Alaclair Ensemble is a
Canadian hip hop
musical collective based in
Quebec.[2] Their musical style draws on traditional Québécois folk music as well as contemporary
Hip hop music and
Electronic music. They are known for PR stunts and tongue-in-cheek lyrics that border on the comedic.[3]
The group consists of Ogden "Robert Nelson" Ridjanovic (rapper),[4] Akena "KNLO" Okoko (rapper & producer),[5] Claude Bégin (rapper, singer, producer, musician),[6] Eman (rapper),[7] and producer Louis-Nicolas Imbeau, known as Vlooper.[8][2] The members also release music with their own side projects.[2]
The collective was formed in
Quebec City, after several of the members had participated in
Bande à part's 93 tours project in 2007.[10]
They released their debut album, 4,99, on Bandcamp in 2010.[11][12] That was followed by Le Roé C'est Moé and Touladis in 2011,[13][14] and, in 2012, Un Piou Piou Parmi Tant D'autres[15] and America.[16] In December 2012, they performed a "hip-hop Nocturne" at the
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.[17]
Toute est impossible, was released in 2014.[21][22][23] In 2016, they released the album Alaclair Acapellas,[24] and were then signed to Disques 7ième Ciel (7ieme Ciel Records).[25] They then released their first priced album, Les Frères Cueilleurs,[26] and went on a tour of Quebec and parts of Europe.[27][28] At
ADISQ 2017, Alaclair Ensemble garnered nominations for the Critics' Choice Award, Show of the Year, Producer of the Year, Engineer of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year. Their video for the song "Ça que c'tait" won Video of the Year[29] and Les Frères Cueilleurs won Hip Hop Album of the Year.[30]
The album Le sens des paroles was released in 2018. At
ADISQ 2019, Alaclair Ensemble received several nominations; the video for the song "La Famille" won Video of the Year,[31] and the album won Rap Album of the Year.[32][33][34] The album's lyrics are more serious than those of their earlier work.[35] That was followed by America, Vol. 2 in 2019.[36]
Also in 2019, the city of
Laval, Quebec commissioned the group to create a song and video to encourage recycling. The result, Mets du respect dans ton bac (put some respect in your recycling bin), immediately went viral, with the video viewed 1.5 million times in its first five days.[37]
In 2020, Alaclair Ensemble released the album Capitaine Canada.[38][39] In 2021, Claude Bégin was a competitor in the Quebec edition of Big Brother Célébrités.[40]
Discography
4,99 (2010), Independent
Le roé c'est moé (2011), Independent
Touladis (2011)
Un Piou Piou Parmi Tant D'autres (2012), Independent
America (2012), Independent
Les maigres blancs d'Amérique du Noir (2013), Independent