Bursting forth from Ottawa Canada, world-renowned native Producer/DJ crew A Tribe Called Red, who are Ian “DJ NDN” Campeau, Tim “2oolman” Hill and Bear Witness, are gearing up to release their third studio We Are The Halluci Nation worldwide on the 16th of September. After premiering on Pitchfork the trio have gifted us with their incredible video for ‘R.E.D’ Feat. Yasiin Bey (Formerly known as Mos Def), Narcy (Snippet) and Black Bear (a drum group from the Manawan Atikamekw Nation in Quebec)
The video is a visual representation of of history being made, it’s the first time an African, an Iraqi and the Indigenous of Canada are on one song and now video. A Tribe Called Red matches ferocious verses from Yasiin Bey and Narcy, as well as the thunderous rhythms of drum groupBlack Bear, with expansive shots dynamically edited together to showcase the artists’ assertion of cultural identity. Produced by DAIS and shot in Cape Town, the video unveils a new chapter in the album’s narrative, centered around the emergence of the Halluci Nation and rooted in indigenous worldviews.
We’ve already had a taste of the album, in the form of singles ‘We Are the Halluci Nation’, which features the poetry of Santee Dakota activist, artist and actor John Trudell. Trudellcoined the name Halluci Nation, and his poetry and concepts appear throughout the album. The trio also released another bite of their mammoth long play with single ‘Sila’ feat. the Polaris prize-winning Canadian throat singer Tanya Tagaq. The song, which premiered on Noiseyworldwide was a true back-and-forth collaboration (not unlike like the traditional throat singing game), where the producers sent Tanya a beat that she recorded over it.
“We asked our sister Tanya Tagaq, representative of our inuk contingency, to help us in honoring the part of us that is sky, air, atmosphere. The part of our dna that is Sila. Her gift of breath reminds us of life and reminds us though the simple act of breathing that we are human beings. Tanya helps us see that it is time to rise up and remind each other who we really are. We are the human beings and being human has power”
We Are The Halluci Nation will be released in Australia on September 16th, you can pre-order the album HERE
