We recently connected with Nikko Salvador and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nikko, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
At first I wanted to pursue becoming a professional musician because music is what I love, and I figured with consistent hard work, experience, and networking, I could earn alot of money and gain notoriety doing what I love to do. But as of now, I have realized that I do what I do because music, drumming, producing, etc., is actually a gift given to me by God. It’s something that I’ve realized that I have to steward, in order to fulfill my purpose, that helps fulfill a much bigger purpose. Of course, theres nothing wrong with earning a lot of money and gaining popularity (I strive to one day only work as a full time musician/ producer. Earning a lot of money equals getting the opportunity to bless, give, and pour into other people. Gaining popularity equals getting the opportunity to meet more people and to share the message out to the rest of the world.) But, I just try to remember that it’s not about me at the end of the day. God could take my gift away just as easily as He gave it to me.
Nikko, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a musician who plays the drums and makes beats. I play jazz, funk, pop, rock, worship music, whatever. I record in the studio for artists and other musicians. My producer name is Nikko Angelo. I make beats that sound like LA, the Bay, New York, etc. I make beats that have dope samples in them. And I like to make beat videos on my TikTok to share to the world. As a producer I have 2 projects out with my brother Caleb Lombard, who is a dope rapper/ producer/ entrepreneur. The projects are called MindFunk and MindFunk 2. As a drummer, I have had the privilege to play with many great artists and record professionally with many great artists. One interesting and fun project that I was just a part of was my brother DanMichael Reyes’ film score for the recent short film “Good Bad Luck.” I literally just recorded on a snare and crash cymbal with brushes. I thank God for these experiences and my mentors such as Neal Smith, the late great Ralph Peterson Jr., and Gary Stanionis. Other than that, I am a husband, soon to be father, and I love going and serving at my church. I love studying the Bible and sharing the gospel in any opportunity I get. For me, I can be of any service musically. I am available to do the job, and to do it great. If you need me to record a 4 bar groove on just a bass drum, snare and hi hat, then I’ll do it. If you need me for a gig, then I’ll be there for the rehearsal and the performance on time and professionally prepared. And for the the right price, if you need a certain kind of beat, then I’ll make it.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I still don’t have all the answers for building a bigger audience on social media. I only have around 400 or some followers on my tiktok lol. There are many things that you have to be aware of just to post a short video that you probably worked hours on. The caption of the video, the words in the video thumbnail, the hashtags, the time and day that you post, the amount of times you post in one day, the algorithm. For me, I just tried to post as much as I can. One of my most viewed videos that brought me the most comments, likes, and follows that I have ever had in my social media life was a beat that sampled a Shakira song called Obtener Un Si. I had no idea that it would blow up like that. But…..after that video, all my others posts only got about 100-400 views with little to no comments or likes. Really not sure at the end of the day. What I will say is, just be consistent, post as much as you can, but don’t beat yourself up too much about it if you don’t post for one or two days. I understand that we have to look at ourselves as a business or a product (which is a great motivational perspective of yourself if you’re doing this social media game) but you are also human. Let’s all help each other get to 1M followers!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Ultimately my creative journey is driven by the Lord. My purpose has to do with people, sharing the gospel, and making disciples for Jesus. That’s really the true goal. But in that journey, my goal is just to love, support, encourage, and pour into people as much as I can. Music is so powerful because it can change a person’s day in an amount of 2-5 minutes. It really is something that heals people. Art Blakey said that “music washes away the dust of everyday life.” (I had to google that by the way, because I wanted to get the exact words lol…). I hope that my music, or me playing drums in church, in a recording session, a live performance, and just me being available can help people out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/nikkoangelo
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkoangelomuzik/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nikkoangelomuzik