Rich Winter
May 3, 2006
Rosebud native Gabe Night Shield’s single “Anything You Want” has been nominated for Best Hip-Hop/R&B Recording by the eighth annual Native American Music Awards. The nomination marks the second time Night Shield has been nominated for the prestigious award.
Night Shield manages another South Dakota artist, “Maniac The Siouxpernatural” who also earned a NAMMY nomination for his March 2005 debut album, “Nightmerika.” Night Shield said it was gratifying to be nominated for the second consecutive year. “It’s great to be nominated as an artist, I almost get more satisfaction from seeing the artist I manage get nominated.”
The Nammys will be held in Hollywood Florida in June, and Night Shield said the public will have a say in the voting process. He says locals can vote by logging onto this site. www.nammys.com.
Night Shield is a 1997 graduate of St. Francis High School, and got started in the music business by deejaying while he was in high school. He continued his musical career in college, receiving an Associates degree in Audio Production from the Art Institute of Seattle.
Night Shield said a teacher at St. Francis lent him the money to get started in his recording business. He said his music took him down his current path, “We just got started recording songs. We didn’t have anything to do with them, and one CD turned into two.”
Night Shield said artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, old Motown, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the late Tupac Shakur inspired his music. His lyrics come from personal experiences, “My lyrics are self expression, they come from real life experiences and are pretty personal. My lyrics are how I vent and get things off my chest.”
Night Shield said Native American Hip-Hop and Rap is growing across the state of South Dakota, “There are not a lot of people in South Dakota doing Hip-Hop. In the five or six years that I have been in the business, the scene has grown 1000 percent.”
Night Shield lives in Sioux Falls now, but comes home often to perform in Valentine and White River. He encourages young people interested I music to follow their dreams, then go for it, the only one stopping you is you.”
Besides working on a new album, Night Shield is also executive producing Maniac’s next time album, “Paranormal the War Within.” He will soon be touring through Arizona and New Mexico with a final show being performed at the Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Night Shield also works as a model for Rez Gear Clothing and has been featured on the South Dakota Public Broadcasting Station on their Dakota Life show with apiece entitled, “King of the 605.”
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