Mainez delves on his musical influences, creative tastes & latest project “New Wave” EP
Great to have you on Xttrawave. Please, introduce yourself.
Thanks for having me xttrawave. I go by Mainez and first off for the slow people out there you pronounce it like, Maine’s, and not ,Main’es, so let’s start with that. It’s really not a special meaning behind it. Just when I was younger a nickname people had for me was maine and I would call myself mainez cause I thought it sounded cooler honestly. Also I’m from baltimore, md and lived there my whole life.
What got you into music and made you realize that it was your chosen path?
I started making music back in 2016 and what made me wanna do it was how music had changed around that type and how all the people coming up were basically kids around my age. You know music in the 90’s and early 2000’ was more so gangster rap, trap music and just songs stuff like that. I was a little kid at the time plus I wasn’t into stuff like that and never killed anyone so I never saw music as a thing I could or would do. I was just mainly focused on the school route and eventually making monet that way. Next thing you know though that SoundCloud era of rap comes along and you see guys in there early 20s and even as teens start to come up in rap and making a name for themselves. For me thought I was just more than just the money, it was what came with doing music, like the influence and stuff like that when you reach a certain position. So I always did well in school and know I’m pretty smart, so it turned into one of those things where it’s like hey if they can do it then I damn sure know I can do it.
Tell us about your new music? And what’s the story behind it?
The newest EP I dropped is called ‘New Wave” and the reason I called that was basically because it was me trying some new things out. New beats, new flows, and just a general new vibe. I didn’t change anything to make me sound like someone else, I’m real big one being yourself, it was just I know where I’m at in music compared to where I was at back in 2016.
What makes your music unique? How would you describe it?
I think what makes my music unique is how’s it’s just a mix of a lot of things that I like. I’m only 26 so like I said earlier, growing up the music that was mainly played around me, because it was the main thing being played, was gangsta rap, club music, trap music, couple R&B type songs etc. was all that I really heard. Like back when I was in middle school school all I listened to was Gucci mane. Imagine a lil kid in middle school just listening to trap music. Songs talking about selling bricks, fucking bitches shit like that but at the same time wanting to be a neurologist. My father use to be a big time drug dealer too back then but got locked up so I was raised just by my mother and grandmother at the time too so that might play a role in it now that I think about it. I never rap about stuff like that because I never did none of that shit plus I don’t wanna encourage no shit like that cause we already see where that got the black community at. When I was younger even back in high school I wore a lot of fly shit like designer clothes and stuff like that. So mainly my music is a mix of talkin bout fashion, diamonds, and shit like that but also a lot about changing the mindset of black people due to living in a single parent home, some of the struggles I had to face, and just where black people are right now knowing that we can be better with the proper resources and seeing that the people who DO have access to those resources are selfish and fake pretend to want to do something about it. Shit like that annoys me and is a big big big driving force in my music. As far as a genre goes I honestly can’t tell you lol. Like it’s so much of a mix of things idk where or what people would call it. I just like to have fun wit my music that’s it’s.
Who are your biggest musical influences? And any particular artist/band you would like to collaborate with in the future?
Like I said earlier im big on being yourself and showing people that if you just be yourself you can make it further in life than copying. I can say though in those early days A$AP Rocky DID inspire me in the beginning. He’s one of my favorite rappers because I feel like he’s one of the ones I can identify with the most. I wasn’t born when pac was around and even though he’s a rapper that really had the same mindset as me and motivation as me I wasn’t born yet when he was alive so I couldn’t really experience what he was like you feel me? With Rocky though the doesn’t really rap that tuff guy shit, knows how to dress, and to me isn’t corny and knows how to be himself. Plus he’s only a few years older than me. So he’s one of those people I could really identify and relate too. So when I first started rapping I guess you could say he helped me realize it’s ok to talk about fashion and do lil stuff like that so I just took that and talked about the stuff I liked as well. So I’d really love to do a song wit him and other artist like Gucci, Migos and a couple other rappers.
Which is the best moment in your musical career that you’re most proud of?
The best moment of my music career is just everything I’ve accomplished now and still didn’t fully even “make it” you feel me? Like doing this interview right now I never imaged shit like this could happen for me. I never imagined so many people outside of my city and that I never met actually like my music and even want to collab wit me in certain type of ways. Baltimore rapper arent that big yet and don’t make it mainstream so the fact I’ve reached this far and still have more room to grow in such a short amount of time of me doing music is just CRAZY to me. Even though I knew where I wanted to be I always thought it would take a long time for me.
How do you balance your music with other obligations – family, friends or work?
I mainly get the beats I rap on off YouTuber or people sending me them off Instagram etc so it’s like when I’m not at working I’m listening to them and I’m my phone writing songs. My girl knows what I’m tryna do so she’ll just give me some time to lock myself in the room and just start listening to beats, freestyle a lil bit and just be in my phone writing songs. Since I write all my music in my phone too you know I can always answer calls or just be able to stop and get back to it at any time too.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
Some advice I’d give to the artist out there is TRUST THE PROCESS! People will ALWAYS have something to say about you negative or positive. You could want to be a nurse or a doctor and people would still try to find a way to talk down or discourage you from taking that path. You just gotta know what is your end goal is and if it’s something that you really want to do or accomplish then doing everything in your power to reach it. Also a lot of people are already miserable so once they see that in another person, since they’re filled with so much unfulfilled ambitions, they’ll try to discourage you from accomplishing your goals. Fuck them fuck that and just keep going. Yea that shit will get hard especially wit this music shit cause to a lot of people it seems like a impossible goal but like I said if this is something you really want then you gotta do everything in your power to get it if it’s really something you want.
If you had one message to give to your fans, what would it be?
My main message is simply BE YOU, BE YOURSELF, YOU WILL GET FARTHER AND FEEL BETTER KNOWING THAT THE SHIT YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO DO WAS DONE BY YOU NOT PRETENDING TO BE SOMETHING YOU’RE NOT AND OF THE STRENGTH OF WHO YOU REALLY/ALREADY ARE.
What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects?
The next thing for me more visuals. I already have a lot of fire songs but not enough visuals so people really can’t get an idea of who I am. It’s not that many good videographers in baltimore or many places to shoot since the city is so small that shit gets hard. Plus people like to tax here for Medicare or subpar video quality so that’s been a huge issue for me and being able to get videos out there. I’ll also be starting to do more songs with other artist so I’m looking forward and you guys should be on the lookout for cause this one collab that’s about to come out will be crazy and wild that I was able to do a song wit this person.
Thanks for giving me the chance to have this interview as well.
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