The rapper is out of jail and making new music, but is he #free?
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
But his snap response feels more truthful: Ive never felt free, coming from where I came from.
Hes about halfway through his current stint away.
Were currently on set a barren lot in Baltimores Greenmount West neighborhood for Mills acting debut.
Street art decorates the exteriors of the otherwise dilapidated buildings.
If his luck had broke a different way, the film couldve been Mills biopic.
I love riding bikes more than rapping, he says without hesitation.
It is the tragic irony of Mills life that this first love nearly cost him everything.
Harmless, he thought.
But also illegal, he knew and typically punishable as a minor traffic infraction.
He took the risk and popped a wheelie on Instagram Live.
Less than 24 hours later, Mill was arrested and charged with felony reckless endangerment.
(The dirt-bike trick ultimately cost him six months of his already-limited freedom.)
The absurdity of the rulingsparked international outrage, along with the hashtag #FreeMeekMill.
Still, a somberness inhabits him.
Mill has never been a rapper with a lot of swagger, which is part of his appeal.
Around set, he keeps himself scarce.
He materializes about 8 p.m., wearing a gray peacoat not quite long enough for his six-foot-two frame.
Did I lose your energy?
he asks, apologetic for keeping me waiting.
Hes fuzzy on the specifics of his sentencing, but he lives with its repercussions daily.
Meek is not free, he says.
Im walking on my tippy-toes.
Theres a house he recently purchased in Atlanta waiting to be lived in whenever the state says he can.
Hes closely monitored by a probation officer, whom he must update daily.
My PO dont even believe I should still be on probation, Mill is quick to note.
At the time of his latest sentencing, Mill assumed that was it for his career.
But another two years away from the ever-fluctuating popularity game of rap would have jeopardized his continued relevance.
She knew that sentence was to kill me, he says of the judge.
Not me physically, but to kill who Meek Mill is.
But Brinkleys ruling last November ended up having the opposite effect.
#FreeMeek supporters mobilized online while powerful white politicians and sports owners lobbied for his release.
In the scurry, Mill lost a 26-page memoir hed begun writing in prison about his personal traumas.
(Somebody probably got it in they stash, he says.)
Its the only piece of art he made there.
I rap off feeling, and I wasnt feeling good as a person, he remembers.
All I was doing was eating a lot, getting fat, and being stressed.
He returned to music his first week out of jail, recording 50 songs in about a month.
I said, No, you wasnt listening to me.
Youre listening differently now because of the platform and the way people are viewing the situation.
Now he makes headlines forturning down an invitationfrom the White House to discuss prison-reform legislation with the president.
It was too much of a game, and I wasnt trying to be used like a pawn.
It was a mockery, really, he says.
I dont think [Kanye] addressed anything that had to do with what was tough on justice reform.
He wasnt prepared for it, and he shouldnt have done it.
I had phone calls with Kanye for hours.
He was trying to get me to go to things like that, he says.
I just couldnt reason with them.
Mill speaks up more now both because he feels a responsibility and because more eyes are watching him.
Its become a source of paranoia for him.
I feel like I have a lot of targets on my back, he explains.
Im young and black and trying to bring change to America.
I live with those types of fears.
But hes acutely aware that hes built for this.
I was living with fear just as a black man before I even became a rapper.
Tackling these issues, he says, just makes the situation greater.
