“Trigga fingers turn to twitter fingers,” but enough is enough and too much stinks. Meek Mill should probably be evaluated for mental depression because the guy clearly has a death wish or so it appears. Dodging prison, a number one album, a successful tour, a super rich girlfriend and an influx of social media followers gained from a terribly failed beef is clearly not enough for the Philadelphia rapper. In 2015 Meek exposed himself as an attention w**** and left many fans questioning his self proclaimed “realness.” It’s now the top of 2016 and Meek appears to be again headlining the, “I wanna end my own career” campaign but is he shooting himself in the foot or is his marketing team pure geniuses? I mean his homeboy Deen Reedy did date marketing genius, Karen Civil and Meek is represented by power house, Roc Nation so all of these could be timely publicity stunts. His beef with Drake hit the press right around the time his album came out, and now months later he chooses to revisit the beef and brew a new beef with a Hip Hop legend. Coincidently this time, the beef is heating up during the same time that his 4/4 EP is released.
I have been a fan of Meek’s music since the release of Dreams and Nightmares, but his recent streak of losses has put my fan membership in question. I am beginning to dislike Meek, for being anti everything that he claims to represent. Meek prides himself for his humble beginnings, his dream chasing journey, his rags to riches story and his strong relationship and affinity for the streets. The streets loved Meek and Meek loved the streets but how “street” is the guy really? I am no dope dealer but I don’t know of any former dope dealers making appearances on Instagram to write about other men, in attempt to highlight his own “realness” and discredit the other man’s. Meek often appears very sensitive, childish, bored, jealous and as someone that wears his feelings on his sleeves. Let’s really analyze his lopsided beef with Drake, his rant on label mate Wale and now his beef with the King of rap wars, 50 Cent.
Meek Mill’s frequent social media rants appear very weak, calculated and petty to say the least and his music accompanying his rants is even weaker. Meek goes on his soap box in attempt to “expose the frauds,” but what really all he is doing is exposing himself. In a time when rap was heavily populated with gimmicks, skinny leg jeans, singing rappers and popular conscious rappers that were way more lyrical than him, Meek came onto the scene strong with his 2011, Ima Boss record. As a result of that single, mixtapes and his album, he was prematurely crowned and embraced as the voice of the streets. Meek’s heavy involvement on the mixtape circuit and his commitment to speak to the streets brought him a loyal fanbase but Meek is doing everything to compromise such loyalty. Dreams and Nightmares was an open memoir penned for the streets to relate to, much like Jeezy’s Thug Motivation 101 was years before. Meek’s Intro track on his debut album will probably get a party lit, even years from now but honestly his music today falls short of invoking such feeling. With no DMX, Jadakiss, Gucci Mane, Beanie Sigel, or TI of old, Meek Mill was able to launch off the back of Rick Ross and MMG by building a solid relationship with the streets. He wasn’t the artist for radio but radio messed with him. He wasn’t an artist for mainstream but he strategically made friends and enemies with those they could help him tap into mainstream audiences. Five million Twitter followers later, the glaring question becomes, “Can the boy even rap?”
Following run in’s with the law, Meek took advantage of press and launched new music to keep him relevant. He could be seen on social media frequently chilling with media mayven, Diddy. Â He did a great job consistently promoting his Dream Chasers camp, to where it eventually became a brand with a heavy following. His swag and perceived street credibility even managed him to snag the hottest chic in Hip Hop, Nicki Minaj. He looked even more like the man following Nicki’s sloppy break up with her ex and Meek’s instant love for Nicki showed the world that “street dudes” could fall in love too. Meek had it all. You wanted to root for the guy because he stood for everything right. Right? He was a young black male, from the streets that made it to the millions legally. His album sales were successful and he achieved all of this while staying true to his day one’s and the streets. He made money with his friends and he never seemed to change up. But did he? Did Meek sell out right before our eyes, and actually make a fool of himself while attempting to crossover?
Some may argue that Meek’s career suicide attempts are nothing but calculated steps for attention and visibility. This method is not a new one, in fact 50 Cent made a name for himself with this method. However the difference between 50 and Meek is a huge important one though. Fifty’s music was not to be fronted on and denied. When 50 started a war, his music was his strongest weapon. Fif pops a lot of smack via social media these days, but everyone knows how 50 got down on the beef side. He’s actually ended careers and have receipts to prove it. Ja Rule can tell you about the wrath of 50, as can Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Jay-z, Game, Rick Ross and many others. Meek though widely known as a “battle rapper,” has lost many cool points in this department.
This morning, 1/17/16, Meek’s image and respect took another major hit. He dropped an EP, this week and decided to throw jabs at 50 Cent and Drake. Unfortunately the punches didn’t land and instead Meek looks like an emcee gasping for breath and fighting air at this point. His latest musical efforts makes one question his musical skill and relevance. I sit here, actually hard pressed to like the guy musically. Have I been rooting for a loser all this time? Meek looks like the lame guy that I went to school with that dressed really nice and all the girls liked him until we all realized that the guy was realistically mad corny and fraudulent in real life. The nerd that he picked on for all four years was actually cooler than him and was a better artist that would rap circles around him and it showed. I mean Drake did bless Meek by appearing on two of his biggest hits to date, Amen and R.I.C.O. I always thought it was against street code to “bite the hand that feeds you.” For Meek to be so “street,” he does a lot of un-street things, but some how he gets a pass.
Meek claims to be so “street,” but I find him to be a rich, corn ball from the streets. It’s cool that he got his dream girl, but how street is it to be the opening act on your girl’s tour than justify your second fiddle to her stardom? He seems to have lofty goals of he and Nicki becoming like Jay-Z and Beyonce but unfortunately he lacks the swag, charisma and talent to ever be Jay-Z. Where Jay is subtle and skilled, Meek is loud and subpar.
Meek Mill’s newest EP, not only made me embarrassed for him but it made me question the guy as a rapper. Anyone you ask about the Drake v. Meek beef, Drake unanimously wins. Drake even earned himself a Grammy nomination for his Back to Back diss record. Yes you read that correctly. Drake has been nominated for a Grammy for a diss record. The beef was not a total L for Meek though. Meek did see a huge hike in his Twitter and Instagram followers, as he has 5 million and 7 million respectively to date. Meek was a fan favorite on the meme circuit and big name corporations and brands even got in on all the fun. This reverse psychology marketing did nothing but further advance Meek Mill’s name.  As a surprise to most he had one of the best selling Hip Hop albums last year, when his DWMTM cd sold 216k albums in its first week. His singles, R.I.C.O and “All Eyes on You,” enjoyed great success on the Billboard Charts for multiple weeks. The beef though musically imbalanced for Meek, didn’t do as much damage as many was led to believe and suggest. If it was strategy, it was subtle intention that benefited him and all he had to do was sit back and cash the checks.
I do not know why Meek tried to press his luck by ATTEMPTING to rap and type up a beef up with 50 Cent and revisit a beef with Drake. It failed terribly. His four track EP, 4/4 is the worse garbage that I have listened to since his last diss track, “I wanna know.”
The music is horrible and leaves me wondering how he jigged us all for so long. As much as I want to like Meek, he gives me every reason not to with his suspect social media behavior and his wack music. His bars on the, Im Da Plug freestyle are nothing spectacular and he sounds like a guy screaming but with nothing to say worth listening to. On his track, Gave Em Hope he yells, I mean raps about giving hope to the streets but if you ask me he sounds like a silly rap kid that is new to rapping. In real life he is a 28 year-old rapper that had a number one album last year but how? His music lacks substance, significant bars and is filled with #wacksauce.
“I gave em hope, when my n***** needed money, I gave em dope.”~ Meek Mill
His EP is just like his IG account. A lot of bragging, dry snitching, horrible raps and tasteless beef. The sad part about all of this, is that Meek is starting these wars but his music is failing to hold him up in defense. That’s something not even the streets can defend him against. If you are looking for any bright spots in all of this for Meek, well he still has Nicki Minaj on his arm, he’s richer than many of us, Dream Chasers is (was) a pretty cool brand and he’s a corn ball from the hood that blew. Some may still root for that. As for his music, that’s a different story. Im not impressed, in fact I am disappointed. Similar to how we know Ray J as “Brandy’s brother,” Meek may as well be referred to as, “Nicki’s boyfriend.” The jig is up, and Meek has exposed himself as a lyric less, corny rapper that’s always in his feelings. He loves his girlfriend tho, and that’s cute. If you are looking for a street music savior though, perhaps you will be better off checking for Pusha T’s and Jeezy’s latest. That Pusha T album, Darkness Before Dawn is stupid dope! As for Meek Mill, well perhaps his social media antics are strategy but to us it looks like suicide because the music stinks. His production is great though.  🙂
~Tay Jordan
WEAK MEEK