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MEEK MILL - The DOPE MAG Interview
May 20, 2012 5 commentsLast Summer Executive Editor ToneSwep sat down with MMG’s MEEK MILL to discuss Outworking Everybody, Having his own Lane, and why Loyalty is at the core of his Lyrics.
Images by Joe Rivera for 305 Media Group
Here is an Excerpt from the Full Length Interview
(ToneSwep: TS) MMG may as well stand for Meek Mill Grind. You’re signed to the hottest label in Hip Hop right now. The newest regime. From Flamerz to Famous… was this all part of the plan?
(Meek Mill: MM) Yeah, we’ve been planning to get to this point. Ross put it together. He came to me like ‘Out work anybody. You’ll be on top’. So I’m running with that.
(TS) The 2008 jail stint could have been a career-ending setback for you. You see talented cats like Shyne and Mysonne, even Slick Rick back in the day, whose careers never fully recovered from their time down. How did you take the negative and make it positively affect your career?
(MM) I wasn’t in jail that long. That was part of it. I was doing months. Nine months. Shyne did like 10 years. Anybody do more than five years (in jail) they’re not gone be the same when they get home. People change. Places change. So you’re at a disadvantage. Fortunately, I did mine and was able to change directions.
(TS) Gangsta rap here in Cali. Street sh!t round your way in Philly. But with the Big Sean’s, Wiz Khalifa’s, Kid Cudi’s, J. Cole’s and Drake’s did you feel our street element was missing from Hip Hop? The hood sermons and urban testimonies from a straight street point of view?
(MM) Yeah, I don’t feel that there’s a young street N!99a out there bringin’ what I’m bringing. Like Jeezy, Jay-Z, 50, and T.I when they came in. I’m in there with that young real sh!t. But this street sh!t is all I ever knew. My content is based on more realistic things. Sh!t that happens on a day-in-day-out basis in these hoods. At the same time, I like the sh!t Soulja Boy does. I know how to do that too. That’s taking it down, having fun. Letting listeners have fun with the song. But I know how to take it up when it needs to be took up. If I’m doing a song with Eminem, I have to take it up. If I’m on with Soulja Boy, I have fun with the record ‘cuz that’s his style of music.
(TS) Loyalty is a theme heard in many of your lyrics. Seen in your videos. Especially on the “Moment 4 Life (freestyle)” and your mixtape and viral material. Where is that sense of a street code of ethics coming from?
(MM) It comes from my life. People caught up in telling. People changing sides. That’s what I live and have lived. I decided to put in on the “Moment 4 Life” beat because it sounded right. I like that track and it was a good match for the type sh!t I was spittin’ on there.
(TS) You signing to MMG and Ross reminds me of 50 signing to Aftermath and Dr. Dre back in ’02. Been like 10 years ago. You feel this move you made is on that level? Of that magnitude?
(MM) Yeah, I feel like it’s that big. Definitely that big. Or even bigger. No limit. I feel like I can be bigger than anyone who has ever done this. And I’m supposed to feel that way. Ross bringing me to MMG can be legend shit. I’ma work until it is.
(TS) Are you still in the streets? If so, how do you stay on the block without letting the block, block what you’re trying to do beyond the streets?
(MM) (Laughs!) Ha! You spit it just then. Yeah, I be in the streets every day. Any time I’m home. But I’m not gone go to my mom’s home with 20 people around me. No cameras around following me through the hood. None of that type shit. But I do stop, pullover and speak to my people ‘cuz that’s me. That’s what they know me to do.
(TS) Flamerz to Famous. Will it change you? And if so, how?
(MM) If I make a lot of money it’s gone have to change me. I won’t be able to be around the same people as much. Can’t be in the same places as often. I’ll have different responsibilities. But I’m still the same person, you know. Some people may not be comfortable with that I’m not around those same places all the time. They’ll adjust.
(TS) Man you’re only 24-years-old. 50, Jay-Z, Kanye, these guys are older but you’re well positioned to reach their status even earlier. You ready?
(MM) I’m ready for anything. God don’t put nothing on your shoulders that you can’t hold up. So, with that, I’m ready. At the same time, I know I got a lotta work ahead of me. So I’m working. But I know I’m at a good point. I’m making the most of it every day.
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