TJF Interview with North Side Ninjaz

TJF: What’s the origin of the group name?

NSN: NSN stands for North Side Ninjaz, In 2003 we got into a lot of beef with another local group who will remain anonymous, This was basically a Juggalo Gang War, there was a stabbing , cars were being demolished, one of our group member InfraRed Jonez went to jail for the stabbing, we were always waiting for something fucking crazy to happen. It was a really crazy time and were all glad that parts over.

TJF: What are your guy’s name’s individually?

NSN: Hex, InfraRed Jonez and Steve-O (R.I.P.)

TJF: Who are your major influences?

NSN: Well…Of course all of Psychopathic,Tech N9ne, King Gordy, Bone Thugs, Ill Bill as well as all of LCN, Necro, Mr. Hyde pretty much all the “Death Rap” crew, the Beat Nuts and a lot of other Hip Hop as well. I don’t discriminate on music….As long as its good, Mother Fuck the Radio!!!!

TJF: How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?

NSN: We have known each other since 2000, since High School and best believe we was high. We all met Steve-O in 2003.

TJF: When did you form your group? What inspired you to make music together?

NSN: Well shit…. we started NSN as a musical group in January 2009. It was originally Hex and Steve-O, InfraRed Jonez started doin stuff with us in March of that year. Its hard to think it’s only been 2 years, we’ve gotten so far and accomplished so much in a short time frame it trips me out.

TJF: Do you have a record label? Are you a member of any music organizations?

NSN: You know we actually don’t have a label, We’ve thought about starting one several times, but we just don’t have time, we barely have enough time for ourselves, let alone enough to manage some other groups but, we hope that changes someday. And are we a member of any organizations? Not really we are members of a side group called the R.Y.M. KREW( Rape Your Mother Krew) who also features Gritty and Flip and has opened for ICP in Farmington New Mexico and have recorded with King Gordy but, beyond that we’ve worked with Strong Survives Promotions (Scum and Troll) with booking but nothing outside that.

TJF: What can you tell me about your mixes and beats? (Who does em, what program you use, etc)

NSN: SHIT…We have a huge variation in were we get beats, Some are produced by Hex, we have production from OTIS of AMB, we have several from Big Fiasco ( LSP’s Producer) aswell as some beats by Gritty.

TJF: Your myspace shows you’ve opened up for quite a few people, Who’d you like opening for the most? Any good stories about them?

NSN: We have opened up for a lot of groups including all my musical Heroes i.e. all of Psychopathic Records minus Boondox, Dayton Family and our friends AMB. I would have to say my favorite is going to be a three way tie from when we opened for the New Mexico stop of ICPs Happy Daze tour, Twiztids World of Webs tour and the first time we opened for King Gordy on his Horror Show tour. A good story huh…Well when King Gordy was in town we went to the studio to record together that motherfucker showed up with the biggest bottle of Liquid Weed Ive ever seen at that time I hadn’t ever seen it, heard of it or tried it, not to mention the fact we had to have smoke like 5 chronic blunts, i was so damn high i could barely record..he seemed fine. Then the next day was the day of the show he came over we had a shit ton of bomb ass ribs got high as fuck and rocked the fuck outta that show…the very next day my house burned down…Wow that’s not a very funny ending but, that’s how it went down.

TJF: Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any covers? Do you have a set play list?

NSN: We dont have a set playlist, right now were playing a lot of our new album Hara Kiri Vol 1 which features tracks with Otis and King Gordy, However we usually always play “What U Gonna Do 2″, “Brain Splatta” and “Get the Fuck Up”. As for covers at the time we dont have any were currently working on a couple classic rock tracks that were gonna murder such as Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil.

TJF: Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs?

NSN: Both of us are highly involved in the creative process of our music we both write for ourselves as well as help each other out from time to time. As this is Wicked Shit, Horrorore or whatever you feel like calling it today our topics are dark and brutal of course murder is always a fun topic and since were the North Side Ninjaz we do a damn good ninja rap but, we have a large variety in topics keep an eye out for the next album which is going to be a solo EP from Hex entitled HEX RATED and is rumored(by me) to have a sneak peak at a track were currently working on with Hopsin.

TJF: Could you briefly describe your music-making process?

NSN: Blunts, Beer, Pen, Pad and a Beat…Is that brief enough for you?

TJF: How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

NSN: HA!! When we started we had no clue what the fuck we were doing I didnt even know what a bar was, we didn’t really have subjects….Now it’s a pretty in depth process from beats to lyrics theres a lot more though and effort put into everything we do. Its all I think about.

TJF: What has been your biggest challenge as a group? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

NSN: Damn…Well as I mentioned at the start of this interview we used to be three members strong well on 09/03/09 the funniest, happiest, coolest, most down person and rapper Ive ever known Steve-O died he was just 21 and his life was just really starting and our group was just really starting. It was tragic and devastating I couldn’t believe it I couldnt go on with my day to day life at times, I stopped going to work It was hard for me to even think about our music at that time but, on the same note Steve-O loved music and would have never wanted NSN to stop. During this time InfraRed Jonez had recorded two tracks with us( 1. 719 to the 303 ft OTIS, 2. F.U.C.K.E.N. CRAZY) and was mainly our hype man. We both knew we couldnt just stop and let the dream die thats not what Steve-O would have wanted so Mr. Jonez stepped up in a huge way and started killen and fucken rapping tracks and shows, we;ve never stopped. Its weird if you look at pics of us on stage a lot of the time theres an orb in between me and Mr. Jonez, no shit. Thats why the Steve-O chants break out at our shows.

TJF: What’s your ultimate direction for your group?

NSN: PSY BABY!!!!!! We wont settle for less.

TJF: What advice do you have for people who want to form their own group?

NSN: Don’t stop, Reach for your dreams at all costs, Stay open to criticism, Be real and watch the haters hate.

TJF: Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge for offering support?

NSN: Hex would like to thank Brittany Dean you are my world girl love ya, My Daughter Zoey I love you princess, InfraRed Jonez would like to thank Jana Umland and your mom for the fun time last night, NSN would like to thank Steve-O, Jana, Pete, Emma, Soraya, Big T, Otis, Bonez Dubb,Gritty, Flip, Adam Anthraxe, Magick, J-Dirty and Trox, King Gordy, Jason Porter, Black Pegasus, Luni Spade, Scum, Troll, Blizz, J-Dawg,all the Juggalos, what ever higher power is out there much luv and shout outs to any mofo who ever bought a ticket a cd or some merch, We love you all and we would have never done it without you so Props.

TJF: How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?

NSN: Our webmaster is currently building our site it will be up soon…hopefully www.NorthSideNinjaz.com but for now there’s tracks up on myspace.com/NorthSideNinjaz and facebook.com/NorthSideNinjaz you can hit us up on either page and we can do some paypal.

TJF: Any last words?

NSN: # YEAH! Stay tuned to our pages in the next few weeks we will post a snippet of a new track Murder Spree ft HOPSIN @NorthSideNinjaz also our track with King Gordy is up on the Myspace. Check out our youtube page www.youtube.com/NorthSideNinjaz there’s live footage of opening for ICP as well as Twitid and several other shows.