MAINTAIN

MAINTAINLike many solo recording artists, Maintains’ career as a rapper began apart of a group. Maintain began rapping with childhood friend Dice-A-Million, which the two formed the group Shortys From Da’ Ninetys. They put on many shows and gained a lot of exposure in the down south area of Miami, Florida. Shortys From The Ninetys were inspired by an array of many talented artists, but the strongest influence came from the older rappers in the community. “Aside from that booty shaking shit, the old coons made sure the rapping stayed poppin on the block” explains Maintain with a laugh.At that time Maintain was known as Soljah. One afternoon, his grandmother called him Maintain instead of his childhood nickname Main: short for Shermain. He began to reflect on incidents in his life such as getting shot at, and being robbed. These thoughts brought him to the conclusion to keep the name Maintain as a way to prove that he’s doing just that. Maintaining. According to Webster’s dictionary, Maintain means to continue or persevere. Maintain adds a personal twist to the definition of his name with a simple acronym that turned out to be one of his most effective mottos: S.T.R. - standing tall regardless.In 1999 Maintain was approached by another childhood friend Vet, who also rapped and played a big part of recording their first song. “It didn’t even have a hook and people were feeling it!” Maintain says surprisingly. After recording their* second song Zoo Style, which featured Vet and was the most requested song on every underground radio station in Miami, the group 3 N dA-Klip was formed. “I guess u can say it was chemistry.” Within one week, 3 N dA- Klip had recorded an entire album, executively produced by White Boy from the hit reality TV show “I love New York”.In 2002 Maintain attended the Impact Super Summit music conference in Orlando, Florida with demos of the groups material. The record executives showed interest in the music but determined that the group wasn’t ready seeing that Maintain was the only member present. This event opened his eyes and jumped started his career of becoming a solo artist. Having a pretty substantial amount of shows under there belt, Maintain adapted well when landing his first solo performance, The 2004 Uncle Al: Peace In Da’ Hood Festival. “It was the biggest crowd I’d ever performed in front of“, Maintain says excitedly, “It was one of my best performances.“ The event opened collaboration opportunities with platinum artist like Pit-bull, Kymani Marley etc.According to Shawa of The Grind Magazine, “Maintain has a mission and plan.” Maintain is currently working on his solo debut album “One Way In No Way Out“, set to be released in the summer of 2008. He’s currently featured on Kymani Marley’s latest album “Radio.” “Everyday I try to put myself in a position to make a move, stay busta free, and tighten up every chance I get.”