![]() ![]() Meek claims that he is in a long line of people that he grew up with that are no longer with us. “Traumatized” – Meek’s best song to date – is hostile. But they can’t – it’s always going to be the most popular thing Meek ever does. Despite some of the mediocre bars, it was a longer and more working-class version of the “Dynasty Intro.” Rappers have tried to replicate it since but can’t capture the same feeling that Meek brought on that record. Goofy lines like “Shorty trying to bless me, like she said achoo” are set aside with a song this triumphant. Just when you think he’s wrapping up, Meek re-energizes you: “If you diss me in your raps/ I’ll get your pussy ass stuck up!” To enjoy “Dreams And Nightmares (Intro)” in all of its maximal glory, it is mandatory that you hear it with a group: People will shout it with unabashed glory. The genius in this song isn’t in any single lyric, but in the performance. Midway through the intro track, the beat switches, and Meek announces, “Hold up, wait a minute, y’all thought I was finished?” then launches into some of his most ferocious rapping on record. “Is this what they been waiting for? You ready?” Meek barks over a beat by the Beat Bully. Meek took advantage of that.ĭreams And Nightmares opens with a particular exclamation. Showing people that he could flex his muscles with some of the best bullies in the game made for great theater. “Amen,” featuring Drake, is jubilant in the way Drake’s best post- Take Care verses were. No man with the big bag just man with the big gat Or see the girls around here, there’s Jack boys down stairs Niggas die on top of winter, cause them kids need them toys Locked in cages, have ’em fighting over cookiesĪnd lunch trays, just happy them days ain’t never killed ’em On the fourteenth track, Meek rapped about his rise, in a sequence that is among the best of his career: His subsequent mixtape, Dreamchasers 2, was excellent. It looked like the kid who rapped on Berks Street was going to have mainstream success for a long time. “Tupac Back,” on Self Made Vol 1, was a hit. In 2011, he signed with Maybach Music Group. Then, he decided to go in a different direction. Because of a seven-month jail stint, Meek’s album failed to come out. (He had a good relationship with the legendary DJ Drama.) His music was similar but different - already animated, but staccato where he’d later let his voice run wild. It’s as synonymous with Meek’s career as the Philadelphia Eagles coming out to “Dreams And Nightmares.”Īround 2009, Meek found a home at T.I.’s Grand Hustle Records imprint. ![]() Legal trouble would continue for him, both due to mistakes and system overreach. My blood was on the ceiling, on the floor,” Meek would later tell writer Ben Detrick of Billboard. “I had a concussion, braids ripped out, stitches. When he was 18, Robert Rahmeek Williams, the youngest of two children, was arrested, then beaten profusely, by two Philadelphia police officers for having an illegal firearm. To see him dancing like that was to see the company he keeps now and how foolish he looked while hanging with the ruling class. Meek wasn’t supposed to be that guy who danced for his white friends he was the lieutenant on one of the most successful Black labels to come out in years. The aforementioned video of Meek Mill bunny hopping around for his rich white friend would have been troubling in a vacuum, but it was even worse seeing how far we’d come from Meek riding around Philadelphia on dirt bikes in the video to “Ima Boss,” the exceptional “Lord Knows” soundtracking a training montage in Creed, or “Dreams And Nightmares (Intro),” which crossed over without compromising an inch of its intensity. He’s a bear: “No love, cry when only babies die/ And when I go, that casket better cost a hundred thou’.” Meek is simple but effective: “They say they gon’ rob me, see me never do shit/ ‘Cause they know that’s the reason they gon’ end up on a news clip.” Ross’ verse – still one of my favorites from that era – is a classic in his canon of middlebrow luxury rap. “Ima Boss,” from the MMG compilation album Self Made Vol 1, was a Jahlil Beats staple – all sirens, no musicality – but it was also a showcase for how excessively successful Ross had become versus how rich Meek was trying to become. What was undoubtedly true, though, was how good they sounded together. To call Ross a liar in his music was reductive. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |