“If you were to walk out here and someone drove by half a block away, playing my music loud, you could still hear my voice,” he claims, citing Jay-Z’s protege Memphis Bleek as a formative influence. His uncle, the Philadelphia-based DJ Grandmaster Nell, played hip-hop records for Meek at his grandmother’s house, and Meek developed his distinctive flow – imagine a sentient air horn, or a boxing announcer’s theatrical timbre turned up to the max. It made me think all women were extremely strong and manly.”
“My mom did everything for us – I’ve always viewed her as a man and a woman, all in one. “It made me look at women as stronger,” he says. Coming up in a ruthless environment as a kid, you learn from what you see.” He relied on female role models, from his sister and mother to the music of Deborah Cox and Lauryn Hill. “The police are there, but not to the level of protection. “Growing up in the rough neighbourhoods in America is all the same – coming up around drugs, violence, murder,” he says. His history of legal troubles, culminating in a five-month jail stint last year, can be traced back to his upbringing in north Philadelphia, where his family moved following the death of his father when Meek was five. He has needed it over the past 18 months. “Getting support from the people is always a great feeling,” he says. The album arrives at a time when public goodwill towards Meek has never been stronger. I never viewed that as a diss when I put it on my record.” “Jay wasn’t talking to Kanye – he was talking to whoever was influencing Kanye. “I think it’s healthy when it’s competition – it’s our job,” Meek says, stating that any bad blood between him and Drake is now firmly in the past.
DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES MEEK MILL QUOTES FREE
With its big-deal guest appearances, it has already made headlines, from speculation about whether Jay-Z’s pointed lines on What’s Free address Kanye West’s newfound Donald Trump fanaticism, to Meek’s team-up with his one-time rival Drake on Going Bad. His strongest record yet, it pairs Meek’s penchant for full-throated intensity with glossy, cavernous beats. The release of Championships should be a triumphant moment for Meek. It’s his acting debut, portraying a character who “ on myself – someone who’s been in prison and comes home and tries to change his life”. His whirlwind schedule doesn’t allow for much rest he’ll be whisked across town to tape an appearance on The Daily Show after our conversation and has just come from the set of a film about urban dirt-bike riders, 12 O’Clock Boys. “I’m sick as hell right now,” he croaks between sips. It is his second chart-topping record, after Dreams Worth More Than Money in 2015.Īs he sips camomile tea with a side order of raw ginger, Meek – real name Robert Rihmeek Williams – carefully unlocks a giant, diamond-studded chain, and places it on the table with the care of Indiana Jones swapping idols in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I told everybody before I left: ‘One day, you all will be playing my music.’” Hours before we sit down to chat in a ritzy Manhattan restaurant, the rapper’s fourth proper studio album, Championships, goes into the US charts at No 1. “I lost by a long shot, but it gave me ambition. “The guy battling me was 16 years old, and I was 13 or 14 – he was more advanced than me,” the 31-year-old recalls. T he first time Meek Mill took part in a rap battle, he left in tears.
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