Seven months ago I never imagined the day that I had on March 17, 2011. Technically a day *and a half with Maino. It all started on Wednesday when my boss at Atlantic Records asked me if I wanted to roll with him to Hot97. Ofcourse I saw it as an opportunity and rode the 1 train downtown to the station. As soon as we walked in DJ Enuff was walking in at the same time and he was a real nice guy. We got to our floor after riding the elevator together and there was Maino, his manager and DJ Camillo.
My boss introduced me to all of them and I felt really comfortable from the jump. Maino started talking to me about where i'm from, what I do for atlantic and all of that. He was real sincere in the way he spoke as I tried my best to not get "andrew jenk'd" through out the conversation. Maino went in for his interview with Angie Martinez and DJ Enuff let me kick it with him in the DJ booth while he was spinning live on the air! Once the interview was over it was time to go but Maino kept talking to me and told me he wanted me to come out to his photo shoot he was doing the next day for XXL magazine. His manager and I exchanged numbers and I went home to put together a beat CD for him lol.
The next day I got into work and anticipated the phone call with all of the information for the day. They finally called me back after a couple of hours from when they said they were going to, but i guess thats expected in the music business lol. His manager asked me if I could make it out to Brooklyn and to look up places that sold picture frames in Brooklyn. Was a little confused but didn't question it. I took the trusty subway system towards Brooklyn and met up with Maino and his people at the shoot. Maino looked real excited to see me and asked if I could make a run for him to get some nice frames for some pics that he just done with his sons. Ofcourse I wasn't going to say no, but I did tell him that I wasn't too familiar with getting around Brooklyn and he responded that I don't have to worry because the driver will take me there.
I got introduced to Maino's driver. They call him "O.G" and if you saw him, you wouldn't have to question why they call him that. The man was retired from a printing company and was driving Maino anywhere he needed to go at the young age of 67. He was really cool and explained every street and part of Brooklyn as we drove through it. I got the frames, brought them back and he thought they were "fresh".
The photo shoot ended and everyone was saying peace to each other. So as I started to say my thank yous; Maino says "Yo, roll with me". Ofcourse I wasn't going to say no. So I hopped in the cadillac with him and O.G. No clue where we were going or what to expect but I was pretty excited just being in the car. Maino starts giving directions to O.G and before I know it, we are outside of a barbershop. Maino hops out and tells me to join. People stop what they are doing, he takes pictures with the fans and shakes some hands. We we're there for about 10 minutes and then went towards our next destination.
We end up outside of a public elementary school. He gets out and tells me he'll be right back. Five minutes later Maino comes back with a kid, his son Zain. Zain is really happy and surprised that his father came pick him up. Maino asks him if he is hungry and we head towards this Indian spot to grab something to eat. We sit down and its just Maino, his son (who he calls Zaino; which I think is pretty cool) and me. I didn't want to assume that Maino was going to pay for my meal and if he was I didn't want to get anything too expensive or get anything too cheap and offend him, so i told him I was full from earlier. He was having so much fun just being around his son and you could see how much he loves the kid. I started talking to Maino about his music, name dropped a lot of his older songs before he got signed to Atlantic and he was really impressed. He asked me what I was striving to be and what I do in my free time. I told him how I love music and all of the things that I do involving it. He said he'd love to hear some beats; I told him I just happened to have a Beat CD me and he took it and said he'd definitely check it out.
We went back in the car and went to meet up with Maino's baby mama to drop Zaino off. We rolled up and Maino saw someone that he knew. Me and O.G stayed in the car double-parked waiting for Maino. Next thing I know, a cop car pulls up behind us and O.G starts getting gully as he anticipates them telling us to move the vehicle. They end up walking straight to Maino and look like they are giving him and the person he is with some problems. About 20 minutes go by and Maino walks back to the car and says that someone called the cops that theyre was two "suspicious" looking black males standing outside of this building in this nice neighborhood and that they "matched the description". I was in awe as I couldn't believe I witnessed Maino get racially profiled right in front of his son.
We kept driving around brooklyn as Maino was on the phone with people asking him to make appearences here and there for the night. As we are driving he asks me how i plan on getting home. I honestly was starting to ask myself the same question since we were further from where I originally met them. I told him I can take the train and that i'll figure it out when I get down there. He insisted that O.G drop me off at the ferry and I wasn't going to argue. We chopped it up a bit more as I asked him more about his music and other hobbies. We got to the ferry and he said he'll hit me up if the opportunity presents itself within the near future.
As I walked towards the ferry I felt really amped and excited about my day. Maino was surprisingly a really nice and humble guy who was genuine in the way he spoke to me. Hopefully he likes a beat or two on that CD or he hits me up to hang again. Either way it was a day that I truely enjoyed and figured i'd share with those interested.
Below is the official Music video for his latest song/ New York anthem "We Keep it Rockin'". ENJOY!
nice bro.
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