Outspoken Meek Mill seeks chart glory with DC4

Robert Rihmeek Williams was a quiet child. He was shy and hardly spoke. Now known as the rap star Meek Mill, young Robert must have been saving up his allocation of words because Meek certainly has plenty to say.
Some of his words have gotten him into trouble. He has been in well-publicised disputes with a host of individuals ranging from music stars such as Drake, The Game and Beanie Sigel to the Reverend Jomo K Johnson, a pastor in Meek’s home city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He has also been involved in a succession of legal problems since 2005. These began when the then 18-year-old Meek was arrested for illegally possessing a firearm. During the course of his arrest, Meek claims he was severely beaten by two black police officers. Their version says he chased the officers and tried to kill them. The case resulted in Meek being placed on probation.
In 2008, he was jailed for drug dealing and gun possession. Repeated violations of his probation and parole agreements eventually saw him back in jail. He was placed under house arrest and ordered to do community service earlier this year for further probation violations and had his probation extended for six more years.
Why anyone with Meek’s musical talent and enormous popularity would jeopardise his freedom by continually flaunting the law is beyond comprehension. He is also a dirt bike fanatic, which is fine if he only rode on dirt bike tracks. But he risks arrest every time he pulls dirt bike stunts on roadways, something he does all too often.
“I come from the streets,” he says. “I’m real. I made my name in rap battles on the streets of south Philly. My father was killed on those same streets when I was five. It’s different rules out there. I just took action to protect myself while I was taking care of my family.
“This white lady judge who doesn’t know me from a can of paint and has no idea about the truth of what happens thinks I should be in jail. That’s offensive to me. I look at that as racism.”
Meek’s music success has taken him far from the streets of Philadelphia. He prefers to live in five-star hotels either in Los Angeles or Miami. He is a businessman with his label, Dream Chasers Records, being just one of his commercial interests.
“I’ve come a long way,” he acknowledged. “My uncle is the DJ Grandmaster Nell. I’d go into his room with my cousins when he was out. We’d turn on all his equipment and start rapping over the beats.
“There are still videos online of me fighting street corner rap battles. I formed a rap crew called Bloodhoundz. We’d spend our last dollar putting out a mixtape and ask friends to spread it around. The quality was terrible but I was learning my craft.”
2008 was Meek’s breakthrough year. Apart from the time he spent in jail, the first of his Flamers mixtape series became a hot local item and attracted the attention of legendary Philadelphia music impresario Charlie Mack.
“He became my manager and guided me through the business. The next two years saw me progress to a stage where I released a mixtape called Mr. Philadelphia because I was the hottest rapper in the city. I’d signed to T.I.’s Grand Hustle label. I’d recorded with him and people like Rick Ross and Vado. I was on my way to stardom.”
Meek and T.I.’s respective legal problems meant he never released an official album on Grand Hustle. He signed to Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group label in 2011 and issued a series of highly successful singles and mixtapes. These gained the kind of media attention which saw Meek at number seven on MTV’s list of “Hottest MCs in the Game” in February, 2012, before he had even released his first studio album.
“People knew all about me by the time my debut album came out at the end of October, 2012. Dreams and Nightmares entered the Billboard 200 at number two and hit number one on the Top R&B / Hip Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums charts.”
More hugely popular mixtapes would follow before Meek’s 2015 sophomore album, Dreams Worth More Than Money, shot straight to pole position on the Billboard 200 and won the Top Rap Album prize at the Billboard Music Awards.
Meek has now released DC4, the latest instalment in his Dreamchasers series of mixtapes. Unlike the others which were sponsored and offered for free download, DC4 is a retail mixtape so qualifies for chart listing. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. The cover artwork harks back to his first arrest in 2005.
“It recreates my police mugshot. You can see the evidence of the beating I took. I had a concussion, stitches, hair braids ripped out. When you realise I only got probation for what the police said I did, I think even the judge knew what really happened.”

IN BRIEF
Robbie Williams

Former Take That star Robbie Williams has become the most successful British solo artist.
Robbie’s eleventh studio album, The Heavy Entertainment Show, stormed straight to number one on the UK chart. It has given him his 12th chart-topper surpassing the previous record of 11 which he had shared with the late David Bowie.
He achieved the feat with ten of his studio albums and two greatest hits LPs. His only studio album which failed to hit top spot was 2009’s Reality Killed The Video Star. It lost out by just a few copies to the self-titled debut album by boy band JLS. Robbie also had another number two with his Live at Knebworth concert album.
These figures don’t even include his work as a member of Take That. He recorded three chart-topping albums and a number two with the group.
“I’m chuffed that my new album is number one and I’m humbled by all the amazing statistics and figures,” Robbie stated. “I’m as proud of this album as much as any other and hope my fans enjoy it as much as I loved making the album.”
Although Robbie is now Britain’s top solo artist, he still has two Americans to contend with. Madonna also has 12 UK chart-topping albums to her name while a new compilation album, The Wonder of You, recently gave the late Elvis Presley his 13th number one.
Everyone trails The Beatles who reached pole position on the UK chart with 15 albums spending a staggering 174 weeks in top spot.

The xx

English indie-pop trio The xx issue their third studio album, I See You, on January 13. It is the highly anticipated follow-up to Coexist, which was released as long ago as September, 2012.
Despite the chart-topping success of Coexist and winning the Mercury Prize with their self-titled 2009 debut album, The xx are taking a new musical direction with the songs on I See You. A press release from the trio describes the album as “a completely different concept, more outward-looking, open and expansive.”
See what you think by checking out the official audio posting of lead single, “On Hold,” at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_oA9UmRd4I

Noah Cyrus

Did you know Miley Cyrus had a younger sister? The answer would be ‘yes’ if you watched Miley’s Bangerz tour documentary. The two girls were often seen writing songs together.
Still just 16, Noah Cyrus has been in the entertainment business since the age of three when she played Gracie Hebert in the American TV series, Doc. A string of mostly small roles have followed though she was the voice actress star in the English version of the 2008 Japanese animated movie, Ponyo.
Performing the movie theme song, a duet with Frankie Jonas, was Noah’s only previous foray into the music world. But she has now signed with Universal and has just released her debut single, Make Me (Cry).
Noah has some prestigious help on the track. It was produced by English R&B/Hip Hop star Labrinth who also makes a guest appearance.
The official lyric video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwX4wrYLwfU