Inside The Mind FACE2FACE: NSGTS

Photos by @jalealpsm

When the sounds of Jay-Z’s “Izzo” spliced over an angelic selection of piano chords first hit my ears, I knew Ricky Taylor was a precise craftsman behind the keys. As a hip hop producer and certified crate digger, @nsgts has both his eyes and ears finely tuned when scouring the internet and record shops, thumbing through dusty crates of hidden gems in pursuit of the perfect sample. He is a student of the game who lights up with passion when discussing his favorite musicians. “They say when you listen to music your heartbeat connects to the drum.”

Ricky Taylor has a flair for the old school and the analog, a sharp swordsman with both a 404 MKII and a laptop. “The machine, getting on that is like home right there, just comfortable.” Music had been intertwined with him for as long as he can remember, whether it be banging on the drums in his grandfather’s church as a child, playing around with the vinyl on his uncle’s turntable, or even collaging together beats on the underrated PS1 classic MTV Music Generator.

When we linked up at the River Park Arts Center in tow were his “arsenal of weapons”, an MPC Sample, a speaker, laptop, and a backpack full of records ranging from Aretha Franklin to the Gap Band. He was ready to go to work. We took a minute to step Inside the Mind of a South Bend artist bringing his own sound to the 574 rap scene, a man who does it purely for the love of the game.

“Our heart is a walking beat, I hope my beat goes crazy.”

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SOURCE: Take me through the meaning of NSGTS?

NSGTS: It came from me just being a fan of Dom Kennedy and his Westside get the money. So I was like 'Northside get the money' because I was heavy on Game of Thrones too, but that's another conversation. [laughs] A lot of the homies got different acronyms of what it means for them, like for me it's just Never Stop Getting The Sounds. And then Never Stop Going To Shine, letting your light shine. It's just like different acronyms but that's really where it came from and then it stuck.

SOURCE: What is your earliest creative memory?

NSGTS: I would say definitely being a kid playing on the drums, being around records as a young kid, my uncle was DJing and he had the vinyls, the real turntables and all that. And the PlayStation One had the 'music generation' or something like that which was a game to make beats. I think Terrible Tony has it right now, I donated it to bro at the studio. [laughs] So at a young age I think that's where it really started, seeing drums in the church and playing them and then gradually getting older and hearing all the different music as a kid.

SOURCE: Would you say that is when you first wanted to become a musician?

NSGTS: I would say yeah, but at the same time as a kid I wanted to be a basketball player. You know how they say kids grew up in the state of Indiana with a ball in their hand, like I almost had a drumstick in my hand being in church and being around drums. I taught myself how to play. My grandpa was a pastor, and I remember stories of my family telling me I was in his church and people tell him "Get that baby off the drums" and he'd be like "No let him stay".

The athlete mentality I think goes right into my workflow being a creator, beat maker, and producer because I'm consistently wanting to get better at the craft. You see others every day on social media doing it and it's like I'm not even really competing with nobody I'm just competing with myself in the mirror. I don't care if nobody's gonna listen to it, I know the  fiancée's gonna listen to it, my brother and the homies.

SOURCE: How would you describe your style?

NSGTS: I would say my style is out of the pocket, it's not in the pocket, speaking from a drummer standpoint. But it's sometimes in the pocket cuz I dial it back in. I'm always listening to different producers or beatmakers so the ear's always working, I'm taking different ingredients. But I feel like my style is almost just tailored to me, almost a reference off my last name, like a tailor that do clothes, it's gonna be tailored for whoever I'm working with.

SOURCE: What drum machine do you use?

NSGTS: The first drum machine that I purchased that I use that I fell in love with was a Native Instruments, that was the first first first drum machine hands-on that I got. After that I got a 404 MKII when that dropped and then recently I just bought the Sample which that's been fun. I've been using Serato Studios Slab also, and there's some more stuff that I want but for right now I'd say that's been my arsenal and weapons of choice. The machine, getting on that is like home right there, just comfortable.

SOURCE: DAW (digital audio workstation) vs. drum machine?

NSGTS: The first DAW I actually bought was Reason, I don't use it that much, I really don't use it all but I will say the sounds on Reason were amazing when I first got it. I did mess with FL for a little bit but it really wasn't my thing, the timing and the workflow. With drum machines like with Native I like having the pads and creating my own swing or just adding some swing, whatever I'm feeling. Everyday can be different, it's like a puzzle, so I'm putting little pieces of the puzzle together. I might take something from a different beat and reuse it and smack it back on there with like a little bit of elbow grease and different ingredients. I know a lot of people use Ableton, that's like the next machine that I want to get to— the Move. Once I'm good with that like I'm good I have Ableton right there. But whatever you feel comfortable with, because I mean it's really about you; your process, your preference.

I know some people prefer the DAW, I know some people prefer a machine.. Me personally it's whatever you feel comfortable with, whatever gets the job done. I use Koala too, that's on my phone and iPad, I use that just to get some quick ideas if I'm feeling something and I got some samples already loaded up on files and drum breaks and chop it up right there on the phone. And then I would transfer that over to either Serato Studios or to the machine. But to me I just love diving into both, the laptop and the machine.

SOURCE: What is your thoughts on analog music making?

NSGTS: We're going in different times, you got analog you got AI. I've had multiple people tell me like, "you know when you put your beats up there on IG or whatever you're feeding it to the AI." The times that we live in is definitely scary. When it comes to samples I just sample from anywhere. And I've been seeing with splice lately they've been having some AI stuff. But Splice, Tracklib, or anywhere that has sample material— or a record, I dive into. But yeah I try to stay away from the AI ideas [laughs].

SOURCE: Who are your biggest influences and inspirations?

NSGTS: Man we can be here all day I take a lot of influences from everywhere, but some of the biggest of course is Dilla, Madlib, Alchemist, 40, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Chuck Inglish, Key Wane, Flying Lotus, Knxwledge, Dibiase, Kanye West. Man there's so many producers, even local producers here like you know I see their stuff and I'm like okay okay I need to get on my stuff, I need to get in the gym. $in, the homie. I could be here all day just naming producers. But a lot of those guys is like the pioneers of the sound, listening to those guys and taking how they will chop a sample or how they will loop a sample. The analog era was a time, I feel like that's where a lot of people got inspired from to be honest.

For me it's the love of the game. Michael Jordan had a book called For The Love of The Game and was one of my favorite books growing up, I used to read it all the time. We just had 404 Day in this facility and we had people for the love of the game like hop three hours from Detroit to just to come you know play beats bro, and that's the type of stuff that inspires me to keep going. That's one thing about the producer community, it don't matter how high up they are or how low they are to the underground, I feel like we all are connected. It's a bigger goal to inspire the youth or the next kid that's gonna hear a beat, no matter what the hottest song is or if they dive into some stuff from the 90s like some grimy Havoc Mobb Deep beats.

SOURCE: What do you consider the perfect sample?

NSGTS:  Man I'm still looking for the perfect sample, I haven't even found it. Because it's like every time you hear a sample it's like damn that's fire— then you hear another one and you get chills. It's a crazy feeling you almost feel in your soul. I told the  fiancée but I've never really told most people, I'm finna say it in an interview but I've had this feeling since I was a kid it don't matter what music or genre it is like if I feel it, it almost brings a tear to like I want to cry. I'm still searching for the perfect sample, it's just a feeling that it's hard to even explain.

SOURCE: Are you a crate digger?

NSGTS: I'm a big crate digger, I love it. That's almost the real true essence of hip hop, digging through and feeling the dust on those records in the record store, and like pulling out one that looks all disgusting by the cover but it can be like what you just said, that beautiful sample. Or you hear like a chord progression or you might hear some drums on a on a record and chop them up. Seeing my mom's records and her brother, and then my uncle's and my dad's you know just being around records and seeing that type of stuff, so yeah I'm a big record collector. But also like I said I'm on Splice and Tracklib, I'm on all the internet crate digging as you will call it. I'm on YouTube, I'm on anything that I can hear a sample that I can flip. I'm always listening.

SOURCE: What's your favorite song that you've produced?

NSGTS: I'm gonna do a top five because I do got some favorites.

5.) HellFraiser - Heyzeus, I just love seeing the energy when people perform, and when he performs that and seeing people go crazy. And the drums on that is kind of not your typical trap pattern so it's like an off-beat, so hearing people go crazy and hearing different drummers whoever's performing with him.

4.) Still - on this March Mayhem tape that we dropped a couple years ago with Cozy and blkk j.

3.) Park - Double A, the homie from 'Nap had me flip that and I just loved the old sample.

2.) Story of My Life - $in, that's up there.

1.) My Wife Likes to Rap Too - Heyzeus, because it's just such a chill beat. It's one of those beats where you can just like have it on loop all day.

That's one thing about the beauty of hip hop and producers; taking a song from a different genre and flipping it into a chill boom-bap rap song.

SOURCE: How do you view social media's role in the current state of music and marketing?

NSGTS: I view it as a good thing, I love it I don't hate, I know some people do. I love how a kid down the street can post something right now and you don't know it might go viral and can hit across the right person's phone and it could change that kid's life. You just don't know who's watching your stuff, for real for real. It's definitely different from back then like in the 90s they had street teams and ground running and it was outside and moving. And now you literally have a team that's just posting social media on the clock like "what time is the best time to reach your audience."

That's the way of the world now, the algorithm. You almost got to pay to play. I don't remember the industry crashing back then with like A&R's getting fired and all that, but now it's almost like what we were talking about earlier it's like the new blog era. I remember being in high school and going home and jumping on illroots and keeping up with 2DopeBoyz. And now you just can get on Instagram Twitch, Discord, Facebook, X, formerly known as Twitter [laughs], everybody's just working and being creative. One of my favorite things to do is just scrolling and finding new artists, producers, talent, it don't matter who it is. Everybody's content creating and I think it's fire, I don't know what my goddaughter or what my sons' will have or what's gonna be the new thing but I'm here for it though. I know some people hate it.

SOURCE: What is COLLECTIVE SOUNDS?

NSGTS: COLLECTIVE SOUNDS is a group of the homies here coming together and pushing each other in a different aspect and a different light where everybody can display and show their talent when it comes to art, music, rap, visuals, photos, clothes. We're taking it back to how it used to be; like a team, one unit moving us together like a brotherhood and sisterhood. Just inspiring others to show that it's love and people can come together and work. There's competition somewhat but at the end of the day we want to see each other shine. It's about just pushing each other and getting it out there and just moving as one. Bringing different sounds and blessing people's ears, for real.

SOURCE: What does South Bend mean to you?

NSGTS: South Bend means a lot to me. That's where I grew up and learned a lot, I graduated from high school here. I moved here very, very young from another city but South Bend has been everything. It's growing, the culture, the talent you know, it's home. It's been everything as far as like shaping me as a man and shaping my sound. Listening and hearing others, having trials and things happening. I remember first coming here as a kid and it's so different now, it's crazy how time flies and things change. South Bend then as a kid was still fire, there were probably those breaking the start. I just remember coming here as a kid with my mind blown going to like church musicals and hearing fire choirs and fire musicians and everyone was just in their bag killing. And then fast forward to now and everybody's killing.

It's like a scene here now you know, and this wasn't going on like this when I was in high school or even like in college but now the art scene is popping. You got all types of stuff happening; you got this venue doing stuff on the fly every day, you got the LangLab, you got different places or resources that you can go and create like at the library they got studios, you got the Dream Center, the Black (Charles Black Community Center) all different type of places. You can see the talent and what South Bend produced, South Bend is really everywhere like for real for real, and not just because of Notre Dame. I was in New York and ran into somebody from South Bend just randomly. Everybody's here in they bag, and it's all different types of walks of life and different bands here that are fire. I love South Bend and the music scene and where it's going, I'm happy to be a part.

SOURCE: Why is hip hop important to you?

NSGTS: It's the culture. Hip hop brings everything together, like how you see everything here on this table; you got Kenny G to Soul To Soul, to Aretha to the Gap Band to Funkadelic. Hip hop is a melting pot, and there's different genres within hip hop, there's so many different ecosystems. Hip hop was never dead, I don't even know if it was resting, it was always alive. This is a gospel church sample, and to turn that into this, THAT's hip hop.

SOURCE: What is the one album you can't live without?

NSGTS: Damn, there's so many. I'm on this island, no water, and I got to choose one album; I think I'm going with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "You ain't got no Yeezy in the Serato?" And with the movie that came with it somehow projecting off the ocean [laughs].

SOURCE: What is the one movie you can't live without?

NSGTS: My real friends they know it's two movies I can't live without; Rush Hour 2 and Harlem Nights. And Life. Those three and that album and I'm cool on the island [laughs].

SOURCE: What advice would you give your younger self or other young creatives?

NSGTS: I know everybody says this but don't let nobody discourage you or hold you back from getting your ideas out there. And always just go with your gut, for real. It's okay to have that plan B, but always go plan A, and then have that C back up. But don't hesitate, just keep going. There's always going to be days when the sun is going to shine and days when it's not, but then it came back out like it did today. And you're not too young and you're not too old. I want to inspire someone that's like 50 or 60, whoever.

the shout outs

Shout out to my fiancée, Rayanna. Shout out to all my brothers, my sister, my mom and dad. Shout out. Shout out to everyone doing their thing in the 574, keep it rocking in the free world. It's all love over here.

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