As Meek Mill gears up to release his debut album, “Dreams and Nightmares”, he has had a chance to reflect on the road that led him to this milestone. “A lot of the songs are about my life, my pain, and you can tell I’ve been through these things,” Meek said about the tracks oh his album. “You can feel it. The dream part is me living as an artist making money touring across the world, and nightmares touches on everything that it took for me to make it from the streets.”
“Dreams and Nightmares” will be released on Tuesday and this album has been long awaited but fans have managed to get their Meek Mill fix thanks to a steady stream of mixtapes. One of those mixtapes, “Dreamchasers 2” crashed several file sharing sites after a record 3 million downloads. “(The Internet) is the biggest form of promotion and I could send my music out worldwide,” he said about mixtapes. “It’s a win-lose situation because you’re giving your music away for free, but I still get to do shows. I was just showcasing my music and relying on my talent to get my message around.”
One of the tracks from the mixtape, “Amen”, became a hit but it also drew controversy after religious people called it sacrilegious. The rapper even exchanged words with a pastor on a radio show because of the hoopla but he insists the issue is behind him. “I was thanking God for all the blessings he gave me,” he said. “There was nothing I could really do about (the controversy) but move on.”
He might have lost some church fans but having high profile mentors like Rick Ross and Jay-Z probably makes up for it. He is a member of Ross’ Maybach Music label and he is managed by Jay’s Roc Nation. According to Meek, Jay-Z is a hands-on mentor. “I always sit down with Jay-Z sometimes and play my album. The way I deal with people, I like to deal personally with people,” he said to MTV News. “He likes me as a person I guess, so I get to come through, play a little music for him here and there like that.” But he insists Hov isn’t afraid to give him an honest critique. “Hov will mess up your whole confidence. That joint might not even make the album no more because you got a great like that telling you [no],” he continued. “It just feels good to have somebody at that status, at that level to recognize your talent. It just gives you more confidence, motivation.”
