On April 25, Meek Mill was released from prison after serving five months of a two-to-four-year sentence for a parole violation stemming from old weapons and drugs charges. Calling his stay a “nightmare,” Meek — whose real name is Robert Williams — credited his advocates for helping him fight an “unjust situation” at the time, but remained relatively quiet about the whole ordeal … until now.
On May 10, Meek stopped by Power 105’s The Breakfast Club, where he chatted with hosts Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy for more than 80 minutes.
Here is a list of eight things we learned from his rather enlightening chat.
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1. He Was Shocked To Learn He Had Supporters
Meek’s trip to the slammer was the nadir of a series of events that tempted the long arm of the law — events that included popping a wheelie while driving in NYC, a scuffle in a St. Louis airport and an alleged beatdown of Safaree Samuels by his crew in Los Angeles. Meek told The Breakfast Club that, initially, he saw his arrest and subsequent incarceration as the standard operating procedure in the life of a rapper. He had no idea he would become the face of modern prison justice reform, and was equally blessed and humbled by the support.
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“People standing outside in the rain protesting and actually being a part of helping me get back on these streets … I feel like I’m entitled to give back,” he said.
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2. He Wasn’t Thrilled With Nicki Minaj’s Comments
When Meek got carted off, he wasn’t on the best of terms with his ex-girlfriend Nicki Minaj. However, while he was locked up, Minaj made a comment during her Beats 1 interview with Zane Lowe about doing everything asked of her by Genece Brinkley — the judge who sentenced Meek for the parole violation — and Meek wasn’t feeling it.
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“I wasn’t feeling that. She shouldn’t have said nothing and we leave it at that,” he said.
3. He Ended The Beef With Drake (Sort Of)
Even though he’s not on the best of terms with Minaj, Meek is now cool with Drake. He told The Breakfast Club his former rival gave him a nice shout-out, and he was appreciative of the “good energy” he sent to Meek at an admittedly low time in his life. And even though he wasn’t sure if Drake wanted to fully squash the beef (Angela Yee seemed to think so, and she said as much), he wanted to talk to him the next time he saw him, so they could fully resolve whatever tension was left in the air.
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“As grown men … how long should this be going on? I’m still standing on my feet. He’s still standing on his feet,” he said.
4. He Views T.I. As “The Southern Yoda”
And not because of Tip’s height … The “Rubber Band Man” rapper frequently spoke with the media, providing advice to Meek while he was in prison, and Meek took that as indicative of his wisdom. (T.I., for his part, knows a thing or two about prison.)
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5. The Boyz II Men Remake Request Was Real
After Meek was sentenced, his attorney Joe Tacopina said the judge had wanted Meek to do a remake of the Boyz II Men’s “On Bended Knee” and put her name in the song. Even though The Breakfast Club hosts called shenanigans — because let’s face it, it’s pretty incredible — Meek made it clear that it was the God’s honest truth.
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“What type of lie is that to make up?” he said.
6. He Viewed His Sentence As A “Test”
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“I feel like God put me in prison, like ‘alright, this your real test … this is where the real gangstas at.’ I did time in prison, being locked in a room 24 hours a day … some people [on social media] can affect you, but this is not a real problem … I still got a base of people that were still showing me love,” he said.
7. He Was Addicted To Opioids
It may not be surprising to hear of a rapper who’s addicted to drugs, but Meek didn’t want to talk about his opioid addiction out of fear he’d be sent back to prison for parole violations.
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“I never had molly in my life. I thought [Percocet] was ok, I wouldn’t be addicted, or it wouldn’t hurt me because it’s a pill that a doctor would prescribe you. A girl gave it to me one day, ‘This is gonna make you fuck for an hour.’ Yeah? Let me try this. This a pill that a doctor would give me if I had a toothache. Sometimes you gotta go overboard. I made girls fall in love with me off Percs,” he said.
8. He Has A Sense Of Purpose Now
Check out my CNN interview with @meekmill ahead of his speech at the @Innocence Project gala: "Meek Mill's fight is not finished" https://t.co/CZ2k1rAf3Lpic.twitter.com/xKZbXpFvST
— Deena Zeina Zaru (@Deena_CNN) May 9, 2018
“It really gave me a different outlook to see that many people supporting me at one time,” he said. “I know real change is about to happen in Pennsylvania. [Governor Tom Wolf] is working on real stuff that don’t entrap people. I was locked up by a corrupt cop, but he’s saying that no one should be on probation for 11 years. We sitting down talking about ‘How can we change laws?’ This is even incredible that I’m sitting down and talking about this. I don’t think I should go from playing in the house with my son [to] shackled from ankle to wrist, top to bottom, within a matter of a sentence because I popped a wheelie,” he said.
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