So you're also extremely driven and I'm a proud believer that there's no plan B, but only plan A. So can you explain to us what this means for you?
So plan A, honestly is about everything that I want to do. I wear multiple hats, but I execute everything with a lot of passion. And so if someone were to be like, "Oh, Neemz, we want you to model for this campaign or Neemz, we want you to do this." So when I first started with anything artistic, it was photography. You know, I would just take pictures of people and like, it was in high school and in college. In college, I would just go around campus and be like, "Oh my god, I'd love to shoot you." And then after some time, I started working and one of my co-workers, Mark Elzey, wanted to shoot me. He was like, "Yo, let's hang out, let's go to the museum or whatever and shoot." He was like "Neemz, I realized every time I came to shoot you, you kept on looking away. If you really want to be a model you have to be comfortable in your skin." So I really took myself, those words, and I went to the mirror and I started looking at myself in the mirror and practicing and practicing. So then I started you know, doing more modeling stuff and got more confident in myself. So I was juggling the photography and the modeling aspect the whole entire year of 2019. I was just getting gig after gig. I came to a point where I went to KidSuper and I modeled for him for his fashion collection. That was like a big moment for me but it was also a big moment for me to realize that anything I set my mind upon, I will get, so like there's only one plan in life. And that's just a plan to be. So things adjust and adapt, or push you off your tracks, you have to just go with the flow. If you are constantly stuck to "oh my god, I have to only do one thing," you could also block your own blessings.
What's kind of been the craziest moment of your career so far?
The craziest moment is just seeing how many people listen to my music. I'm just always super grateful. But my manager has worked in the industry for a minute now, so when she would be like, "Neemz, you hit this much in this many months, like, I don't think you understand." She's just basically highlighting a lot of things that I didn't see as, like, "oh my god." But she'd be like, "I don't think you understand. This is not normal for somebody like you to have." And for me, I keep finding gratitude always and keeping myself grounded. But at the same time, seeing how hype she is made me feel like, "okay, this is working." But you know, I'm glad that I'm in a space where I don't know what it means, or I don't know how amazing it is. It's humbling to see that people like "Hey Neemz, like, I really fuck with your songs." It just makes me feel special just because these aren't just songs. I think that was the most amazing part, but at the same time, you know, performing. The biggest highlight was when I opened up for IDK and Rico Nasty. They told me the night before so for them to give me that opportunity, I was really shocked. But it was like, as soon as you hit the stage with all the nerves, and you walked off and people came up to you like random people I've never even met before were in the crowd like, "oh my god, you inspired me." And I was like, "that's crazy."
You know, once it starts it doesn't stop.
I think what's great is that you just have to keep that spirit in you that every time somebody does like you, feel impacted by even anything that you do, whether you style their shot, or whatever, be excited to receive that love. Because it's not every day that you do receive that love, you know, and people, no matter if it's even 10 million people giving you love, like, it still feels overwhelming, but in the best way possible, you know?
So, you know, I gotta bring it back to Boston, we gotta talk about Boston, you know, I have to. So you're extremely proud of your heritage, where you come from, and where you live. So how do both of these things inspire you on your journey?
Honestly, it inspires me a lot. I don't constantly say, "Oh, I'm Palestinian, or from Boston." But like, I'm gonna say it when people ask me. I'm Palestinian, and everyone knows what's going on in Palestine. So when people asked me about the scarf that I wear, it's a Palestinian scarf. I lived in Massachusetts, and I lived in Jordan overseas for five years, and I came back. So when I came back, I lived in Weston. Now I live in Waltham. So it's like, you know, bouncing back and forth. You never really had a set community. But it felt like when there was an art community building in Boston, it felt like we were a powerful movement like you just go to these functions, and you're like, "Oh, my God," like, you meet all these people. And we just created our own community, whether you were from Massachusetts or not. We've created so much, and I feel like, even in the past year, during quarantine, people have tapped in so much into themselves. So I think even people were just taking that in, healing from certain experiences, and even healing with everybody together, it made it feel so much more powerful. For the longest time, we've been pushing and pushing. When one person is going up, and everyone wants to push them up even further. Once that person opens the door, the next door opens. Just like New York has its own community, and LA has its own art community, Boston is finally making a community of its own. We come to Boston to celebrate, we're going to the function in Boston, or we're going to that concert in Boston for our own Boston artists. A lot of your homies are in the audience, or a lot of your homies are right beside you on the shoot working together. Even when I did the Nike campaign, like seeing Malakhai shooting and then Cas on the BTS. And it's just crazy, because it's like, "wow, our community is so great because everybody's just pushing themselves forward." But we're coming together on a bigger scale, you know, so we're always gonna be proud.