AANY: Who are you?
Zainah: I’m a New Yorker. I’m the city streets, the smoke, the smog, the grit, the grime. I’m a New Yorker. I have so many different levels of myself. I compare myself to maybe an onion. You know just a lot of layers, a lot of different things, and a lot of depth. Once you get to my core your like, “Oh wow, that’s a lot”. I’m just an average day to day New Yorker. I entertain myself and am entertained by my peers who walk the streets with me. I’m just happy to be from this very big city with very bright and diverse people. It’s like being a sponge in New York. You take in from all these different types of people and you make it into what you want to put forth yourself. That’s all I got.
AANY: Music to my ears.
Zainah: I’m cool. I just like to live and be from New York. I like to travel just because I’m from New York to promote that I’m from New York.
AANY: How about them Knicks?
Zainah: How about them Knicks. His IQ is on another level .It’s beyond basketball. He is just like prepared for anything. I feel like he could become the president. JL can drive. From being a basketball player and knowing the game and watching him play makes me want to relearn the game. His level of intensity, his patience and how he just delivers every move so well thought out. I love it. It’s scientific. But you have to be able to play the sport to understand it. Watching it as a fan you can get it a little but if you play the sport you know that he’s doing something great. This is nothing anybody can just do. He’s very much calculated and I like that.
AANY: So how’s your jump shot? Are you a pick and roll player? What’s your thing?
Zainah: In this sport you have to have both ways. both feet, both hands. You need your peripheral on point to be great. I once had a dream to become a professional basketball player. I had a lot of people within my life that became pro athletes around me. Most of my knowledge I took from my neighborhood Washington Heights so I learned a lot of my skills from Dyckman Park. Most of my basketball knowledge as an adult came from West 4th Street. It’s my favorite playground basketball court. It’s the most diverse court but also one of the smallest courts. It teaches you how to play on such a small court but a big level. West 4th is amazing all walks of life play there from CEO’s to the kid that bags your groceries. The level is always very high and dynamic. If you have not played basketball at West 4th Street New York you have not played anywhere seriously.
AANY: So who are you?
Zainah: It’s like a Bruce Wayne Batman thing. I work at Swatch as an assistant manager by day and pretty much the rest of my day and life consumes with being a music manager. I part of a great music management team by the name of J-Vu Entertainment. We work with Mosley Music group which is affiliated with the the super produce Timberland. It’s a great situation. It’s a blessed situation. I learn every day. I feel like I’m in to different worlds any moment I can be flown out to wherever to take care of bossiness with my team and be around all these celebrities and all this surreal life. Two days later I’m taking care of a customer buying a Swatch. It’s night and day.
AANY: How Nicki Minaj doing?
Zainah: She’s cool. She’s bringing a lot of difference to the game. She’s rapping. I’ve been in major studios. I feel like anybody can sound incredible. If you have the right machine, the right people to produce your work. You can sound amazing. You don’t need to much vocal ability to sound like a class act artist. Singing live is a different story. That’s why a lot of artist now a days they prerecord their shows or the will tape it into their mikes. I feel like that necessary if you’re an artist that’s dancing a lot. I can understand that. You have to be like Michael Jackson otherwise to pull that off.
AANY: You’re quite the artist yourself.
Zainah: I try my best. I get my inspiration from people like Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, JZ, and Usher. All these great people their additives to the art itself. They inspire and make a person want to live on a different level and be more involved in their community and push for positive things and that’s why I like their work. It more than just sounds and drums. It’s more about the message and how great you can be.
AANY: Great meeting you Zainah …
Zainah: Saccoh.
AANY: That’s a great name.
Zainah: My last name is derived from my West African roots. I researched it there’s even an Italian connection. There is a big time shoe store on 5th Ave. But the shoe designer drops the ‘h’.
AANY: Bravo!
