Sioux Falls - Night Shield Entertainment recently named a local man as vice president and released its first album.

Gabriel Night Shield, a St. Francis native and son of Linda and Anthony Good Buffalo, is owner and founder of Night Shield Entertainment. He is executive producer of "The Nation" a compilation rap and R&B album officially released on May 29th.

Night Shield also selected his long time friend, Wizipan Garriott, to be vice president of his company.

"Wizi has been one of my best friends for a long time, and now that Night Shield Entertainment is getting to be more work than just one person can handle he was the obvious choice for me." Night Shield said.

Garriott, 21 and Night Shield, 22, are both graduates of St. Francis Indian School. Night Shield graduated in 1999 from The Art Institute Of Seattle where he majored in Audio Production.

Garriott, a son of Elizabeth Little Elk and Charlie Garriott, from Grass Mountain, is presently home for the summer from Yale University where he is a junior majoring in American Studies. He intends to enter law school after graduation.

As vice president, Garriott will assist with promotion and share responsibility with Night Shield for Marketing and distribution, talent evaluation and music selection.

"The Nation" was co-produced by Jagger Gestson and David Lee, Featured artists are Night Shield, Triple Crown, Brikyard Dereliks, Shay'la Day, S.C.U.M., Overflow, The Jihad, 2 8 Tha Native, Cinista Cin'Natra, Lysergik & SiK, Silver Shadow D, Redd Reign & Psycomatic. They originate from Rosebud, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York, Eugene, OR, Charlotte, NC, and Macon, GA as well as Canada and Germany.

Night Shield was excited to see the end product after a year of hard work. "When I first got the CD's back and saw the boxes of CD's it was weird," he said.

Gabe was back home in St. Francis a couple of weeks ago right after the CD first came out. He gave away several copies of the album to friends for promotional purposes. I was walking around and would hear people who didn't know who I was listening to my CD. It was pretty cool, pretty fun." he said.

So far, about 100 copies of the album have sold. The CD sells for $12 and is available locally at Starlite Gift and Flowers and the Sinte Gleska University bookstore in Mission, and All-Stop in Rosebud. It is also available in Rapid City at Prairie Edge and Sound Bytes, and at several Sioux Falls stores.

The first solo artist release on the Night Shield Entertainment record label is due out in early fall, and a second compilation album is expected by the end of the year.

The recording company is currently looking for a distributor for their music.

"It's a lot of work, but if you like it, It's not work" Night Shield said.