While it has been more than seven years since Yasiin Bey released an album (The Ecstatic, as “Mos Def”), the Brooklyn, New Yorker has been busy in 2016. Often times when there is a cause or a message close to him, the Black Star veteran comes out of an apparent recluse to raise awareness.

“R.E.D.” finds Bey and Canadian-Iraqi Narcy joining A Tribe Called R.E.D. The First Nations Indigenous Canadian DJ trio fuses Electronic music with Hip-Hop in a globally-minded message of uplifting and supporting indigenous people. Transmitting with a lot of bravado, Yasiin leads things off with tribal chants and Electro synth hits in the background. If Hip-Hop is the language of the drum, this multi-faceted, genre-bending collabo links it with thousands of years of indigenous music (and people). Narcy follows with a fiery verse of his own, showing the many speeds of his dazzling flow. This also features the pounding percussion of Quebec drum group Blackbear.

Yasiin Bey’s Mysterious New Music Shows His Many Sides (Audio)

Photograph by Ignatius Mokone.

In addition to Yasiin Bey, the forthcoming We Are The Halluci Nation album (September 16) features Saul Williams and Shad.