https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MD8IK19aec 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.
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rom A Tribe Called Red: “The Halluci Nation has no barriers, it sees no borders and their operatives are everywhere. Yasiin Bey is an ally of the Halluci Nation who has been unjustly detained in Cape Town, South Africa by the ALie-Nation. Narcy is one of the Guardians of the Halluci Nation and he has been given the job of helping to free Yasiin and lead him to the Halluci Nation territory. We Are Of Earth And Sky.”
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 is an invitation to anyone who is feeling dissatisfied with the current state of our post-colonial world to join a Tribe Called Red in building the “Halluci Nation” – an international community of like minded people dedicated to eradicating the lingering effects of colonialism of which you might already be part of. We Are The Halluci Nation includes a number of noteworthy collaborations, ranging from hip-hop star Yasiin Bey (AKA Mos Def) to Saul Williams, Colombian visual artist and musician Lido Pimienta, native musicians Black Bearand Tanya Tagaq, plus the Swedish-Sami singer Maxida Marak and our homegrown legendsOKA.
Watch a short film about A Tribe Called Red’s trip to Manawan to record with Black Bear HERE
A Tribe Called Red have performed at Coachella, Gathering of Nations (the world’s largest Pow Wow), New Orleans Jazz Fest, SXSW, Bonnaroo, Afropunk and Australia’s own Homegrown Festival at the Sydney Opera House. They won the Breakthrough Group of the Year Juno Award 2014 for their second album Nation II Nation and their first two albums were long and short-listed respectively for the Polaris Music Prize.
We Are The Halluci Nation will be released in Australia on September 16th, you can pre-order the album HERE
