| Northern Lights Nation | |
 Northern Lights Nation in 2014 | |
| Background Information | |
|---|---|
| Also Known As | Northern Lights, NLN, 656 |
| Origin | Waterville, ME, United States |
| Genres | Hardcore Hiphop, Hiphop, Rap, Underground |
| Years Active | 2009 - 2017 |
| Labels | 6ix5ive6ix Records / Indepedent |
| Associated Acts | GA $outh, Bizzy Bone, Stevie Stone |
| Web Site | www.facebook.com/nlnation |
Northern Lights Nation is an American Rap/Hiphop/ act from Waterville Maine currently consisting of members Kartoon, Noxa & DJ Germination. They are best known for their 2011 single "We Shine". Their last album "Filth" features Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs N Harmony and Stevie Stone of Strange Music. They have released 3 Studio albums and 5 Mixtapes.
History[]
Pre-Northern Lights Era[]
Prior to forming Northern Lights Nation with Cam Carl and Noxa, Kartoon aka Big-Toon had released 13 official albums. One was a duo collaboration with Noxa entitled Kartoon and Noxa - Blowin It Up (2003). Noxa also provided guest appearance collaborations on many of the other Kartoon albums and was a member of Solid State Entertainment. Kartoon had also collaborated with Cam Carl and Noxa for King of the City (2007), Solid State Of Emergency Vol 2 (2010) and Ziplock EP / East Coast Crunk (2008).
2007-2008 East Coast Crunk / Ziplock EP Era[]
After the break up of Solid State Entertainment, Kartoon had to re-define himself. Cam Carl had recently graduated from a Music Engineering College where he learned professional production skills that he wanted to try out with artists he knew. He had produced the underground classic "Hot New Line Up" and had really crafted a unique sound of his own. Cam Carl supplied some beats to Kartoon, who began to craft his new style based on the Cam Carl beats. This style was known as "East Coast Crunk". Cam Carl began to perform with Kartoon at shows such as "Live at Rumors 2007" where they performed tracks off of the Ziplock EP Stayin Blazed, Tip Back, We Dem Boys and other tracks. This amped up production value and positive response from the fans led to the duo to realize they have created something new and special, and were looking for ways to step the game up even further to the next level.
2009-2010: Smokin Again Era[]
Northern Lights Nation with former member Lady A in 2010
When Noxa, Cam Carl and Kartoon collaborated for the single Ziplock and Coming Home, they knew they had something special. They followed it up with recording the song Smokin Again, which would later become the title track to the album. The album was released on 4-20-10. Their lead single and music video off of the album was entitled My 'Life. Other notable songs from the album were Burn Ride, Swerve On and NL Music, which later spawned two sequels: NL Music 2 and NL Music III. Two other editions "Deluxe Edition" and "Re-Hashed" were released after the original album came out. The album had a mixtape leading up to the release known as "The Harvest Mixtape" which later spawned two sequels The Harvest Mix Tape Volume 2 and The Harvest Mixtape Volume 3 which were used as promotional tools leading up to the official albums.
2011-2012: The Diary of Santa Marta Era[]
"The Diary Of Santa Marta" was released on 11-11-11. It was a concept album that follows the intense story of "Smokin' Again". The album featured many local artists including the 2011 Seize The Mic Champion, Shayna Harvey, DeeJay Rancourt of Adversaries, a local hardcore metal band and others. The album demonstrated how much the group had changed from their previous album Smoking Again to the new album The Diary of Santa Marta in such a short period of time. The album had a diverse range of topics and music styles. The production talent of Cam Carl is on display throughout the album as he produced and engineered all of the songs as well as provided vocals on most of the tracks. Kartoon and Noxa also both found their voice and style on this album.
Northern Lights Nation & affiliates on the set of the "NL Muisc III" video
The album told the story of the aftermath of releasing Smoking Again while simultaneously foretelling the future of events that would come with the release of Filth.
The Diary of Santa Marta defined the style, delivery and tone that would become the signature of Northern Lights Nation. It also spawned a cult fan-following known as The NL Nation, who are easily spotted in the crowd of any NLN show donning NLN gear designed by frontman Kartoon.
"We Shine" was the lead single and music video off of The Diary of Santa Marta.
The Diary of Santa Marta Re-Mastered was released as a 2nd edition with two additional songs Walk This Way and Karma in 2015 when Filth dropped.
2013-2015: Filth Era[]
The title to the album "Filth" was inspired by a local resident objecting to NLN performing in their area saying, "We don't need this kind of Filth in our city". That objection turned into the Filth Movement. The buildup to the release of Filth was boosted by the release of The Harvest Mixtape Vol 3, which unlike the other two previous Harvest mixtapes, was an album all into itself with only one song on it eventually appearing on Filth. Glory & Fame with G.A. South was
656 Records (left to right) Jon Haze, GA $outh, Northern Lights Nation, DJ Germination
the lead single and music video off of The Harvest Mixtape Volume 3.
In addition to The Harvest Vol 3, NLN also released Raw and Uncut Mixtape of unreleased Northern Lights Nation songs to hold the fans off until Filth dropped.
Filth finally dropped in 2015 and consisted of an intro track and ten full-length-song tracks, each with experimental extended outros and featured national recording artists Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs n Harmony on the track "Everyday" and Stevie Stone of Strange Music Inc on "Renegade". The lead singles and music videos off of Filth were You Don't Know Me and F**k Northern Lights.
The album, sold through Bull Moose Records charted at #1 for 3 out of 5 weeks for all music genres independent artists in the state of Maine and #1 for rap genre for 7 weeks in Maine. in December the album re-charted again, spending 4 weeks in the December top 10. "FILTH" spent 20+ weeks in the local top 10 for 2015. It finished 2015 as the #12 overall best selling local album in Maine. It was also #4 for hiphop and #1 for a hiphop group. It is currently ranked in the top 20 for 2016
2016 - 2017: The Last 2 Toast Era[]
In January of 2016 the Northern Lights Nation Facebook started posting cryptic photos of old jazz bands with their eyes crossed out and the phrase "And The Band Played On" written over them. The photos also included a series of numbers that are rumored to be secret messages to fans and other rappers. Some fans are speculating that this is going to be the next NLN album. A fan pointed out that in May of 2015 that the
(left to right) Noxa, Kartoon, DJ Germination
NLN Instagram featured a photo of the band from the Titanic and a hasgtag that said "#thebandplayson". adding further speculation to what the phrase might mean in terms of NLN / 656 culture.
By May 2016 the promotion for "The Band Played On" abruptly stopped. It was announced on May 22nd 2016 during a Co-headlining event with Method Man & Redman that Cam Carl would be retiring from doing vocals to focus on production and engineering. Cam was quoted saying "I want to spend some much needed time with my family and refocus on the part of music that I love" The next day the NLN facebook page announced it with a picture of the three the night before. The same day NLN announced they would set out on their first tour sense the departure of Cam Carl entitled "The Last 2 Toast Tour" . Kartoon confirmed later on that Cam had given his notice after the April 15th BAXWAR show with Adlib but that Cam was convinced to wait until after the much larger Redman & Methodman Coliseum show. on May 25th 2016 the NLN facebook page posted a link to "Lyrical Fusion - The Final Toast" with the following quote. "The Final Toast - 1998, The Last 2 Toast - 2017, LF<->NL, The Saga Continues, 23rd-656" adding speculation that the next NLN album will be called "The Last 2 Toast" a homage to Lyrical Fusions 1998 album "the Final Toast".
August through September Northern Lights Nation toured and promoted brand new songs including the Mateo Tha Monster produced "Turn Me Up" and the anti heroin dealer anthem "Do It For My City (remix) ft. Yung Breeze". During the tour NLN not only confirmed the new songs for an upcoming album but also that the album would indeed be called "Last 2 Toast".
On 11-11-16 (five years after the release of DOSM and one year after the remaster release) Northern Lights Nation released a book entitled "The Diary Of Santa Marta: The Complete Illustrated Lyrics". It was release independently via Bullmoose Music and like "FITLH" the book also charted multiple times on the "Bullmoose local top 10/15". This book was a collaboration with longtime affiliate Jonathan Lippe. Jon interviews Kartoon & Noxa about the entire process of making the album for the first half of the book. The second half features all of the lyrics along with a massive amount of photos from the "DOSM Era of NLN". Cam Carl did not take part in the interviews however he did recieve an author credit for his lyrics in the second half of the book.
Members[]
Former Members[]
- Kartoon (2009 - 2017) - Vocals
- Noxa (2009 - 2017) - Vocals
- Cam Carl (2009 - 2016) - Vocals, Producer
- DJ Germination (2015 - 2016) - DJ
- DJ Maine Event (2010 - 2011) - DJ
- DJ Tommy Blaze (2013 - 2014) - DJ
- Lady A (2009 - 2011) - Vocals
6ix5ive6ix Records[]
To expand on the brand, 6ix5ive6ix Records was formed by Kartoon & Cam Carl in 2014. The goal is to bring together more artist with the same vision, motivation & drive as Northern Lights Nation. 656 shut down the "record label" part of the company in 2020 and continued as a management & promotion company.
6ix5ive6ix Records Company Logo
Former 656 Recording Artist
- Northern Lights Nation (2014 - 2017)
- Cam Carl Productions (2014 - 2017)
- GA $outh (2014 - 2020)
- HVZE (2015 - 2020)
- FLAWD aka Mateo Tha Monster (2015 - 2020)
- Dilyrium (2017 - 2020)
- Brodie James (2017 - 2020)
- Tommie Trichomes (2018 - 2020)
- Jibba The Gent (2018 - 2020)
- Boizee (2019 - 2020)
656 Management / 6ix:56 Management
- Tommie Trichomes (2020 - Present)
- Dilyrium (2020 - 2023)
- Spacey Jones (2021 - Present)
- Dylan Kartoon (2021 - Present)
- DJ Hudspin (2020 - Present)
- The 6ix (2021 - Present)
- IllIjah (2019 - 2020)
NLN Logo[]
Community Influence[]
Get Filthy Foundation[]
In 2014, Northern Lights Nation worked with the Get Filthy Foundation on the Moore Street Park Project in Waterville, Maine.
Charity Shows[]
NLN has performed at charity shows for good causes.
Discography[]
Albums[]
- Smokin Again (2010)
- The Diary of Santa Marta (2011)
- Filth (2015)
- Last 2 Toast (Unreleased 2017)
- The Best Of Northern Lights Nation (TBD)
Reissue[]
- Smokin Again Re Hashed (2013)
- The Diary Of Santa Marta Re-mastered (2015)
- The Harvest Vol. III Amazon Special Edition (2016)
Mixtapes[]
- The Harvest Vol. 1 (2010)
- The Harvest Vol. 2 (2011)
- Raw and Uncut (2013)
- The Harvest Vol. III (2014)
- Raw & Uncut 2 (2017)
Singles[]
- My Life
- We Shine
- NL Music III
- Glory & Fame (feat GA $outh)
- You Don't Know Me
- F**k Northern Lights
- Everyday ft. Bizzy Bone (2023)
Live Performance[]
NLN has done Shows with the following National Acts
- Tech N9ne
- Krizz Kaliko
- Method Man & Redman
- B-Real of Cypress Hill
- Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
- Madchild of Swollen Members
- Slaine of La Coka Nostra (x2)
- The Dirtball of The KottonMouth Kings
- DJ Bobby B formerly of The KottonMouth Kings
- Styles P of The Lox
- Juvenile
- Twista
- Cory Gunz
- Cappadonna of The Wu-Tang Clan (x2)
- Nappy Roots
- Cassidy
- R.A. The Rugged Man (x2)
- Troy Ave
- Cold 187um of Above The Law
- Pony Boy of Los Marijuanos (x2)
- Young Dirty Bastard
- Marlon Asher The Ganja Farmer (x3)
- Afroman
- Dinko D
- Adlib
- Token (x2)
- Joyner Lucas (x2)
