Musical brothers want to inspire the youth

Brothers Jermaine ‘Maintain the Don’ and Jeremy ‘Gino the Code’ Butler are using music to tell their story and touch lives.

The two artists residing in Troyville call themselves Maintain and Gino – Not the Gullible Bunch.

They write music that addresses everyday challenges.

“We want our music to bring attention to how the world is changing from good to bad and bad to worse. We want people to apply their minds and be conscious of the changes. We live in a world of little morals, little values, lack of love and respect. We don’t want to highlight negative only but also focus on the positive,” explained Jermaine.

The two said they want their music to inspire people.

“We want to inspire positive thinking and discourage drug use and alcohol abuse,” said Jeremy.

The two brothers were born and raised in Eldorado Park.

They said they never allowed their background to influence them.

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“We are straight from the ghetto. We grew up with the simple life of playing soccer in the tough streets of Eldos. Our father always played us the finest music and that inspired us to pursue music,” said the brothers.

They said because of the love their father had for music, they started exploring different types of genres and fell in love with rap.

“We started rapping and singing at a very young age. As teenagers we would imitate our favourite rappers and singers using toilet paper rolls or a remote control as our mics,” shared Jeremy.

They say their music journey started in a church choir.

“We spent a lot of our time with our church choir. We started building our studio and actively wrote music to explore and express our love of music,” said Jermaine.

The brothers fell more in love with rap and hip-hop because we could express ourselves better.

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“We are diverse in the music we create. But we related more to hip-hop and rap. These genres enable us to poetically and unapologetically express ourselves fully and share our experiences,” explained Jermaine.

In the upcoming album, the two address issues that are big challenges in the youth.

Songs like Suicide Note speaks to the ones who are thinking about it.

“We want them to know that there is hope and not to give up,” said Jeremy.

Other songs to look out for are These Days, which talks about how society has evolved, and Aweh is a feel-good track perfect for the upcoming holiday period.

The brothers said they want their music to relate to the young and older generation.

“South African artist like Youngsta CPT, Nasty C and Shane Eagle inspire us. But also old school artist like legendary rap artist Tupac, Notorious BIG and the Wu-Tang Clan, to name a few. They influence our music because they represent the street life and we can relate,” shared the brothers.

The brothers said they are grateful for their talent.

“We thank God for our talent and we thank our fans for the support we receive. We appreciate and ask them to continue supporting us,” said the brothers.