Photos and interview by Marcus Waldron

How would you say you got into rapping or producing or whichever came first?
Niontay: Rapping came first for sure. I was in trouble, bro. I ain’t going to lie. I just started writing poetry on some bored shit and then once I realized I was pretty okay at poetry, I was like, all right, I’m gonna rap. That’s really how it started for me. It wasn’t like no dream, nobody I seen doing it around me. Just a lot of boredom.
454: I started rapping first. My family always loved music, so naturally me and my younger sister Pig (Pig the Gemini) gravitated towards whatever was played. I realized later on I loved production more than lyrics.

What about recording? When did you first start doing that or how did you start doing that?
N: Low key, my mama had this work computer she just gave to me because she got a new one. I was like 15 or 16. You remember Mixcraft? I was just recording myself on Mixcraft. She had bought me a snowball mic for my birthday, and I’d just get Joey Bada$$ type beats off YouTube, put ‘em in Mixcraft, write to it, and then record myself.
454: Me and Pig recorded our first vocal track on a toy cassette player in elementary school. It really wasn’t until middle school we started to take it more seriously. We found a usb trucker headset around the house and began recording on our laptop then, this was early 2009.

When did you start skating? How?
N: I got into skating because my big cousin Marquise. I was like seven or eight. I was in Florida, but I used to visit Milwaukee. My father had visitation, so I used to go to my pop’s area. I was between both but I started skating for real in Florida because my big cousin Marquise is in Florida. I met this nigga (454) by the way, I was like eight or nine in Orlando, through skateboarding.
454: I got into skating the summer of 2007, we just had moved out the bricks into our first home. My cousin had an old school board laying around so I took it out one day, saw some kids skating a quarter pipe, and asked if I could drop in. I tried, slipped out, and never stopped skating since!

What brought you to New York?
N: I was coming up here to skate, just chill with the homies for a week or two, but then some modeling shit popped up. Like an opportunity for me to stay here because of modeling shit. So I just took it.
454: Skateboarding was definitely a big factor. I always loved New York. I came to NYC in 2015 for the first time, and it felt like the best city on earth. At the time I decided I wasn’t going to college, so me and my friends had a plan to move up and sign a six month lease, but I ended up never leaving the city. The difference is skating in NYC is a lil bit more blown out, parks are busy, and it can be difficult to film at spots. I had to adjust to the pace out here for sure. Florida is a lil bit more calm and spread out, but also a smaller community of skaters.

Niontay, your new album Fada<3of$ just dropped, you did a little tour, right? How was that? Where did you go?
N: Yeah, I was supporting MIKE on the “Artist of the Century” tour, Philly down to Florida. I did the first 10 days. It was a fun run. It was our first time going to Florida on the run. It was lot of the guys first time in Florida. The album wasn’t even out when I was on tour for real. It came out my last two days on tour.

What’s one of the coolest spots you’ve been to through music or touring?
N: Portugal, I mean anywhere across the pond is insane. I mean, bro, music can take you that far. Portugal, for real. That’s where I spent the most time, besides London, actually staying somewhere, and being around the people from there.
454: One of the coolest would definitely have to be Guatemala. I saw a volcano for the first time. It was mind blowing.

Do you think skating has influenced your music?
N: Hell yeah bro. Because if I never got into skateboarding at the age I did, I wouldn’t have an appreciation for the music that I do. I’d think rock and roll is some white people shit, like turn that white people shit off. But growing up skating, Tony Hawk games, and shit, just being at the skate park you get exposed to these different sounds. If I ain’t had that, I’d be a different type of nigga, musically. I used to have a Jimi Hendrix ringtone, like fifth grade. Niggas used to make fun of me like, “that’s white people’s shit”. I’m like bro, this is a nigga. Jimi Hendrix is black. What the fuck?
454: 100% skating always elevated my music taste well before I even started to make music.

You ever try to get sponsored? Like hit people up, or try to make a video, or some shit?
N: No, I ain’t never hit nobody up. I tried to be in my mind like, we finna get a sponsor. That shit died down quick. Fuck that, too much rap money on the floor.
454: I filmed my first video part with Kevin Perez when I was 13, from then it’s probably about eight or nine parts we put out on YouTube between my brothers Tommy and Kev! At one point I was getting rep flow for Supra and DGK but didn’t go further than that. It was kind of hard to get seen in Florida unless you were killing contests.

When you go on tour do you bring your board with you?
N: Shit I bring my board but niggas don’t really be skating like that. (Points to 454) Y’all look like y’all skating every day, but you had time.
454: A little bit. Yeah, for sure.
N: I be trying to skate. Me and Will done caught a few parks before. We caught some crazy shit in Iowa. Iowa or something, Idaho? That park so hard bro. It be kind of hard to skate the way you want to, cause you’re on a whole musical tour. I definitely bring my board though, just in case.

Do you feel like the music industry and the skate industry are similar? Or how do you feel they’re different?
N: To be honest bro, I wouldn’t know because I’m new to this rap shit and I don’t know nothing about no skating industry shit. But just as far as what I can see, it is similar pockets of it that you could say are the same. The politics. I’m not going to lie, it be a lot of wave riding going on. Not to just point out the negative shit, but if you’re talking about industry it ain’t really too much positive that come with that. It’s a bunch of oversaturation in both worlds for real.
454: I am relatively new in the music industry but one consistent similarity I’ve noticed between both industries is that the more clout you have, the higher the probability of you becoming “someone” in that industry. Which has a lot to due with social media. I think that it ends up overshadowing a lot of raw talent on both spectrums.

Who were some of your favorite skaters growing up or heads you’d watch?
N: No cap. I ain’t saying this just because this nigga right here, but (454) kind of the reason I got back into skateboarding, because I stopped for a minute. Then my cousin Marquis came back around, and he just pulled up a video. He’s like bro watch this part, and it was one of (454’s) older parts bro. And I’m like, this Willie? I’m like bro, this nigga done got tall and skinny. This nigga riffing bro. What the fuck? That shit had me like damn bro I should have kept skating this whole time. My nigga done got raw as hell. That really got me back into skating, that and seeing Nak’s shit here and there, and Tyshawn Jones.
454: I got introduced to Baker when I met friends later on but within that first year of skating I was watching Daewon Song and Rodney Mullen and shit. Yeah all the GOATS, all the pioneers. There’s so many layers though. And then when I started skating, skating, it was like Baker, Antwuan, Stevie (Williams). I seen the It’s Official video. Yeah, that was that.
N: Stevie Williams was the reason I started skating initially, as a jit. Stevie. As I got older I fucked with Lavar McBride and shit, the OGs.

Do you like making music at home or in the studio more?
N: At the crib for the most part. I’ve been in the studios more lately, just gotta treat it like the crib. Just better equipment.
454: At home. Studios are hard. I take too much time with the music. I’m not quick with it.
N: Man, I be doing weird shit, you know what I’m saying? I might do a weird ass adlib, I want to be by myself.

When was your first tour, or big performance, and what was it like? How does it compare to your latest tour with Denzel?
454: My first tour was with Amine, in 2022. It started in February and went through the end of March and up until that point I only had played two shows. I was shook to play that first one in front of 2,000 people. Since then I’ve done about five tours, the tour with Denzel was the biggest tour yet. They were all life changing but this one added a new chapter for sure.
N: 2022 I think. It was with MIKE and Sideshow.

Is there anything you’d do to help you just when you’re not feeling motivated?
N: Skateboard. I swear to God. Skate, talk to my mama… I ain’t going to lie, I love this shit bro. I’ll be doing this shit til I’m an old ass nigga. I don’t got no intention to going pro or nothing. I just love doing this shit. It puts me at ease.
454:I usually bounce in between skating if I’m not feeling music, or music if I’m not feeling it to skate. If it’s neither, then it’s time to hit the books.

Got anything you’ve been working on recently? Anything coming up you want people to know about?
454: It’s summer now so we’ve been out skating trying to start another video. Always back and forth working on multiple projects but I’m hoping to finish up soon. All mostly production based. Really trying to stay busy, pushing towards the next album. Keep an eye out for that.
N: I got a New York show July 26th, and a LA show, July 27th.