The Halluci Nation (fka A Tribe Called Red)

The Halluci Nation is an Aboriginal Canadian disk jockey collective that blends instrumental hip hop, reggae, moombahton and dubstep-influenced dance music with elements of First Nations music, particularly vocal chanting and drumming. The group's music has been labelled as powwow-step, a style of contemporary powwow music for urban First Nations in the dance club scene; popularized by the media as a description of the band's unique style, the term originated as the title of one of the band's earliest songs. The group consists of Tim "2oolman" Hill and Ehren "Bear Witness" Thomas. The group was founded in Ottawa, Ontario, in 2007 or 2008 as A Tribe Called Red (ATCR) by Bear Witness, Ian "DJ NDN" Campeau and Jon "Dee Jay Frame" Limoges. Dan "DJ Shub" General joined the group shortly after its formation and Frame departed as the group shifted from live performances to recording. Shub left the group in 2014 and was replaced by Hill, and Campeau left the group in 2017. The group changed its name to The Halluci Nation in April 2021. The group has released four albums and has been recognized with national awards including Juno Awards for Breakthrough Group of the Year (2014) and Producer of the Year (2017). The group was founded by disc jockeys Bear Witness, Dee Jay Frame and DJ NDN (Thomas Ehren Ramon, Jon Limoges, and Ian Campeau, respectively). They had been inspired by dance club events for Korean and South Asian youth in Ottawa, and wanted to organize a similar event for Aboriginal youth. They held their first event, called Electric Pow Wow, at Ottawa's Babylon nightclub in 2007 or 2008, with following events held monthly until 2017. The parties featured traditional powwow recordings, mixed with electronic music rhythms and genres such as dubstep, moombahton, and dancehall. Shortly after the first party, they invited Canadian DMC champion DJ Shub (Dan General) to participate. The four worked well together and DJ Shub moved from Niagara Falls to Ottawa to join the group. The group released a number of tracks of their DJing via YouTube. Frame left the group as it shifted from live performances to recording, and as a trio A Tribe Called Red (ATCR) released their self-titled debut album as a free internet download in 2012. It was among 40 albums longlisted for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize. In December 2012, ATCR released "The Road" on SoundCloud (p.27), where it garnered "upward of 50,000 plays within five months" and nearly 300,000 plays as of August 2018.[better source needed][relevant?] Their second album, Nation II Nation, was released in 2013 and was among 10 albums shortlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. The group also won several awards at the 2013 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, including Best Group and Best Album for Nation II Nation. Aided by the national media attention, the group toured across much of Canada and parts of the United States, as well as performing festival dates in the US, United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, and Norway. The group garnered two nominations at the Juno Awards of 2014, for Breakthrough Group of the Year and Electronic Album of the Year, winning the award for Breakthrough Group. They are the first indigenous group to have won a Juno outside of the Aboriginal music category, which they chose not to enter as they wished to compete against mainstream artists. A Tribe Called Red have also collaborated on and produced one of the last known Das Racist songs, called "Indians From All Directions", as well as the song "A Tribe Called Red" on Angel Haze's album Dirty Gold. General (DJ Shub) left the group in 2014 and was replaced by Tim "2oolman" Hill (Mohawk of the Six Nations of the Grand River). In 2015, they released pro-wrestling-themed EP Suplex, with appearances from Smalltown DJs, as well as a remix of Buffy Sainte-Marie's song "Working for the Government". They won Best Music Video at the 2015 Native American Music Awards. In September 2016, they released LP We Are the Halluci Nation, a concept album about banding together to fight oppression. Guest collaborators on the album include John Trudell, Narcy, Yasiin Bey, Lido Pimienta, Tanya Tagaq, Joseph Boyden, Black Bear, and Shad. The first voice heard on this album is Trudell's. The group wanted to celebrate contemporary Indigenous culture through this album. The group won the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award at the Juno Awards of 2017. In October that year, "DJ NDN" left the group for health reasons. The group won the Group of the Year award at the Juno Awards of 2018. In April 2018, the band performed at a TED talk during TED2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The group released a number of singles while touring in 2019. In April, the group released a remix of Keith Secola's song "NDN Kars". Exclaim!'s Sarah Murphy described it as a "modern twist" on the 1990s hit. The group later released "The OG", which was their first original song since the release of We Are the Halluci Nation. A few months later the group released Caribana festival-inspired "Ba Na Na", which features Canadian rapper Haviah Mighty, singer Odario, and Chippewa Travellers. In September 2019, the band released "Tanokumbia", a single featuring Texan DJ El Dusty and Canadian Pow Wow drummers and singers, Black Bear. In 2020, the group released "Land Back" featuring Boogey the Beat and Chippewa Travellers. In April 2021, the group changed their name to The Halluci Nation, shortly ahead of the release of their fourth album. The band stated that the album, titled One More Saturday Night, references their regular Electric Pow Wow parties in Ottawa on the first Saturday of the month for nearly a decade. In 2025, The Halluci Nation became the first independent Indigenous artists from North America to surpass 100 million streams on Spotify. The group's music has been described as an innovative blend of genres which is difficult to characterize. It is often described as a new genre with self-referential names like electric powwow (after their Ottawa dance parties), or pow wow step (the title of their first song). The sound described under these terms is characterized by the mixture of First Nations pow wow and electronic music styles. A broad sweep of contemporary dance music styles was brought to the group by its members. DJ Shub is a skilled turntablist with consecutive DJ champion titles (2007–2008) and an affection for hip-hop. Bear Witness favoured Jamaican dancehall and DJ NDN had worked in electronic dance music. Reggae, dubstep, house music, and moombahton have also been cited as influences. DJ NDN stated in a 2013 interview, "[a]ll we really did was match up dance music with dance music". Their 2012 release "The Road" is structured around a series of "drops", an important component in electronic dance music derived from Jamaican sound systems as well as syncopated "trap beats" originating from dirty south hip-hop characterized with a booming bass drum and skittering hi-hats. According to culture researcher Gabriel Levine, their second full-length record, Nation II Nation, has been perceived as one of the leaders of an artistic Indigenous resurgence, exemplifying the remixing of tradition, bridging Indigenous history and futurity. Multimedia presentations which accompanied live shows from 2010 (and are the basis of some of the group's music videos), have been described as "a mashup of aboriginal stereotypes" including bizarre portrayals of indigenous people by white actors and in mainstream cartoons. These are assembled by Bear Witness, who has a collection of obscure DVD and VHS tapes. The band was featured prominently in the 2017 music documentary When They Awake, by filmmakers P. J. Marcellino and Hermon Farahi. The film was the opening night gala selection at the 2017 Calgary International Film Festival. The Halluci Nation co-composed music for the sitcom Rutherford Falls, which premiered on Peacock in April 2021. The show centers on relationships between members of a