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Aquakultre is the artistic voice of Lance Sampson — an uncommonly versatile singer, rapper, filmmaker and storyteller from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Aquakultre came to national prominence in 2018 after winning CBC’s Searchlight songwriting competition with the second song he ever wrote. He has gone on to release multiple singles, EPs, collabs and two full albums, 2020’s Legacy and 2022’s Don’t Trip, both of which were long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize along with numerous East Coast Music Awards and other nominations and wins. Aquakultre’s co-directed video for Pay It Forward won the Audience Favorite at the 2021 Prism Prize Awards. Lance’s third full-length Aquakultre release, 1783, will be released worldwide on February 6, 2026 via Next Door Records. The title refers to the year when over 3000 people of African descent boarded 81 ships and sailed out of New York. These were the so-called Black Loyalists: some of them free people, many of them still enslaved, who fought for the British in exchange for the promise of land and freedom. Arriving in Nova Scotia, they were given the poorest housing, little food, few supplies. Yet they survived and went on to found Black settlements across the province.

Descended directly from those first settlers, Aquakultre has created a profound concept album that is deeply rooted in his own rich family history. The 17-track album comprises 11 full-length songs and six interludes, with each track describing Lance’s life, Black Nova Scotian history, family stories, and intergenerational reflections on carrying the torch passed on to him from elders, acting as a beacon of light for a brighter future.

Produced by 2 x Music Nova Scotia Producer of the Year Erin Costelo, mixed by 2 x Grammy winner Qmillion (Robert Glasper), and mastered by multiple Grammy nominee Chris Athens (Drake), 1783’s musical direction seamlessly blends a range of historically Black musics, with hints of gospel, blues, jazz, and soul, mixed in with vintage R&B overtones.