What's wrong with it? Jay Z was a street rapper and he had a girlfriend.” “You can't be hard all the time, man,” he told Billboard in an interview last year. He almost certainly would love to graduate from his tough-guy street persona, but it’s as if he feels his core audience won’t let him.
He’s still prone to the occasional exhibition of garden-variety homophobia, but at least since he’s been in a relationship with Nicki Minaj, there’s been a noticeable reduction in misogyny. His history with actual “gangsta shit” may have boosted his credibility-and profile-but now, it seems to be holding him back. On DC4, Meek Mill is caught between his old life and his new one.
Meek mill dreamchasers chain serial#
Even the serial story of “Tony Story 3” is mired in hoary gangsta tropes. And while he’s capable of detail-rich narratives, he never manages to focus on any one thought long enough to say anything of substance. But on record, with his volume always cranked to 10, it really only works in small doses. His energy at shows, honed from years of street-corner battles, is infectious. He’s 2016’s version of Bad Boy’s “ Madd Rapper”-mad cuz he’s not getting enough “Shine,” mad cuz he didn’t get a tweet from the game’s biggest star. No matter the tone or mood of the beat he’s rhyming over, his rhymes are yelled rather than rapped. He takes a welcome left turn with the blues-guitar driven “Blue Notes,” built off a Snowy White sample, and puts on up-and-coming R&B crooner Guordan Banks with the Pusha T-featuring “Two Wrongs.”īut when it comes to his rhymes, there’s little variety in his style. The features are a good indication of the sound he’s adopted, with guest appearances from Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, 21 Savage, and Migos’ Quavo. And DC4 may have benefitted further from the relatively delayed release The track list is loaded from top to bottom with bangers from young producers such as Sound M.O.B. Meek’s beat selection has always been impressive, especially considering his prolific output. If he started from the bottom, now that he’s here, what else does he have to say? After more than a dozen releases, Meek Mill is really just a struggle rapper that made it. Struggle rappers are constantly underestimated, dropping countless releases, scrapping for every ounce of recognition they can get.
Or as he puts it, “Stickin’ to the basics.”Īnd if there’s a knock on Meek, it’s just that-he’s basic. The opening bars serve as a prologue for the rest of the record, listing the things he will rap about: selling dope, going to court, wearing jewelry, drinking alcohol, having sex, smoking high-quality marijuana. Taking a cue from Nas & Puffy, he starts off with nothing less dramatic than the “O Fortuna”-sampling “On the Regular,” produced by Lex Luger protege MP808. He brings that energy to every one of his songs, and DC4 is no different. With the deck stacked against him from day one, his American Dream was laser-focused on climbing out of the South Philadelphia ghetto that claimed his father’s life. His Philly heroes in the State Property crew rapped as tough as they looked, and his hip-hop education played out on street corners. Meek’s struggle is quintessentially American. Conceptually, it’s the fourth in his Dreamchasers series, a concept that defines both his side ventures and his identity. It’s ostensibly a mixtape, but it’s for sale on iTunes, suggesting the samples were cleared.
But that LP, DC4, inspires more questions than answers.
0 kommentar(er)
