, conscious rhymes to the tune of his three-piece backing band, featuring Halifax mainstays Nick Dourado, Nathan Doucet and Jeremy Costello.
Sampson wasn't afraid to make bold choices, like his cover of mid-2000s dance party staple "Cha Cha Slide," and gathering a cohort of audience members to serve as a choir for his closing number. Even when spitting bars like "capitalism and prison systems / I can't tell the difference," the mood was upbeat. Drawing on funk, R&B and hip-hop, the quartet gave the Sappyfest main stage crowd plenty of grooves to dance to.
