Meek Mill
Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987),[3] known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his music career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group, The Bloodhoundz. He signed with T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records as a solo act in 2008, although he departed by 2011 and released no albums with the label. Meek Mill then signed with Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group (MMG) that same year, and rose to mainstream recognition following his performances on the label's Self Made Vol. 1 (2011) compilation album; his song "Tupac Back" (featuring Rick Ross) served as the album's lead single while its follow up, "Ima Boss" (featuring Rick Ross) entered the Billboard Hot 100.
Meek Mill
Meek Millz
Rapper
2006–present
Nicki Minaj (2014–2016)[1]
3
- Roc Nation
- Atlantic
- Dream Chasers
- Maybach Music
- Warner Bros.
- Grand Hustle
- 215 Aphillyated[2]
Meek Mill's debut studio album, Dreams and Nightmares, was released in 2012 through a joint venture with MMG and Warner Bros. Records. The album, preceded by the lead single "Amen" (featuring Drake), peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. His second album, Dreams Worth More Than Money (2015), peaked atop the Billboard 200, while his third album, Wins & Losses (2016), peaked at number three. His fourth album, Championships (2018), debuted atop the chart once more; its lead single, "Going Bad" (featuring Drake), peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains his highest charting song. His fifth album, Expensive Pain (2021), likewise peaked at number three, and his collaborative album with Rick Ross, Too Good to Be True (2023), peaked at number 23. He founded the record label Dream Chasers Records in 2012, which has released his own projects and signed other artists including Yung Bleu, Vory, and Lil Snupe.
In November 2017, Meek Mill was sentenced to two to four years in prison for violating parole, before being released while his trial continued after serving five months. In August 2019, a documentary series about his battle with the criminal justice system, Free Meek, was released on Amazon Prime Video. Jay-Z executive produced the series; he and Meek Mill then co-founded the nonprofit Reform Alliance that same year, which focuses on national prison reform.[4]
Early life
Robert Rihmeek Williams[5] was born on May 6, 1987,[3] in the South Philadelphia area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Kathy Williams. He has an older sister, Nasheema Williams. Kathy grew up in poverty and her mother died when she was young. Meek's father was killed when Meek was five years old, apparently during an attempted robbery. His uncle, Robert, described Meek Mill's father as a "black sheep of the family". After her husband's death, Kathy moved with Meek and his sister to North Philadelphia, where they lived in a three-bedroom apartment on Berks Street. Their financial condition was poor and she started cutting hair, doing other jobs, and shoplifting in order to support her family.[6] At home, Meek was shy and rarely spoke. As a kid, he became acquainted with another of his father's brothers, who under the MC name Grandmaster Nell was a pioneering disc jockey (DJ) in the late-1980s Philadelphia hip-hop scene and influenced rap artists Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Meek's interest in hip-hop grew as a result of these early influences. He was also influenced by the independent hip-hop artists Chic Raw and Vodka, whom he learned to emulate by watching their DVDs.[7][8]
During his early teenage years, Meek often took part in rap battles under the pseudonym Meek Millz. He often stayed up well past midnight filling notebooks with phrases and verses that he later drew on. Later he and three friends formed the rap group The Bloodhoundz. They bought blank CDs and jewel cases at Kinkos, encouraging friends to burn them with the group's songs and distribute them.[8]
Career
2006–2010: Career beginnings
The Bloodhoundz lasted long enough to release four mixtapes.[9] From 2006 to 2008 Mill released three solo mixtapes including The Real Me, The Real Me 2, and Flamers. In 2009, Mill released his fourth solo mixtape, Flamers 2: Hottest in tha City, which spawned the promotional singles "I'm So Fly," "Prolli," and "Hottest in the City." Flamers 2 caught the attention of Charles "Charlie Mack" Alston, founder and president of 215 Aphillyated Records. Mack, who previously represented for other Philadelphians Will Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Boyz II Men and Ms. Jade,[10] was so impressed with Mill that he immediately signed him to his management company. During that same year, Meek Mill also met the founder and owner of Grand Hustle Records, Atlanta-based rapper and record executive T.I.[11] T.I. was also impressed by Mill and offered him an opportunity to travel, to meet with him and Warner Bros. Records; within a week both record companies offered him a deal. Although he was offered other record deals, Mill felt collaborating with T.I. was "an opportunity of a lifetime" and thus chose his label. However, a setback occurred, when Mill was sentenced to a stint in jail for a drug and gun charge.[9]
After being released in 2009, he continued working as an artist under Grand Hustle, Mill formed a work relationship with the label's resident disc jockey, DJ Drama. Mill and Drama teamed up to release the third edition of Mill's Flamers series. The mixtape, titled Flamers 3: The Wait Is Over, was released on March 12, 2010, and is helmed as a "Gangsta Grillz mixtape".[12][13] The mixtape features his promotional single "Rosé Red", which was later remixed with additional verses from fellow American rappers T.I., Rick Ross and Vado.[12] Rick Ross contributed his verse after he was visiting Philadelphia and asked his Twitter followers who he should collaborate with; Meek Mill was the overwhelming response.[12] The remix was included on Mill's following mixtape, Mr. Philadelphia.[14] Due to Mill and T.I.'s respective legal troubles, Mill was never able to release an official album under Grand Hustle and they parted ways in 2010.[15] That same year, a film was released called Streets. A direct-to-DVD crime drama, starring Mill, produced by Alston and directed by Jamal Hill.[16]
2011–2012: Dreams & Nightmares
In February 2011, Rick Ross announced the signing of Mill along with fellow American rapper Wale to his Maybach Music Group (MMG) label. In March 2011, Mill was included in XXL's "Freshman Class of 2011".[17] Later that year, he released his debut single, "Tupac Back", featuring Rick Ross, from his label's compilation album Self Made Vol. 1 (2011). That same year he released his second single, "Ima Boss", also take from the compilation and featuring Ross. The song was later remixed, featuring T.I., Birdman, Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled, Swizz Beatz and Rick Ross. The remix charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 51, becoming Mill's most successful single at that time. In August 2011, Mill released Dreamchasers, a well received mixtape featuring his urban hit "House Party" and guest appearances from Rick Ross, Yo Gotti and Beanie Sigel among others.
In February 2012, MTV listed Meek Mill as the "#7 hottest MC" in their annual "Hottest MCs in the Game" list.[18] On May 7, 2012, Mill released the second installment to his Dreamchasers series.[19] Within six hours of its release on mixtape website DatPiff.com, Dreamchasers 2 was downloaded 1.5 million times.[20] On May 10, it was announced Meek Mill signed with Roc Nation management.[21]
On June 19, 2012, "Amen" - originally included on Dreamchasers 2, was released as the lead single from Mill's debut studio album. Before releasing his debut studio album Dreams & Nightmares, Mill received co-signs from both Mariah Carey and Nas, with him appearing on Carey's 2012 single "Triumphant (Get 'Em)" and the latter stating, "I got my eyes on him. He's the next one to take this shit over." The album was released on October 30, 2012.[22] The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 165,000 copies.[23] In its second week, the album sold 41,000 more copies, dropping six spots on the chart to number eight.[23]
Philanthropy and activism
In 2016, Meek Mill spent $50,000 to donate 60,000 Ice Mountain brand bottled water to contribute to and support the Flint water crisis in Michigan as he teamed up with Big Sean.[92][93][94]
In 2018, following his release from state custody, Mill immediately became a leading advocate of criminal justice reform in the United States,[95] where he transitioned his advocacy into the co-formation of Reform Alliance with fellow recording artist and entrepreneur Jay-Z.[96] The nonprofit organization states its mission is "to dramatically reduce the number of people who are unjustly under the control of the criminal justice system – starting with probation and parole",[97] where it plans on doing so by gathering leaders from various fields such as business, entertainment, government, sports, technology, and more, who have the common interest of donating and advocating for criminal justice reform in the United States. Later, in August 2018, Mill donated 6,000 backpacks to students of Philadelphia.
The founding partners of Reform Alliance, besides Meek Mill and Jay-Z, includes Kraft Group CEO and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Philadelphia 76ers owner Michael G. Rubin, Brooklyn Nets co-owner Clara Wu Tsai, Vista Equity Partners founder Robert F. Smith, as well as other leaders in business, law and politics, whom have collectively pledged a total 50 million dollars to the foundation as of 2019.[98] To lead the organization, Reform hired political activist, and CNN host/political analyst Van Jones as their inaugural CEO.[97]
Feuds
Cassidy
A feud started between Meek Mill and fellow Philadelphia-born rapper Cassidy, when Mill offered to battle several underground rappers including Cassidy. Cassidy would later accept the challenge, adding "if the money was right". They participated in a short social exchange, after which Cassidy released "The Diary of a Hustla", which was originally thought to be a diss track towards Mill. This was later refuted by Cassidy.[99] They both asked $100,000 each for the battle to take place.[100][101] However, after Meek Mill dissed Cassidy's song, "Condom Style" (a remake of Psy's "Gangnam Style"), Cassidy released a formal diss track towards Mill with "Me, Myself & iPhone".[102][103] Afterwards, Meek Mill responded with the diss track "Repo", which Mill later said would be the final diss record he would release against Cassidy.[104]
Cassidy later said the feud was not personal, saying it was all in the spirit of hip hop.[105] On January 6, 2013, Cassidy released a 10-minute-long diss response titled "Raid".[106] Eight months later, on September 5, 2013, Meek Mill released another diss record towards Cassidy, titled "Kendrick You Next". This was despite the fact that he said "Repo" would be his final diss record.[107] Three days later, Cassidy released a diss record titled "Catch A Body", as a response.[108] By 2017, the two rappers had resolved their differences.[109]
Drake
In July 2015, Meek Mill publicly criticized Canadian Toronto-based entertainer Drake on Twitter, calling him out for not writing his own lyrics. In a series of tweets, the rapper claimed his counterpart used a ghostwriter for "R.I.C.O.", a song off Mill's second album, Dreams Worth More Than Money.[110] He also admitted that he was upset that Drake did not promote the album on Twitter, upon its release. "Stop comparing [me to] Drake. He don't write his own raps. That's why he ain't tweet my album because we found out!", Meek Mill commented.[111][112] Meek Mill had identified the ghostwriter as Quentin Miller, a local rapper from Atlanta. Meek Mill's claims received support from Funkmaster Flex, an American hip hop DJ on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. Flex released multiple audio recordings of reference tracks featuring Quentin Miller performing the soon-to-be Drake songs, "10 Bands", "Used To", "Know Yourself" and his guest verse on "R.I.C.O."[113] Drake was later supported by his long-time friend, collaborator and co-founder of OVO Sound, award-winning multi-platinum selling producer Noah "40" Shebib, who claimed that not only does Drake write his own songs, he has also written number-one records for other artists. "No one is as talented as Drake... [there are] countless number ones and songs Drake has written for others never mind himself", 40 said on Twitter.[114]
On July 25, 2015, Drake premiered a track, titled "Charged Up" on the Beats 1 OVO Radio Show that is widely seen as a response to Meek Mill's allegations. Drake highlighted Meek Mill's relatively low sales volume and further claimed that the rapper was fading into obscurity.[115][116] Drake also dissed Funkmaster Flex by promoting his rival DJ Clue?. On July 29, Drake released an aggressive diss track, named "Back to Back", that further attacked Meek Mill. The track, streamed over 500,000 times in 4 hours, heavily suggested that Mill's relationship with Nicki Minaj is lopsided in the latter's favor and also further criticized the former for not responding to "Charged Up" and for only relying on Twitter to attack Drake.[117] The track was released for streaming on the OVO SoundCloud account and on Apple Music.[118] The next day, Meek Mill released a track attacking Drake titled "Wanna Know" through Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97.[119] On "Wanna Know", Meek Mill revealed another reference track, ghostwritten by Quentin Miller for Drake, who he criticized for being soft.[120] Meek Mill also dissed AR-Ab on the track,[121] and claimed that Drake was urinated on inside a movie theatre. Mill then removed the song from SoundCloud and said that he was moving on from his feud with Drake after WWE sent him a cease and desist.[122][123]
On January 30, 2016, Drake released a new diss track aimed at Mill, titled "Summer Sixteen", as the buzz single, used to promote his fourth studio album, Views.[124] Less than fifteen minutes later, Mill released a response track with his cousin and label mate Omelly called "War Pain".[125] The track references several lines from "Summer Sixteen", including an incident in which Drake played "Back to Back" in a public hotel, in which, he had a room directly above Mill. Four months later, Mill released a remix of Fat Joe and Remy Ma's "All the Way Up" with fellow rappers Fabolous and Jadakiss. Meek directly references Drake in several lines of the song, such as "If you didn't write it, don't record it." He also implied that he was in a relationship with Drake's current love interest, Rihanna.[126] Meek Mill and Drake were both respectively endorsed by Burger King and Whataburger for their feud.[127]
After Mill's release from prison in 2018, the feud was officially squashed. Drake was featured on Mill's song "Going Bad", from his post-incarceration album Championships.[128]
The Game
On September 16, 2016, The Game released a five-minute freestyle, "92 Bars", which was rumored to be a diss towards Meek Mill.[129][130] Previously, Mill and Game collaborated on 2015's "The Soundtrack".[131] Hours after the release of "92 Bars", Game admitted that the freestyle was specifically a diss towards Mill. The next day, the two rappers ended up in an Instagram exchange, with The Game cyber-flirting with Meek Mill's girlfriend, Nicki Minaj, as well as accusing Mill of informing the authorities of a robbery involving Sean Kingston.[132] On September 18 Meek Mill released a diss track toward Game, a remix to Young M.A.'s "Ooouuu" with Omelly and fellow Philadelphia-based rapper Beanie Sigel. Two days later, The Game responded with "Pest Control", using the same beat and sending shots at Meek Mill, Omelly, Beanie Sigel, and Sean Kingston.[133][134] In 2018 the two reconciled after Mill's incarceration and subsequent release from prison.[135]
Beanie Sigel
A dispute between Meek Mill and Beanie Sigel ensued on September 26, 2016, when the latter ridiculed the former's intelligence towards him through a radio interview.[136] Minutes after the interview, Sigel was punched on the back of his head by someone who was believed to have been one of Meek Mill's affiliates.[137] Three days later Mill criticized Sigel through many derogatory Instagram messages.[138] Later Mill dissed Sigel, The Game and Drake in a freestyle on Funkmaster Flex's radio show.[139] Sigel responded by releasing a diss track titled "I'm Coming".[140] In November 2018, Sigel supported Mill's album, Championships, stating there were "no skips" on the album, assumably ending the dispute between the two.[141]
6ix9ine
In an interview with Power 106 in November 2018, when Meek Mill was asked about rapper 6ix9ine, who was arrested on racketeering, weapons and drugs charges earlier that month, he spoke about wanting to warn him of the consequences of his antics.[142][143][144] In January 2019, after it was revealed that 6ix9ine would be cooperating with prosecutors, Meek tweeted that he already predicted that 6ix9ine would do so,[144] and would continually diss him for that. After 6ix9ine was released earlier from prison in 2020, he and Mill continued to take shots at each other; at one time Mill called 6ix9ine's song "Gooba" "trash".[143] In June 2020, 6ix9ine criticized Mill for releasing his protest song, "Otherside of America", while not "protesting".[145] On February 14, 2021, the rappers got into an altercation outside an Atlanta club, in which 6ix9ine clowned Mill for having security around him and lunged at them, but was stopped by Mill's security. Both rappers posted videos of the incident.[146][147] On February 19, 2021, 6ix9ine released a diss track towards Mill, titled "Zaza", with a music video that includes a clip of the altercation.[148] In response, Mill issued a cease and desist to 6ix9ine.[149]
Other feuds
In August 2013, Mill was one of the many rappers mentioned by Kendrick Lamar on his guest verse on Big Sean's "Control". Lamar touted himself as the king of both coasts and threatened to "murder" the rappers he mentioned, despite being associated with them before.[150] During a performance at a music festival in New York City, Mill sent derogatory messages to Lamar.[151] On September 9, 2013, Mill later released "Ooh, Kill 'Em", a response to Lamar's verse on "Control".[152][153]
In October 2013, Mill instigated an argument on social media with fellow Maybach Music Group artist Wale for not backing him up in his feud with Cassidy, despite the fact that Cassidy had dissed Wale and several others Meek and Wale were affiliated with. He also criticized Wale for not helping him support his second studio album.[154] Two years later their dispute reignited after Wale sided with Drake over Mill during their high-profile feud.[155][156] The following year, after a long talk with their mentor Rick Ross, Mill and Wale ended their feud and released a duet, "Make It Work", on July 8, 2016.[157]
Mill's dispute with AR-Ab ensued after the former's rival, Drake, referenced the latter on his song "Back to Back", saying, "I waited four days, nigga, where y'all at? I drove here in the Wraith playin' AR-Ab." AR-Ab appeared on VladTV in August 2015, said he had not signed to Drake's OVO Sound, and sided with him. He was also disappointed at Mill's response, since he called out AR-Ab on "Wanna Know", the response to Drake's diss track. On August 6, during a performance at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, Mill responded, "fuck AR-Ab" and questioned his allegiance to an out-of-town rapper. AR-Ab responded by releasing his own version of "Back to Back" on August 8, which disses Mill and also contains violent lyrics threatening to unleash his "shooters" on Mill.[158][159][160] In response, Meek's cousin and Dream Chasers signee Omelly released his own version of "Back to Back" that dissed AR-Ab. AR-Ab did another interview on VladTV and said Mill was too scared to respond himself and Omelly was the "softest one on Dream Chasers". He also said he would not respond to Omelly's diss because he was a "worker".[161] In January 2016 AR-Ab revealed that he and Mill had talked it out and their feud was now over.[162]
On January 25, 2016, Mill dissed his record label boss Rick Ross's long-time nemesis, 50 Cent, on his extended play, 4/4 (not counting the remix to Drake and Future's "I'm the Plug").[163] After hearing the EP, 50 Cent replied with a set of over 22 memes, including one where he said that he should run to his girlfriend at the time, Nicki Minaj, and cry to her.[164] Mill disparaged 50 in a direct message, ridiculing his case involving Ross's ex-girlfriend, followed up by his bankruptcy case.[165] On January 30, 2016, Mill dissed 50 again on "War Pain", in the middle of his verse, saying, "My Philly boys will creep up on you when you ain't looking, with your little memes."[166] The next day, 50 and several members of his group, G-Unit, counter-dissed Mill at a concert.[167]
On June 30, 2016, Joe Budden dissed Mill and Drake on "Making a Murderer, Pt. 1", a counter-diss to Drake's "4PM in Calabasas", as well as on his guest verse to French Montana's "No Shopping".[168]
Studio albums
Collaborative albums
