DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES MEEK MILLS FULL
DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES MEEK MILLS PROFESSIONAL

He also sometimes goes for the easy punchline (“running shit, diarrhea”) instead of the carefully built, intricate lines he does so well. Mill himself gets caught up in these safe steps at times, like when he phones in a reworking of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” on “Maybach Curtains” (though Nas bails him out with a great verse). There’s a song called “Young and Getting It” and a song called “Young Kings” and you’re bound to get ear fatigue hearing, over and over again, about getting money and, more vaguely, about the pressure – or strength – to sell drugs. “Amen” would be a revelation here if it hadn’t already been introduced to us on Dreamchasers 2.

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES MEEK MILLS FULL

The album is full of those kinds of safe choices. And besides, Hall & Oates nailed the basketball metaphor decades ago with “One on One”. In fact, the whole idea of a sex jam feels plugged in on Mill’s record, a song created to target a demographic. We also see Wale on “Lay Up” and his transformation from thoughtful, socially conscious rapper to flossing ladies’ man has never sounded so awkward. The boss here – Ross is “the captain,” according to Mill, who is merely a “lieutenant” – inserts himself into this record all over the place, including three decent but undercooked verses. Those overdone beats, Rick Ross’s ever-present persona.

They also often come with, say, the soulful sampling of the beat on “Traumatized” that shifts away from the MMG-approved, blustery, horror-flick piano runs and banging bass on most of these – and Rick Ross’s, and Wale’s – beats.īut much of the rest of Mill’s yelling, or strident rapping high in the mix, sounds like him trying to simply be heard over the machinations of Maybach Music.

These moments give us unique insight, and let Mill turn his clever wordplay towards telling his own story. The best moments of Dreams and Nightmares are the ones that tell us about Mill himself, whether it’s the nostalgia of young crime and hood cred on “Polo and Shell Tops” or the deep loss and regret of “Traumatized”. No one since Ghostface has so perfectly undercut the uber-masculine image of gunplay with the very real fear of death underneath. Later in the record, Mill screams out the gunplay anxiety of “Tony Story Pt. The song builds its anger, and Meek Mill spits long verses, line after blistering line, and you know right away that Mill is, at least here, trying to bring his A-game, separating himself from any laid-back, half-assed rapping with some true skill. Sometimes his shouting is a brilliant turn, as with the on-fire opener “(Intro) Dreams and Nightmares”. It seems necessary for Mill, a guy trying hard to make a name for himself even as he is charged with building the MMG brand at every turn – yes, we do get the woman saying “Maybach Music” tagline more than once here. In fact, the whole record feels ham-handedly strident. So it’s no real surprise that Meek Mill spends a lot of time yelling on this record. It’s a record that proves MMG a conglomerate, a very direct money-making machine, rather than making money through creativity.

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES MEEK MILLS PROFESSIONAL

But it also feels professional in all the coldest ways. There are moments of greatness from Mill here, and as a whole it is a well-built record. It’s another safe full-length from the group, the kind of thing that will sell copies but stifles the charm and creativity of the rapper in the spotlight. He’s got the immediate fire of Ross’s carefully regimented rhymes and the intricate flow of Wale’s tricky wordplay, but he manages to sound like neither of his MMG partners.īut if this year’s Dreamchaser 2 showed Meek Mill at the top of his game, Dreams and Nightmares tells a story more about MMG than Mill himself. Mill has given us two great mixtapes, Dreamchasers and Dreamchasers 2, that prove he is as smooth a rapper as there is working today. And then you’ve got Meek Mill, the most curious and unknown rapper of the bunch, which isn’t to say he hasn’t been busy. Wale had a decent sophomore record in Ambition, but the Eleven One Eleven Theory tape was far better. Rick Ross’s Rich Forever was a mixtape that doubled as his far-and-away best full-length.

But for a group of rappers that want to be “rich forever”, they often give their best work away free. Head honcho Rick Ross has become, as he claimed he would, a don in today’s hip-hop world, an untouchable hit and tastemaker that has assembled a popular stable of rappers, himself included. Maybach Music Group works curiously backwards.

Dreams and nightmares meek mills