In 2012, Philly native Meek Mill dropped his debut album after a slew of features and free material via mixtapes. Quickly gaining recognition for his fierce flow, incredible energy and street bars; Meek has become one of the nicest rappers in the game. Though his lyrics don’t speak to everyone, his core audience (the streets) fux with him heavy and that’s evident in cases where he sells out massive arenas in his hometown. Dreams and Nightmares had some of his best tracks including the title track/intro which was quickly crowned one of the best intro’s in the rap game. On June 29th the MMG signee dropped his follow up sophomore album titled Dreams Worth More Than Money after a 6 month stint in jail. After listening to the album one thing is certain, Meek Mill is not going anywhere anytime soon.
The day the album dropped, iTunes fulfilled my pre-order and I synced the album onto my phone before I clicked play on my laptop. I hopped in the whip and swerved the whole way to work bumping DWMTM loudly. The sophomore effort from Meek Milly starts off with a triumphant track backed by a orchestra sample and grand drums. Meek matches the beats intensity with tales of his struggle, rise, return to jail and finally return to rap. The track goes for just over 5 minutes and sets the tone for the rest of the album thematically. Following ‘Lord Knows’ is a Bangladesh produced track titled ‘Classic’ featuring Swizz Beatz and Jeremih (though he doesn’t get an official featured title he is credited in the liner notes). Easily one of the best tracks from the album ‘Classic’ is a hype track with a nasty drum arrangment. Meek effortlessly raps over the beat switching up his flow to ride the beat perfectly. Swizz adds some adlibs and assists with the hook, but really the beat and Meek’s bars would have been enough to make this a classic.
The Future assisted ‘Jump out the Face’ bangs in the whip and surely the Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown features will get Meek popping on the radio but nevertheless, he stays true to his core with bangers like R.I.C.O. featuring Drake. Produced by Vinylz, track 6 is a solid cut for your crew to party to with lines from Drake like “everyone home for the summer, so let’s not do nothing illegal” and “cause we in the field with them birds like we play for the Eagles” from Meek. ‘Ambitionz’ samples Pac’s ‘Ambitionz az a Ridah’ and The Weeknd lends himself to ‘Pullin Up’ which brings the XO kid’s sound to Philly. Earlier this year we heard Meek go in on ‘Monster’ that was released as a loosie for buzz but ‘Check’ from the new album sounds like a perfect sequel. The chant-like hook is guaranteed to have the clubs turnt up with crowds yelling “check, check, check, check”.
All in all, this album is a solid sophomore effort from Meek. There is definitely a lot less clutter or filler tracks like the previous albums ‘Young and Getting It’. The nauseating auto tune on the Kirko Bangz assisted hook was an easy skip. But this album is an easy listen through. From front to back, start to finish, Dreams Worth More Than Money is Meek’s best attempt at mainstreet rap (Ha! Coined!). No wonder the kid from Philly held the number 1 spot for two weeks and has almost gone gold. With excellent beat selection, sharp bars and unmatched energy Meek has a great follow up on his hands. Well done Meek, keep bringing it.
Buy the album here.
