Aquakultre returns to community in new album 1783

Lance Sampson, professionally known as Aquakultre, tells the stories of Black settlers in Nova Scotia in his new album 1783. 

The 33-year-old Halifax singer, rapper and composer releases the album on Friday in time for African Heritage Month.  

The Signal talked to Sampson ahead of the album’s release about his musical journey, the inspiration behind this record and community. 

Q: How did you get into music? Is it something you’ve been doing since you were young? 

A: No. I grew up in Uniacke Square and there weren’t a lot of musicians around. There weren’t programs for kids to go through and be creative. You only had a few options — it was sports or it was selling drugs. It took a lot of singing in the showers, being by myself and writing privately. But when I was growing up music wasn’t really a thing. 

Q: You have a new album coming out, titled 1783. I know that’s the year Black Loyalists started coming to Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. Is that why you chose it?

A: That’s correct. I went on a research journey. I wanted to explore what it actually means to be African Nova Scotian. I went around Nova Scotia, talked with Black elders about what it was like growing up in their communities. It had me thinking about all the names that exist within our Black Nova Scotia communities, how they migrate, where they came from, where they’re at now and why they decided to leave. It had me thinking a lot of the generational trauma that gets passed down within families. It had me thinking about the silence that happens within communities. It just brought me back to when I was 16. I needed that community. I needed to understand and process some of the things around me that I didn’t think were great. 1783 the album is a result of trying to process, talk about and deal with stuff I dealt with when I was younger. The intent behind that title was to show that Black folks have been in Nova Scotia for a long, long time. When you listen to the record, there’s a lot of historical elements and it weaves into my personal life and connects each community to each other. Right now the world is crazy. We’re not seeing a lot of love at the moment. I’m trying to get us back to re-evaluating what community means and just getting us back together.

Q: When did you start your research journey for the album?

A: I started the research way back when COVID hit us. I told myself, ‘Yo, if my children ever ask me about what it means to be African Nova Scotian, I wouldn’t be able to answer that question.’ My world has been so small growing up in Uniacke Square, but I wanted to enjoy Nova Scotia as much as I could. I want to be able to talk about it, be proud of it and teach people that might not know about the history of Nova Scotia or of Black Nova Scotians. I was hoping to find a way that this history can be taught and be accessed. The easiest way I know how to do it is through music. 

Q: What sounds or artistic influences did you lean into for this album? 

A: I leaned into what existed in Black Nova Scotia. I’ve collected Black Nova Scotian records that existed before 1990, like Faith Nolan’s Africville. Crack of Dawn was the first Canadian Black band to sign with a major record label. One of the members, Gary Steed, taught me how to drive. I didn’t know that he was a musician. My mentor David Woods told me, ‘We did all this work and we did a really bad job of passing it down.’ When you go rural, it’s a lot of country, bluegrass. When you go into the city, there is a lot of gospel, funk, R&B. This music existed everywhere in Nova Scotia. A lot of 1783 musical references are from records from here. 

Q: Are there any moments in 1783 where you feel especially vulnerable as an artist? 

A: Oh, I’ll be Damned is one of the last songs on the record. I would say that one. That’s about really connecting my aunts or my elders’ story to my own story. Listen to it from front to back, take me out of the picture, put yourself within this and see how it makes you feel. This record is a feeling. It’s an emotion. It’s a moment. It’s history and honestly, I think it’s one of the greatest records to come out of Nova Scotia.

Q: Musically, we live in this moment where artists are abandoning albums and just putting out singles, but you’re doing a full concept album where listeners need to hear every song to understand the story. Was that intentional and important for you? 

A: Oh, absolutely. I think it wouldn’t have been able to work if I didn’t work with a producer like Erin Costelo. That’s why I think collaboration and community is the most important. That’s why I think the group of musicians that you use is the most important. As much as I would love to say that this record is all me — it isn’t all me. This is a community record. When you see the credits on it, everybody who was involved in this really felt the vision, got behind it, executed it, and really honed in on it. 

Q: My last question to wrap things up: In one sentence, what does 1783 mean to you right now?

A: I haven’t really given it too much thought, but what it means to me is that it’s important work that needs to be listened to right now. It needs to be processed, it needs to be understood and it needs to be listened to from front to back.