Native Music
by Linda Clark
One Savage Native:
The Night Shield Interview
M
The Man
an, I
thought I
Gabriel Night Shield, along with his
was gonna younger brother, was raised on the
Rosebud Sioux Reservation in St.
die earFrancis, SD. My first impression while
lier,” was
chatting with him on the phone? After
one of the first things Night the initial comment about the near
death experience, he seemed reserved,
Shield said as we began
very much in a down-to-business type
our phone interview this
mood . . . a testimony to the hard work
and dedication it must take to be an
past December. As it turns
artist, promoter, and entrepreneur at a
out, he had just battled the
young age. In addition to holding the
weather conditions driving
South Dakota rap game down, he also
does the 9 to 5, taking care of business
from the east end of South
as an account collector for an internaDakota to the west. I caught tional bank.
up with him after he settled
Soon after he graduated from college in
into the hotel he booked
Seattle, Washington, he returned home
while attending the Lakota
to South Dakota and formed his own
Nation Invitational in Rapid company, Night Shield Entertainment.
Although the creativity started long
City, SD.
before, N.S.E. released their first album,
(Photo Courtesy NSE)
www.redhoneymag.net
The Nation, in 2001. Another compilation followed and it wasn’t until 2004
when Night Shield dropped his first solo
album (Kataztrophik) followed by his
latest release, Savage Display: The Total
Package.
Okay, so now that we have that
semi-formal introduction out of the
way, let’s focus on the music. And to
quote Mr. Nightshizzle himself: “You
got two ears and one mouth . . . that
means you gotta listen twice as much as
you speak.”
The Music
While at college in Seattle, he linked
up with some other artists. “They were
like hey why don’t you try it?,” he says
of his first time rapping. “I did and it
was alright, I loved it. One thing lead to
another and Triple Crown was formed
along with Overflow and Cinatra.” He
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