Maiysha nominated for Grammy Award

It's not often that I get to write about Arts & Entertainment, but I have to say something from a personal perspective after my cousin Maiysha was nominated for a Grammy Award this week.

Not long ago, Maiysha invited me to a live performance of her first musical showcase. I had seen her perform three times before -- once with her mom at a New York lounge, another time at an outdoor concert in Harlem, and once at a small cramped studio in Manhattan.

I didn't know what to expect from the venue that day I arrived, but I knew Maiysha would turn it with the performance. You see, my cousin is very talented. And I'm not just saying that to brag like I had anything to do with it, because I didn't. We didn't grow up together and we didn't live in the same city for years.

By the time we both arrived in New York, Maiysha was working as a successful fashion model and I didn't realize at the time she was such a wonderful singer. That came later when I first saw her perform years ago and was blown away.

It was a busy day when she gave her live performance earlier this year and I arrived shortly after it started. I took an old rickety elevator to the performance floor and saw a group of people milling about outside the door, and then I heard her amplified voice from the microphone in the adjoining room.

I walked to the door and the place was packed. I was expecting a dozen or so people. Instead there was probably a couple hundred fans and friends packed inside the studio. They were white, black, Asian, Latino, young, middle-aged, cool, urban and funky. It was an eclectic mix of the very people that make New York so special.

Maiysha looked great on stage. She had a live band, a moving jib camera, and several other camera crew operators positioned throughout the studio. This was big time.

My favorite song that day was Maiysha's new single, Wanna Be. I later bought the song on iTunes and downloaded it to my iPod, and now it comes up in my Exercise playlist almost every time I'm at the gym. It's one of my favorite songs out right now, and every time I hear it I think to myself that this song should be getting a lot of radio play.

In fact, Maiysha is one of my three favorite new artists I've "discovered" this year. I had heard of all of them before but something happened this year with each of them that made me stand up and take notice. Maiysha is one. The others are Rihanna and Lil' Wayne, neither of whom I paid much attention to until this year.

Well, I'm sitting at the computer the other day when I see a news story that Lil Wayne has been nominated for more Grammys than any other performer. A year ago, I probably would have quietly complained to myself about the decline of music, but instead I found myself agreeing with the decision. But I left it at that and didn't bother to read the rest of the Grammy nominations, until the following morning when I got an email from Maiysha's mom.

My cousin had been nominated for a Grammy! She was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for her single "Wanna Be."

Then it hit me. In the same year that my law school classmate Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, my cousin Maiysha was nominated for a Grammy. I felt inspired, as if anything is possible if you have talent, work hard, don't give up, and put your mind to it.

For all those days when the world doesn't seem to be on your side and the road ahead seems rough, it's good to know that good people are still capable of overcoming great odds and achieving great things.

Congratulations Maiysha. You deserve it!