Maino is no stranger to hard knocks, but the rapper has turned a new leaf, shed the gangster mentality and is focused on his career.

The 32-year-old has had his share of tough times, including a ten-year prison sentence for kidnapping. In an interview with MTV, Maino described how difficult it is to transition from the hood to the studio.

"We come from an environment where if you feel disrespected you put your hands on somebody...All this time I'm thinking that this is just what it is then you get into a bigger pool, you get into real life you get into a corporate environment, a bigger world, you start to see that that's not how the world is. That's minority that think like that...You have to unlearn a lot of things."

This week the Brooklyn rapper also stopped by 106 & Park for an interview and said the one piece of advice he would give to those who are struggling to come up would be, "life isn't over, no matter what you're going through. Life don't stop with prison or jail or the streets."

Maino is working on a new studio album to drop later this year.