SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - While interviewing the Lakota rapper Gabriel Night Shield, I wrote down "censorship = castration?" as my next question. Before I could ask it Night Shield said "It's always bothered me; it seems like you had to fit a mold to be in Native hip-hop. It's lame. Why bother making music if you are just going to cut the balls off of it."

Night Shield, the CEO of his own record label, Night Shield Entertainment, has just released his first solo album "Kataztrophik." The album is a bold statement from one of the few unfettered voices coming out of Native culture today. The CD contains productions from Mr. D-Sane, Mobius Suntzu, Chad Sharp and Big Ice (Baby Bash) along with guest performers, including Haystak, Night Shield's group Triple Crown, label mate Cinatra, Young Nobles and Native rapper Shadowyze.

The CD offers a mix of classic tracks, including "Ride With Me" (with Shayla Day) which was a big hit in South Dakota and "Call Me a Savage" from the "Savage Alliance" compilation, along with new pieces. This is the fifth release from the label and Night Shield is already at work on new albums by both himself and Cinatra, plus an upcoming release by Maniac, a Native rapper from the Cheyenne River Reservation. Night Shield's website is also a major Native rap site that links to practically everyone involved with the movement.

Night Shield is one of the handful of Native rappers who is leading the pack, but he is not interested in promoting the positive, new age image of the Native American. Though he is hardly a thug, like a true warrior, he uses everything at his disposal to achieve his goal, whether it's four-letter words, the N-word, or just a flat out beat. "A lot of our popularity comes from the fact that we do keep it real, and we tell it how it is," Night Shield said. "It's not all pretty on the reservations, not everybody is sober and polite. We talk about what actually happens so people can relate to what we are talking about. This is shaping up to be our best selling album, we have sold over 2000 CDs and it's only been out a little over two months."

Thought he was born on the Rosebud reservation in 1979, Night Shield was raised in Boston from the time he was two years old until he was twelve. "I moved back to the rez when I was entering 7th grade, so I knew there was more out there than just the rez. Rap was an escape from what was actually going on, and I was into writing stories too. My mom was always heavy into music and I was into her music, like Prince and the Eagles, I had an eclectic musical upbringing," Night Shield laughed. "I had always listened to the words of songs, and I never thought it was too different from what was going on out here. When I first moved back to the Rez everybody was into Guns N'Roses and hard rock. When I first got there Dr. Dre released "The Cronic," and everybody went from being cowboys and having mullets to suddenly being gangstas, wearing baggy pants and stuff. It was funny because one day this dude would be a cowboy and the next day he would be rollin' in with a completely different outfit, down with stuff. I started listening to Geto Boyz, Snoop Dogg and 2Pac, it became the main music I was listening to; all the other genres fell to the ground after that. I fell in love with the many different aspects of hip hop; you could be an MC or a DJ, which I did when I was first starting out, or the break dancers, the dudes into the graffiti; it was a whole culture."

While studying audio engineering at the Art Institute of Seattle he continually had to record music as part of his music class. While there, he discovered that a lot of his fellow students were recording their own rap albums rather than going out and finding a band to record their music. >From this experience Night Shield began experimenting with rapping. "I remember literally waking up one morning after I moved back to the rez, I though 'man, what am I doing? I'm just going to make a compilation album. I just hit up a lot of people I knew from college, and after that it evolved into what we are doing now, and it just got bigger and bigger. After we finished the first album there was still a lot of stuff that we wanted to do. We kept working and working, and I finally got comfortable enough to make my own CD. When I started out I didn't think I was strong enough to carry a whole album by myself, but I've grown."

Night Shield has been criticized for his lack of restraint in his lyrics, but he doesn't see any reason for Natives to have to censor themselves, especially when looking at the rap world today "Everyone expects you to be a role model, and in a way you are, but we did a show in South Dakota for a youth day and we went out to a bar afterwards, hangin' out and having a good time, and a couple of the parents came up and asked us what we were doing in there. I said 'what? We're having a good time, just like you.' And they said 'But you guys are suppose to be role models, you were rappin' to our kids earlier.' I said 'But they're YOUR kids, what are YOU doing in here? You should be at home with them.' I see it as I lead by example, but I don't get that whole thing where Native hip-hop is where you either don't drink, or smoke, or swear, or if you do everything else is terrible. There is a middle road you can walk. I'm not a raging alcoholic, which I think is pretty evident."