SAMMUS aka Dr. Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo—pronouns she/her—is a black feminist rapper, producer, and scholar from Ithaca, NY with family roots in Côte D'Ivoire and the Congo. She is the David S. Josephson Assistant Professor of Music at Brown University as well as the Faculty Director of the Black Music Lab. Since 2010 Sammus has written, produced, and recorded three full-length albums, three EPs, a beat tape, and several one-off collaborations with notable artists including Moor Mother, Open Mike Eagle, Xenia Rubinos, and Sadie Dupuis in addition to her collaborations with video game developers, podcasters, and filmmakers. She is currently completing two studio projects slated for release in 2024.

Lyrically SAMMUS is known for her thought-provoking and introspective rhymes about everything from Afrofuturist video-game inspired space myths to her anxieties about the internet. Her live shows, characterized by her high energy and the inclusion of elements of cosplay, bring together a vibrant array of hip hop heads, punks, activists, and self-identified nerds and geeks, among others. As noted by the Los Angeles Times, Sammus “has a gift for getting a message across.”

Dr. Lumumba-Kasongo received her PhD from Cornell University in Science and Technology Studies. Her doctoral research, which she completed in 2019, focuses on the sociotechnical dynamics that shape the development and use of “community-studios”—recording studios that provide high-quality recording tools, professional sound engineering services, and audio training to communities that often lack financial or social access to these resources. Her scholarly areas of interest include black feminist sound studies and hip hop praxis, particularly as it intersects with technocultures in regard to AI and gaming.

Since Fall 2021 she has been a member of the steering committee for Brown’s science, technology, and society program. She is also serving as the Director of Audio at Glow Up Games, the first women-of-color led game studio, and she is a member of theKEEPERS, a Hip Hop collective that is currently developing the most comprehensive digital archive to map the international contributions of womxn and girls across hip hop’s 50-year history.