You might not know it, but a broader perspective on life, justice and success are what you stand to gain through Meek Mill’s grinding words.
Born Robert Rihmeek Williams in Philadelphia 1987, popular rapper and emcee Meek Mill has persevered through countless challenges to continue shooting for the stars.
His music career began with rap battles, until in 2008 Mills’ received his first big break when Atlanta-based rapper T.I. signed him to his first record deal. In 2011, he signed with Rick Ross’s Maybach Music Group (MMG) and released his debut album Dreams and Nightmares, in 2012. The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 and opened a brand-new world of fame and fortune for Meek.
He released two more albums Dreams Worth More Than Money and Wins & Losses, before being sentenced to two to four years in prison for violating parole.
He served five months and then released his fourth studio album, Championships in 2018. The lead single Going Bad featuring Drake, peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and marked Mill’s highest charting single to date.
Nothing like a hustle, this rapper knows exactly where he’s going and won’t let anything get in his way. We could all learn a lesson or two about persistence as Mill’s influence grows despite battles with the criminal justice system he continues to challenge.
1. Work harder than anybody you’ve ever seen. That’s what I believe.
2. Sometimes I have to remind myself, that on my worst day I live like somebody on their greatest.
3. Only the limits of your imaginations can determine how far you go in life.
4. The hardest hurdles for me was the streets, just getting out the streets. Surviving. Staying out of prison and staying on track. Staying focused.
5. No matter how successful you become you gotta keep grindin’ and be a good person and then good things will come to you.
6. Live in the lead but work hard like your trying to catch up.
7. I stay in my lane but I always try to graduate to the next level, you know what I’m saying. I stay hungry.
8. Appreciate the little things in life, they’re what really matter the most.
9. I don’t got time to be wasting my time.
10. I need, sometimes, individuals to spark an idea so that I can take off running.
11. I work hard. I focus on myself and putting food on my dinner table before anything else. I don’t worry about other artists. Worrying about the next person in a negative way is the wrong way to be.
12. When I bought the Rolls Royce they thought it was leased, then I bought that new Ferrari hater rest in peace.
13. People say money ain’t nothing; money is basically everything.
14. Being that I went to jail and came back, I went through a whole new experience in life. I went from being at the top to back down at the bottom again.
15. I’m not the best person at putting words together. I can’t give you the melody. But I might inspire somebody.
16. They said I wouldn’t make it or never see the throne.
17. Big dreams turn into big things.
18. I know my way to the top.
19. I leave my circle tight in keep my family close.
20. I’m living the dream I once thought was impossible and I look at the adversity I’ve faced as simply part of my story.
21. Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say but nothing comes out when they move their lips.
22. One night I prayed to God, I asked could he please remove my enemies from my life, and before you knew it I started losing friends.
23. I don’t like a girl on social media, when you have an open inbox, answering questions from dudes left and right, every day. What’s the point? It’s like having your number all out.
24. They’ve been tryna stop the wave, but the wave don’t stop.
25. I don’t wear the see-through shirts or anything too glittery. I come from that ’90s school of rap. Fitted caps, because I got a big head, so snapbacks don’t fit me right.
26. When my girl do better than me, I still win. When I do better than her, she still wins.
27. Growin’ up, I just always felt like I should be the one that make the sacrifice to hustle, like, extremely hard to put my family in a better situation.
28. How many times you send me to jail to know that I won’t fail.
29. I believe that, if you a man, you can make that much money as any man.
30. I’ve been betrayed a lot of times in life. I think everybody’s been.
31. Everybody think they’re famous when they get 100,000 followers on Instagram and 5,000 on Twitter.
32. I just do whatever I feel. Whatever the beat makes me say, I do that and I run with that.
33. The Rolls Royce was the real first car. It wasn’t the first new car I got, but it was the first real car I bought that’s like, ‘Wow, I got this.'
34. I always had pressure on myself through my life. I put pressure on myself and not from other people. I always wanted to be one of the hottest rappers. So the pressure comes from myself.
35. The money turned me into a monster.
36. I don’t think I would change really anything about rap. Rap don’t have no limits to it, and I like it like that.
37. If you don’t know where you make your mistakes, that’s your worst mistake: not knowing where your mistakes are at.
38. What’s free? Free is when nobody else could tell us what to be Free is when the TV ain’t controllin’ what we see.
39. Philly gave me my ambition and drive to get more. It’s a reminder to stay on top of my game. That’s not a place I want to go back to.
40. I wanted to send a message to like people across the world. If you have a dream, you can really achieve your dream. I actually really did it and everybody desires somethin’, they have a dream. And I always thought that could touch everybody in the world.
41. I’ve been in a bad environment more years than I’ve been in a good environment. I’m still traumatized by what I’ve seen and been through. I just want to inspire people.
42. In a world where black is wrong and white right, it’s like a combat. We go to war for our freedom.
43. I think it’s way harder when you have success, ’cause people tend to not treat you the same or look at you the same because they see the success or the money you make.
44. I’m scared to be political. You get too powerful, and more people try to take you out.
45. If you ain’t got a dream, you ain’t got nothing.
46. I don’t want to just be fully rapping my whole life.
47. My talent is my talent. I ain’t really tripping off no ego; I just like to make good music with good people.
48. It’s cool when people know you more, but I like people to treat me regular when they see me. I take pictures. I don’t really be big on people looking at me.
49. I ain’t got a 100 mill yet I can’t chill yet
50. Know they’d kill me in my hood, but I just keep on comin’ through.
51. I have a fan base worldwide, man. I think they’re really down for me. That’s how I got signed – 30,000 fans retweeting Rick Ross.
52. In jail, you get stripped of your freedom and everything, so I experienced different things, learned more. It basically brought most of my hunger back.
53. I’m on the page that I want to be bigger than the world, you know what I’m saying. People told me I wasn’t going to make it this far. But I always believed I was going to make it this far.
54. Respect the game.
55. I used to pray for times like this, to rhyme like this. So I had to grind like that to shine like this.
56. Management plays a role just keeping everything in place for you and making sure everything’s going right.
57. I always wanted to be one of the hottest rappers.
58. I think artists should be able to do different things whenever they want and I like the way I am. I’m like – I ain’t gonna say the only street rapper, but the only mainstream, new, young street rapper there is right now and I’m doing well with it.
59. Don’t give up, the beginning is always the hardest.
60. How you praying for me but same time wishing pain on me!
61. I called this album Championships because I feel like a champion after overcoming poverty, street violence, racism, and prejudice in my legal situation to reach this point in my life and career.
62. I’m not letting nobody level me down
63. Live in the lead, but work hard like your trying to catch up.
64. I’m always gonna be all over my CD the most, of course. My talent is my talent. I ain’t really tripping off no ego; I just like to make good music with good people.
65. I know all I really wanna do is get money and take care of my family.
66. First black president ever, and to be living while it happened – that’s a good part of history. That’s probably the biggest person I admire right now.
67. If you don’t have your friends and your family, what do you really have? You can have all the money in the world, but with no friends and no family, it’s no good.
68. See my dreams unfold, nightmares come true. It was time to marry the game and I said, “Yeah, I do”. If you want it you gotta see it with a clear-eyed view.
69. I’m only here to be a legend and not with just rhyming words together
70. Just build your brand from day one, man. Your brand is your name, basically. A lot of people don’t know that they need to build their brand, your brand is what keeps you moving.
71. Ima break the curse I know my prayers work.
72. Count your blessings, not your problems.
73. When I’m not in the booth, I’m one of the most laid-back guys. But growing up, I liked DMX, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and T.I. – dudes that went all out on the track. My first songs were energetic because I liked their energy.
74. Made a few mistakes but this ain’t where I wanna be.
75. Now I move with aggression, use my mind as a weapon.
76. If you don’t stand for nothing, you gon’ fall for something.
77. I’ve always been rapping before I was making money off of it. Before I made a profit, I had always been rapping.
78. Had to sacrifice my life just for my mom and kids.
79. I’m into all types of stuff. I might have on Pumas one day, Givenchy the next. I’d wear this John Elliott sweat suit to the club.
80. Was dead broke but rich in soul.
81. I told my momma I won’t leave her lonely.
82. We came from nothing, so sometimes you gotta show ’em.
83. Save you some of that money. Sh*t, you better stop splurgin’.
84. They say money rule the world, you can’t pay God with it.
85. I gotta keep hustling. I know when it comes to the internet, we move units. I grew up on the internet.
86. I’m extremely grateful that my long legal battle is finally behind me and I appreciate that it has sparked a much-needed discussion about probation reform and the inequalities that exist within our two Americas.
87. I look at it as, 15 years from now, this’ll be a part of my documentary. I hope it’s a documentary on—on a great person, an icon, a person who achieved a lot. A person who made it through a lot of trials and tribulations. ‘Cause you know to be an icon, to be great, you have to go through some things for people to actually view you in that way.
88. I just was determined. Practice day after day after day and get better. And you know, there was a lot of people in my neighborhood that was actually, like, way better than me. But my drive just was, like… I feel like I worked harder than everybody.
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