Meek Mill FADER Cover + Story

America Is Brutal And Meek Mill Is A Hero

Cover Story: Meek Mill is one of
Our generation's greatest street rappers
But can he thrive in the mainstream?

Meek Mill leans forward into the
Glow of his computer screen
His expression unreadable behind a
Pair of gold sunglasses
It's April, well after two in the morning
And we're packed into a narrow recording
Studio in Burbank, California
The same studio where the 28-year-old rapper
From Philadelphia has spent most other
Nights this year the building is
Hidden in a residential neighborhood
Behind a high
Automatic gate the room reeks of
Berry-flavored blunt wraps and has a murky
Claustrophobic atmosphere
Like what I imagine it must
Feel like to be aboard a submarine, albeit
One with a bar stocked with bottles of Ciroc
And bowls of red grapes members of
Meek's entourage
Old friends who he now semi-employs
For a variety of unspecific tasks
Drift in and out of sleep in the next room

The same two tracks have been
Playing on loop for
Several minutes, as Meek and
Nicki Minaj, his girlfriend, argue
Gently over which song should be
Released as a single
From his sophomore album, Dreams
Worth More Than Money
Which he's scheduled to complete within the
Week because the couple can't seem
To agree, Nicki, who is dressed in a black
T-shirt that says "FEELING
MYSELF, " cheerfully suggests that they poll
The room the producer, Bangladesh, crouched
Over his MacBook, cocks his head to
The side the engineer, Cruz, who
Has been dropping ice cubes into the
Base of an enormous hookah
Puts down his tongs

For the single
Meek wants an irrefutable pop song
"I can see a crowd of people singing it, "
He says of his pick
Which they're tentatively calling "Bad"
He waves his lighter
In the air and sways as it
Plays through for her part
Nicki has been pleading with
Him to trust her proven pop instincts, which
Are leaning firmly toward the other option
"All Eyes on You" "Your voice sounds
Ill, the flow sounds ill, " she says "This
Is going to get played on the radio
It's a no-brainer" Both
Songs are slow-burning, sensual
Ballads that seem slightly at odds with
Meek's traditionally louder, brasher sound
But this is part
Of the project of the new record, as
He explains it: to present an "older
More experienced Meek Mill"

Dreams Worth More Than Money was originally
Scheduled to be released last
Year, but it was pushed back
By Meek's label, Atlantic
After he was sentenced to
Six months in prison
(He has been on probation since
2008 for a gun charge
And was sentenced last July for not
Communicating with the court to
It's satisfaction) Though he
Admit's he's "getting anxious" about
The looming deadline
He's clearly not thrilled at the
Idea of finishing it
Via focus group "Only one person in the
Room knows how to make a Meek Mill record
" he says, stating the obvious still
He plays along

"All in favor of the first single being ‘Bad
' put your hands up, " Nicki says
Standing up to count the votes
No one moves "All in favor of ‘All Eyes on
You'?" She is persuasive
Making hip-hop work in the pop world is
Her specialty, after all hands come up
One by one "Oh my god, Rihmeek, "
Nicki groans exaggeratedly, invoking Meek's
Middle name for effect "Every hand went up
Baby now you got a roomful of honest opinions
You can take it or leave it"

He leaves it either betrayed or bemused
It's always difficult to tell
Meek is done he turns back
To his computer screen
Waving off the vote as
Pointless "Honest opinions is cool
" he says "But my mind's made up"
He laughs a little, and at that
At least for the night
The conversation is over one afternoon
We take a break from the studio
To shoot photos for this magazine
And drive north up the Pacific
Coast Highway in a black limousine van
Heading for a secluded cove in
Malibu called El Matador Beach
Opposite the sea are endless rows
Of palms trees, adobe mansions
And scattered construction vehicles lining
The base of the
Santa Monica Mountains in the van, I
Sit beside Meek's personal stylist, Sade
Who tells me
That Meek rarely wears the same shoes twice
Anymore especially his Timberlands, she says
Which are "one wear" only meek is stretched
Out in the seat behind us, fast
Asleep and snoring lightly with his mouth
Open occasionally we hit a bump
And he wakes up with a start

These days he divides his time
Between Los Angeles and Miami
Living entirely out of luxury
Hotels at the moment, he's
Staying in a five-star establishment
In Beverly Hills, where the décor
Is a disorienting maze of
Mirrors and black tile
And the room service menu includes bottles of
Champagne in the $400 range when he's
In album mode, he spends every
Night in the studio
Usually working until seven
Or eight in the morning and sleeping
Until mid-afternoon in the daylight
He often
Appears exhausted and physically drained
Of his three-year-old
Son, who still lives in Philly
He admit's that he sees him "not
As much as I should
But we make it worth it"

Meek isn't the only one anxious to finish
His album on the trip to Malibu, he is
Surrounded, as he is most days, by a
Small cadre of management
And marketing professionals
Each of them with a stake in
His career there are representatives from
His management firm, Roc Nation
His record label
Atlantic Records and Maybach Music Group
A subsidiary of Atlantic plus
His own longtime
Manager, Phil Smith, an older
No nonsense problem-solver from back home
Who wears thick glasses, a white
T-shirt, and seems perpetually
Mysteriously tense

We park alongside the highway and
Walk to the edge of
A steep cliff overlooking the beach
Seagulls seem to be
Flying directly underneath us meek's good
Friend Chino Braxton a spry
18-year-old professional supercross rider who
Meek discovered online and
Signed to his imprint, Dream Chasers
As it's first and only athlete peers over
The cliff's edge and grimaces at the
Ocean "That's some scary shit
" he says meek rubs
His hands together, kicks some
Pebbles over the edge, and agrees

Meek descends the winding clay path
Down to the beach below, which is
Dotted with caves and huge, alien rock
Formations saint-like in pure white, he's
Photographed as he walks not only by us
But by everyone else who
Happens to be at the beach
Today young teenagers with iPhones
Couples relaxing on bright towels everyone
Snaps a photo even those
Who don't immediately recognize him
Seem to know that
They should as if to strike back
Against the flurry of amateur paparazzi
Meek pulls out his own phone and
Takes a picture of a
Couple posing for wedding photos on
A grassy outcropping later
That day, I notice he's posted it
On his Instagram, with the caption
"They getting married on
A hill in Malibu" By the next morning, for
Whatever reason, it will receive over 40
000 likes

"It ain't really time to get married
Yet we're still learning each other
Feeling each other out" Meek Mill

Meek has been established as an
Artist for some time now
Well known to faithful rap fans
As a demanding stylist with great promise
But it is only in the last
Several months that he has
Emerged as something else, a public figure
On the national stage though it
Seems cynical to say so
This can partially be attributed to
His prison sentence: his
Months behind bars only added to
The sense of anticipation and
Aura surrounding his music and
Also helped to clarify, in the minds
Of his audience
That there is something solemn and
Significant at stake for
Meek in all of this it gave his
Career a narrative arc
However tragic or unstable it also gave
Him ample time to consider
His goals in prison, one of his
Friends told me
Meek "never mentioned the money or
The endorsements he lost
What he talked about was the way he was
Going to handle his business when
He got out he said
He was going to make it bigger than ever
And that's what he did"

Since his release, Meek has also become a
Person of interest to the tabloid press
Who have been
Enthusiastically tracking his movements with
Half-true stories about parties
He threw and grudges he holds most recently
His relationship with Nicki Minaj has
Been the subject of rigorous speculation
With various outlets reporting that a
Ring he bought her in
Miami was an engagement ring
It wasn't "It's definitely
Real, " he says of their relationship
"but it ain't really
Time to get married yet we're
Still learning each other
Feeling each other out" Not that it
Matters: the story has been
Printed meek's grandmother has been calling
Him about that one
("Whatever she sees on TV, she
Believes, " he says) , and
Other celebrities, most notably Drake, have
Started congratulating them publicly
Lending credence to the idea

From the perspective of his label
Anything that keeps Meek in the news is a net
Positive he could always use
The help meek's first
Studio album, 2012's Dreams and Nightmares
Debuted at #2 on the Billboard
Charts and went on to sell
A few hundred thousand copies
But it wasn't the blockbuster some had hoped
For his singles have had extraordinary reach
But not always in a manner conducive
To chart success or to the
Label making money the YouTube views
Are there, that is
But the songs haven't always made it to
ITunes in time to monetize
The hype his income
Comes mostly from touring
And promotional deals
Like product placement in
Music videos and his personalized
Gold chrome painted Monster headphones
You could say
He embodies the challenges and contradictions
Of the present day music
Industry's relationship with street
Rap: Meek has made a fortune for himself
But it remains to be seen whether he
Can do the same for Atlantic Records

In Malibu, as the sun goes down, Meek
Storms the beach with furious confidence
Stomping on sand castles and leaping
Off sharp rocks at the
Edge of the surf someone has
Brought a portable speaker
Along to set the mood
And the rumbling beats only add to
The sense that we are disrupting
Everyone's peaceful evening in his music
This is Meek's
Default setting: disruption, a
Kind of irrepressible
Fluid abandon it's there in
His personality, too
But only in flashes back
At the top of the cliff, meek notices
A small rabbit in the dry brush "See
That rabbit right there?" he asks us
His eyes glowing "What color is
It?" asks Chino, suddenly excited it's brown
Meek makes his approach slowly, carefully
And takes a photo with
His phone then with both hands, he mimes a
Rifle, lines up the rabbit in his sights
And fires

A self-produced 2010 documentary
About Meek's life, released
To accompany his mixtape Mr philadelphia
Covers the subject of
His father's murder in some
Depth it was South
Philadelphia, 1989 meek, who was
Born Robert Williams
Was a toddler his uncle Ronald is
Interviewed in the film and
Describes his brother as the "black
Sheep of the family" Ronald
Was at work when he got the
Phone call telling him his brother
Had been shot it had apparently
Occurred during an attempted robbery
Though the details have remained
Unclear over the years ronald drove to the
Scene and found a crowd surrounding
His brother's body, which lay in the
Street, "motionless" He remembers it vividly
Remembers seeing the "bottom of
His sneaker hanging
Out from under that white blanket"

Meek's mother, Kathy Williams, moved him
And his older sister, Nasheema, to North
Philly, where they lived in a small
Three-bedroom apartment on Berks Street
Not far from Temple University kathy
Had grown up in poverty, her mother
Having passed away when she was
Young to support the family
She cut hair and worked other jobs
As they presented themselves
"boosting" from the
Supermarket when they didn't at home
Meek was shy and rarely spoke growing up, he
Felt the pull of South Philly
Where most of his extended family still lived
Where his father had lived as
He'd later put it, jarringly, in the
2008 song "First of All
" I fell in love with the
Streets I lost my dad to

As a kid, Meek became acquainted with
Another of his dad's brothers
A pioneering local DJ known as Grandmaster
Nell if you were to plug
The details of Meek's life into
A hero's journey structure, nell would
Be the early mentor, the wise
Guru he looks the part
With an oddly shaped beard
And sage's demeanor
That give him the aura of a
Desert mystic nell was a legendary figure in
The Philadelphia hip-hop scene of the
Late-'80s, an innovator on the
Turntables and a
Crucial influence on DJ Jazzy Jeff, who
With fellow Philly native Will Smith
Would win the
First-ever Grammy for Best Rap Performance
In 1989 meek remembers wandering
Into his grandmother's
Basement and seeing spray paint
All over the walls
The remnants of Nell's parties he
And his cousins would
Sneak into his uncle's room, he told me
And "he'd have all the equipment in
There the turntables
The big speakers and we'd turn it all on"

"Everybody don't always make it
But there's always that guy back in
The hood that was the
Shit and inspired the people that
Did make it" Meek Mill
By the time Meek started
Trying to rap himself
The landscape of Philly hip-hop
Had changed, darkened
Shifting toward a model
Of rappers as gritty, strong-willed realists
Morally complicit in the fallen environment
They document in
The late '90s and early 2000s
The Philadelphia rappers everyone
Idolized were Beanie
Sigel and his State Property crew
Including locals Freeway and Peedi Crakk
There was also Major Figgas, Gillie Da
Kid, Diamond District, Chic Raw, and Vodka
"Everybody don't always make it, " Meek
Says of his hometown scene
"but there's always that guy
Back in the hood that was the shit
And inspired the people that did make
It" If his uncle was that guy for
The Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff
Early aughts street rappers like Chic Raw
And Vodka were those guys
For Meek he watched their DVDs
Religiously and emulated them

You can find videos online of
Meek's early teenage years
When he would battle rap on street
Corners in a hoodie
His hair pulled back into
Cornrows "I was just learning my flow
" he says of this period
And he was also learning to write he'd
Stay up well past midnight filling thick
Notebooks "rap books" with phrases
And verses that he'd
Later draw on "Everything
Was about competition, "
He says of his battling years
"and it helped shape some us growing up
It makes you ambitious as a kid"
He formed a group called Bloodhoundz
And they'd buy blank CDs and jewel cases at
Kinkos, encouraging friends to burn copies
To spread around "If
You hear the quality of it, it's terrible
" he says "But people was feeling me at
The time that was some raw shit
Spending our last money putting
A mixtape out"

Meek's greatest leap forward came
In the couple of years spanning his solo
Flamers mixtape series, the
First of which was released in the summer
Of 2008 the centerpiece was a skittish
Hypnotic song called "In My Bag" It
Was his first real regional hit
He made a music video for the song and
Even worried briefly that
He couldn't top it's success it
Led directly to his
Meeting the Philly music scene
Impresario Charlie Mack
Immortalized in the Fresh Prince and
Jazzy Jeff song "Charlie Mack
(1st Out of the Limo)
" who's credited with discovering Boyz I I
Men (and now Meek) "He was with me when I was a kid
" Meek says of his former manager
With whom he parted ways amicably
A few years ago "He
Raised me through the game" From the
Release of the first Flamers volume
It took Meek roughly two years to go
From a period he now remembers as
A time of "black-eyed peas and hot dogs
For dinner" to his local reign
When he was suddenly "Mr philadelphia
" the hottest in the city looking
Back, you can actually
Pinpoint this transition, the very moment
Meek realized he could do this
Forever: he marked it
By cutting his hair he'd always worn it
In braids, but he never would again "It was
Time to start fitting in, get cleaned up
" he says of this decision "I
Was about to be on TV"

One night, Meek and I meet up at a
Seafood restaurant not far from his hotel
Where we are joined at the
Last minute by Rick Ross
His longtime mentor and boss at
Maybach Music Group the place is
Dimly lit and pretentious
The kind of restaurant where waiters
Make a point to say "quite so"
Rather than "yes" Flowing across the
Length of the floor is a glass-covered
Stream filled with live koi
We climb the stairs to a table
On the second floor and
Run into TI, who is dressed
Nondescriptly in a gray hoodie
And who throws open his arms to pull in Meek
For a bear hug it's the sort of
Coincidence that might seem more
Startling were we not
In a five-star restaurant in Beverly Hills

Like most people Meek has
Crossed paths with lately
TI excitedly congratulates him on
His engagement "I ain't
Engaged, " Meek says sheepishly
But TI isn't having
Any of it "You never asked her
‘Will you be my girlfriend?'
But she is your girlfriend, " he says
"You may not have asked her
‘Will you marry me?' But
You are engaged" Meek shrugs
Unable to argue with this
Logic "I've said my part, " TI says
Backing away with his hands up "As long
As you know what's going on"

It was TI who originally tried to sign Meek
To his Grand Hustle imprint in 2008
Before his own prison sentence ensured
That he wouldn't be
Around to shepherd the younger rapper in
The ways he needed this is
Where Rick Ross stepped in ross models
Himself as a paternalistic mogul
A self made empire-builder in
The tradition of Uncle
Luke or Birdman he credit's Twitter with
His discovery of Meek stopping in
Philadelphia for a concert, ross asked his
Twitter followers to recommend a local
Artist he should work with
And the response was rapid and
Near unanimous "At that
Moment, " Ross tells me
"you would've thought Meek was the only
Rapper in Philly" The local
DJ Cosmic Kev connected the two of them
And to Meek's surprise
Ross followed through
Eventually offering him a contract

"Ross changed my life he changed
My whole family's lives
" Meek says over a plate of
Roasted crab and garlic noodles "Ross
Met my grandma a lot of
Times she thinks Rick Ross
Is her boyfriend she's like, ‘Where my baby
At?'" Ross smiles "That's my baby girl, " he
Says, taking a bite out of a crab puff
When Meek returned to prison last year
Ross visited him he recalls trudging
Along the fence with
Meek, who wore a yellow jumpsuit and was
Openly despondent "I heard
His disappointment, " Ross says "The
Rage he felt that he
Couldn't communicate his situation
In the courtroom i remember telling him
‘You're not going to
Make this a personal fight'" As
They walked the yard
The other inmates noticed the
Two rappers together and
Began banging on the walls in
Tribute "You just started
Hearing that beating go around
The whole building, " Ross says the guards
Requested that he leave

Meek remains frustrated by the
Way he's been treated
By the system even the original gun charge
Which has haunted him
Now for years, is a matter of context as he
Sees it "My dad got killed in South Philly
" he explains "Ain't nobody save
Him the cops didn't save him, and I don't
Even think about the cops saving me
So I just took action to protect
Myself" Ever since then, he says
He's been trapped in a structure
That makes no effort to appreciate
His sacrifices, his worth, or his
Ambition "When you're telling me I'm
Not shit, " he says
"you got to look at it from my point of view
I always wanted to say this
To the judge: ‘Think about
Your son if your son grew
Up in the neighborhood, and his father
Was dead, but he's able to rise up above it
All and start taking care
Of you, your mother, and your whole family?
He's taking responsibility' So when you got
A white lady in a
Courtroom, who don't know you from
A can of paint
Saying I'm not shit and I need to
Be put in jail? That's offensive
To me i look at that as
Racism i take that personally"

This is a feeling embedded in Meek's music
A bleak awareness that his own society
Doesn't value him it's most upfront in
Songs like 2013's "Lil Nigga Snupe
" a chilling track inspired by
The murder of the
18-year-old Louisiana rapper
Lil Snupe, who, like Chino Braxton
Had been discovered by
Meek and signed to his label instead of
Pedantry or certainty, Meek
Offers a profound
Deeply human ambiguity: So what's a
Nigga ‘sposed to do?
Tell ‘em put the guns down
Or tell lil nigga shoot?
Cause they'll do the same to me
Do the same shit to you it's
A question that's often just below
The surface in Meek's music: what
Are we supposed to do?

The challenge for Meek, going forward
Will be to continue producing
Material like "Snupe"
Difficult songs addressing difficult
Issues that resonate
With the community that propelled
Him to success in the first place while also
Reaching for the kind of mass
Pop-cultural relevance that he, Nicki
And Atlantic Records all believe him
To be capable of judging by the portion of
The album he played in the studio, meek
Doesn't see these worlds as contradictory
There are clear pop efforts
Like the two songs that Meek and
Nicki argued over that night in the studio
But they are part of a larger texture
No more or less important than
Anything else confessional
Wounding songs recount providing for
His mother and sister songs with halting
Jazz-like piano riffs and drums fall
Over themselves and never
Entirely cohere hazy
Impressionistic ballads feature hooks
Sung by Future
And there's an operatic anthem that
Meek says he likes because it
Reminds him of ancient Rome

"Monster, " a single Meek put
Out this past winter, finds him
Reflecting on the darker implications of
His current situation nocturnal, rich, and
Restless the money turned me to a monster
He says repeatedly on
The hook i ask him about this song at dinner
And he tells me that he
Means the sentiment "in
A good and bad way being who
I am, in my position
You can't just be nice you have to give
People some direction you got to be
A monster" I tell him this seems surprisingly
Dark, and he nods rick Ross
Reaching across the table for another crab
Puff, agrees "It's all dark, " he says

When Meek needs a refuge from the pressure of
The studio and his bourgeoning public life
He turns to dirt bikes his
Cousin gave him his
First dirt bike in his early
Teens, a green Kawasaki KX80, and he's
Been street-riding ever since fans have come
To associate him with riding
Illegal on the street but
Increasingly popular in
Urban areas all over the
Country this past March, on
The night of his "Welcome
Back" concert in Philadelphia
Around 70 dirt bikes and ATVs
Were confiscated by the Philadelphia
Police, who had gotten wind that a "ride
Out" was being held in Meek's honor
Almost anytime he travels now
Including during
A recent trip to the Bahamas
He requests that someone find him a bike

One afternoon in LA, still bleary-eyed from
The studio session the night before
Meek and Chino rent two Yamaha four-wheeler
ATVs and have them driven
Downtown to an industrial neighborhood in
The Arts District meek, who I
Had watched earlier in the afternoon
Pay cash for the $2, 000 jacket he's
Wearing, grabs a can of gasoline and
Pours it not at all
Carefully into the vehicle's tank, spilling
Some over the edges chino, grinning in
A way that seems alarming
Grabs one of the ATV's grips and starts
Revving the engine in encouragement at
The slightest smell of gasoline
Meek's stress and fatigue
Seem instantly diminished

They chose this block because
It's relatively desolate
("I don't think cops go down there, "
Was how they phrased it)
But it turns out to be a common
Route for semi-trucks as Meek and
Chino get used to the
ATVs, racing them quickly up
And down the street
They begin weaving in and
Out of the lumbering
Trucks they get increasingly brazen
Driving doughnuts that leave wide black
Orbs of burnt rubber in
The pavement placing their knees
Firmly on the backs of the seats
They pull up their handlebars until
The ATVs stand vertically
On their back wheels teenagers and
Construction workers gather to watch
Taking photos with their phones
After about an hour
A group of six or seven other
Riders pull up on their own bikes at first
Meek seems wary
("Usually when you run into some dudes you
Don't know in a back lot, it's
About something, " he will tell me later)
But they reveal themselves as fans
Saying they'd seen Meek riding
On Instagram moments before
And recognized from the photos that he
Must have been nearby soon the street fills
Up with fumes and roaring engines and
Blurred movement it's chaos
And at the center of it all is
Meek, by this time completely awake
And in his element
Waving his arms like the conductor of a
Dissonant symphony he smiles bigger than I
Have ever seen him smile, and then he
Hops on the back of Chino's ATV and
They speed off around the corner
Leaving the rest of us in a
Cloud of sparks and dust