ZNI
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ZNI

Seattle, Washington, United States | INDIE

Seattle, Washington, United States | INDIE
Band Hip Hop Alternative

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"ZNI Debuts Crash EP In Concert"

21) at Seattle’s Crocodile Café.

Z was joined onstage by The Empty City for three songs, and The Saturday Knights, who came out for the show finale. About 250 people filled the café in ZNI’s native city.

ZNI was signed to Adidas Thrill and Destroy campaign in 2008.

–John Kennedy

http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=55663

- XXL Magazine


"ZNi Interview + EP & Concert"

The Crash EP consist of seven solid tracks plus an outro. It starts things off with the song "Driven," and I have to say, that's a damn good first impression.

ZNi has a fun time representing the Evergreen State, even mentioning bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana in the DJ Charma produced song "I'm on It." It's in little moments like that where you can hear ZNi is not a follower. He's taken his own path, and hopefully some sheep will learn from his example. The club banger "Won't Stop" features a one Vaness Alegassi, whose soulful voice counterbalances the booming bass perfectly. He calls the title track "Crash" his favorite work on the project. "It was written out of a very special time in my life, birthed out of pain. At a time I felt my life had literally crashed - it became a motivational tool." Now for those of you who know me, you are aware that I'm not one who particularly encourages the use Auto-Tuners. I've been mostly on the side of Jay-Z, blowing-up boxes of AT's... and bottles of Cristal. However, I'll let ZNi's song "Out of My Mind" slide. The synth driven, beat monster featuring S. Class may be my favorite track on the record.

Bottom line, I would cop this ambitious EP over Kanye's 808's and Heartbreak anyday.

http://mog.com/Sam_The_Artist/blog/1448605 - MOG.com


"adidas launches new football website in collaboration with top music artists"

Portland, OR - August 28, 2008 –
adidas launched an updated football website www.adidas.com/football this week featuring top NFL athletes. adidas is leveraging the relationships with Reggie Bush, Mario Williams, Rudi Johnson and other NFL players to extend the Impossible Is Nothing campaign. The new site features the Thrill and Destroy concept and allows consumers to associate their style of play with the top athletes in the NFL. Through the use of athlete videos, an interactive quiz that helps consumers determine their style of play and exclusive music tracks that can be used to create play lists, the site offers consumers a unique interactive experience. Site visitors can also win adidas products and the chance to have one of the NFL players visit their hometown.

www.adidas.com/football is an extension of the Thrill and Destroy campaign is which includes ten NFL athletes spending time with high school football players to offer insights about the game. Athletes spent time working out with the high school kids, taking them through training drills and giving them tips and helpful information about how to improve their game. The campaign will include activation of social networking sites, a custom myspace profile, SMS messages from athletes, plus promotions and prizes that invite consumers to interact with adidas. View the videos and learn more at www.adidas.com/football.

The new site offers a unique way for consumers to interact. With a special area for music downloads, athletes can create play lists with inspirational and motivational tracks to be used for practice, game day, and off-season training. Consumers can create their own from the list of thirty tracks, or utilize existing play lists from NFL athletes. In order to offer consumers music that would be relevant to football, adidas approached thirty musical talents from around the world.

Each artist or group was selected based on their relationship to sports, their positive image and their inspirational stories of how music has helped them stay motivated and overcome obstacles in life. From former NFL players like Darnerien McCants and local musicians like ZNI, Young Tae and Bent, to grammy-award winners such as Sounds of Blackness and Mark S. Hubbard, adidas partnered with talent from around the world to provide a wide-range of musical choices for consumers.

“When looking at artists to associate our campaign with, we looked for individuals with a true love of music, and who use that passion to express and motivate themselves. It was important to find artists who share core ideals with the adidas brand and can provide tracks that motivate our consumers to take their game to the next level. We feel ZNI is an amazingly talented artist with music the adidas consumer can relate to and his life experiences offer a special insight into our Impossible Is Nothing belief.” - Mary Renouf-Hanson, Interactive Communications Manager, adidas America.
- adidas America


"ZNi Develops Exclusive Tracks"

March 30, 2009

We want to take a moment to tell you about some recent activity from the Maraire Music front.

Direct from ZNi...

In addition to working on my new album, I've been in the studio working on tracks for some very cool projects. I've been creating exclusive tracks for some recent videos that adidas has created for their NFL, MLB and NBA athletes. From baseball stars like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, to basketball greats like Dwight Howard and Candace Parker and NFL pros including Reggie Bush and Mario Williams, I've been hard at work creating tracks that make the videos resonate even better with adidas fans.

I've also been working with some other brands like Disney and Amp working on tracks for videos including soccer stars for the Disney soccer showcase and Dale Jr videos for the Amp and adidas Nascar program. I've got a lot of things in the works now and am taking on new clients each day.

Take a look at some of the projects below and if you have any videos or projects you need tracks for, hit me up.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD6hE6_1w_E

http://www.adidas.com/baseball - Maraire Music


Discography

Strength of Street Knowledge - 2006
I Gotta Joog - 2007
07 Teen Spirit - 2007
Impossible Is Nothing - 2008
Crash - 2008

Photos

Bio

Born Ziyanai Maraire, which means “to know each other” and “to give wisdom” in his native Shona language, ZNI takes his name to heart as he creates music and lyrics that allow listeners to get to know him and share in inspirational moments of his life.

ZNI comes by his passion and musical talent naturally. He is the son of Dumi Maraire, a master performer of the mbira, a traditional instrument of Zimbabwe. “My father encouraged me to pursue music and told me I was an artist. He said I should never limit myself,” says ZNI. “He made me understand true work ethic. He would stay up for hours working on a song to make sure he got it right. I do the same thing; I can’t sleep until I have even the smallest things like timing or flow perfect.”

Born in Seattle, but spending much of his formative years in his parents’ native country of Zimbabwe, it’s clear this performer uses his life experience in his music. He says every song he writes is founded in a moment from his life. The death of his mother, younger brother and father over the course of three years threw the artist into a tailspin of negativity. He chose to use the pain of his losses to increase his spirituality and turned his tribulations into musical inspiration that drove him to focus on his career.

ZNI left his hometown of Seattle planning to attend NYU and study music. While in New York, he opted to leave college and gain real-world industry experience through an internship with Def Jam records. During this time, he released his first mix tape "Strength of Street Knowledge" - hosted by DJ Sickamor and in 2006, released his
I Gotta Joog single which spurred his first album entitled “Soldier of Fortune.” Unfortunately, the production of the album was waylaid and to this day remains unreleased.

At the end of 2007, ZNI returned to Seattle and to the studio- releasing 07 Teen Spirit which garnered the interest of adidas who then signed the artist to their 2008 Thrill and Destroy campaign. Through adidas, he released the track "Impossible Is Nothing" which he feels was moment when he truly began defining his musical direction.

ZNI’s passion is evident in every angle of his life. He shatters the stereotypes of rappers and through his unique musical arrangements, innovative lyrics and fresh fashion sense, he resonates with fans across genres.

“There isn't anything else I want to do in life or feel so strongly and passionate about other than music. And I want to make a name for Seattle musicians,” says ZNI when asked why he chose to dedicate his life to music.

He is currently working on his first major album featuring the headline single Crash.

In addition to performing, ZNi creates exclusive tracks for video production for big brands such as adidas, Disney and Amp. For samples of this work, please contact the artist.

You can check out ZNi in a featured article on Seaspot.com:
http://www.seaspot.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000070/007079.htm