Born in Montreal, NAIIM is a hip-hop and r&b artist aiming to change the sound within the genre. Growing up surrounded by old school hip-hop and French folk music, NAIIM found his love for making music and writing early on and is continuing to harvest his unique sound throughout his career.
What advice would you give your younger self in your 1st year working in the music industry?
- Drown all the noise out. The creative process becomes difficult when you’re doing it to please others.
- Be yourself…
- Don’t be afraid to experiment.
- Take constructive criticism from the people you respect.
- Take the time to live and soak in the outside world. Consumption is essential to creation.
- Not every song you make will be a great song. Sometimes you gotta leave the faucet on to get the murky water out before clean water starts flowing again (write through the bad songs and you’ll get back to making the good stuff).
- Great ideas don’t always come easy. Work through it.
What do you tell yourself to stay positive when you’re down?
I wouldn’t say that I necessarily tell myself anything specific when I’m feeling down. However, there are certain practices I find helpful to getting me back on track. If I find myself in a slump I usually assess the following:
1 – Am I doing my daily meditations?
2 – Am I exercising as much as I should be?
3 – Am I eating healthy foods?
4 – Am I getting my work done?
5 – Am I happy with the music I’m creating?
When I’m feeling “down”, it’s usually because I’m slacking in one or more of these five areas.