It’s been a long time coming for Philly’s Meek Mill. The City of Brotherly Love may have been up on the kid EARLY but it took years for the rest of the world to catch on. With his scrappy flow and ghetto soldier aura, Meek has become one of the few new rap stars still making music that embodies the streets. Hov coined the phrase “DMX’d the game” and Meek is doing just that.
In a landscape where it pays more to be a weirdo in hip-hop than Tupac, the young bull is a diamond in the rough. His debut album reflects the tough life he faced, which included time in jail, friends being killed, and other life ills associated with living in the hood.
Dreams & Nightmares starts off strong with Meek spitting lyrics reflective of the latter half of the title. The young bull goes off on “In God We Trust” and really hits home on “Traumatized.” If you’re are a fan of “Used to Be” than I guarantee you’ll appreciate that song. Production wise the majority of the records are “pounding” and match Meek’s rapid-fire delivery. “Believe It,” featuring Rick Ross is destined to do damage in the club. The MMG boys trade bars and incorporate some slick pop references that just work. Let’s just say there’s no question about Ross being a Belieber.
Meek also shines alongside John Legend and Nas on “Maybach Curtains ,” which caters to the Dreams side of the project. The kid finally gives the ladies an entire song and does his best to woo the females with Trey and Wale on “Lay Up.” This may be the album’s misstep (Jay-Z removed his verse from the song because he didn’t like his verse). He Should have called Drizzy. He makes up for it on the Mary J. Blige assisted “Who You’re Around.”
Overall, Dreams & Nightmares definitely isn’t just another mixtape packaged as an album. The subject matter is familiar but Meek makes sure you know everything he’s saying is 100% real. There could have been some bigger beats and a few more attempts to step outside of the box but why try to fix something that isn’t broke. Rap needs aggressive music right now and Meek Milly hits the mark with his MMG debut
No comments:
Post a Comment