Maino Talks The Need For More Uplifting Music And Adapting To Reality TV: “The Thing Is Just Protecting Your Integrity, That’s It”

Back in November, Maino returned to television, joining the cast of “Love and Hip Hop: New York,” alongside his girlfriend, Maggie Carrie. Together, the two opened up about their relationship struggles, the rapper’s musical journey, as well as Carrie’s struggles with PTSD in the wake of the 2016 Irving Plaza shooting. And now, just weeks after the season finale, Maino is opening up about his experience. 

In an interview with Baller Alert, the Brooklyn-bred rapper revealed how he and his girlfriend have adapted to reality television, and how the two have managed to stay true to themselves throughout the experience without putting too much of their business out in public.

“The thing is just protecting your integrity, that’s it,” Maino said. “You just got to control the narrative as much as possible. It’s about being who you are, but at the same time, you want to walk away from it feeling like you didn’t give so much of yourself that you so damaged because it’s a brand. We’re building a brand. What’s the sense of going on reality tv, if you’re going to damage your brand.” 

But when it comes to the invasion of privacy, it’s all about what you allow people to know, according to Maino. 

“I don’t have nothing that I’m ashamed of, and then we gon regulate,” he said. “The thing is giving them just enough that they can have. We ain’t gon give them everything, but keeping it in the realms of understanding that we gon give em what they need to have and that we could live with. I’m not ashamed of nothing.” 

Elsewhere in the interview, Maino talked his new single and the need for positive and uplifting music, saying, “I think right now, life is about balance. We need it.” 

“We got a lot of the same old stuff,” he said. “We need the balance. I think we do have it; We have a lot of artists like Kendrick and Cole. I’m more of an artist that’s looked at that comes from the street perspective. My perspective is about winning; my perspective is about never giving up. Even at times when people don’t believe in you, you got to believe in yourself. So it’s like where is the music that kind of goes with that? When you getting in the morning and you faced with these obstacles and how you overcome them. So that’s what it’s about. It’s always winning for me.”