Dec 11

Dec 11 A Review of Meek Mill's "Championships"

It's the muhfuckin chasers! Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill looks to build on the momentum of his last album "Wins and Losses" with the release of his newest album titled "Championships." It's no secret Meek Mill has been stewing with something to say since his release from prison in April of 2018. Initially, Meek Mill released an EP titled “Legends of the Summer” where he released four songs, “Millidelphia” featuring Swizz Beatz, “Dangerous” featuring Jeremih and PnB Rock (which will appear on the album), “1am” and his hit single out of the four, “Stay Woke” ft. Miguel. Fast forward to November and Meek Mill gave us two new singles that both appear on the album. The first titled "Oodles O' Noodles Babies" and the second titled "Uptown Vibes" featuring Fabulous and Anuel Aa were both good with the first single being a true hip hop song versus the second which was aiming to be more of a club hit. This is the typical formula for a Meek Mill project, a mix of club hits and songs filled with introspection and bars. I expect this formula to continue with this album. Now, let's inspect the track list! Meek Mill's "Championships" is a mixture of 19 songs with a total of 15 featured artists. Anuel Aa, Fabolous, Cardi B, JAY Z, Rick Ross, Future, Roddy Ricch, Young Thug, Drake, Kodak Black, Ella Mai, 21 Savage, Melii, Jeremiah and PnB Rock are all featured amongst a spread of 10 songs. This is an impressive number of features for this album, which does a good job in building the anticipation for it. Now, without further ado, let's get to the review!

Scale

Per song
+.5 for beat selection
+.5 for flow
+.5 for content/impact
+.5 for hit value

Points will be taken off for:
Fatigue in listening
Lack of diversity in beats

Raw Score: The amount of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a +1 or above to be counted.

Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.

Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.

Review 👂🏾

Intro
Meek Mill once again perfectly executes an intro track for an album. From the self-titled intro on “Dreams and Nightmares” to the self-titled into on “Wins & Losses” and now this intro for his fifth studio album titled “Championships,” Meek Mill has always had an intro track that brings listeners in. This intro like the other two mentioned starts off with Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” as the sample and base for the song. In typical Meek Mill intro fashion, midway through the only verse Meek turns up and the song begins to gather momentum to carry the listener through into the next song. The signature drums from “In The Air Tonight” trigger the turn up period for Meek Mill’s Intro where the bass starts banging and the high hats come in to speed up the vibe. An intro song is supposed to set the tone for the album and Meek Mill has set the tone for this album with this song on this wonderful beat made by Papmitrou.

+1.5

Trauma

The song once again starts with the sampling of “Taking Me Higher” by Barclay James Harvest which is used as the calm before the storm before the bass and high hats drop. This DJ Don Cannon made beat provides a fast vibe which sets the tone for Meek Mill’s flow. The hook on this song perfectly characterizes the song with Meek Mill rapping,

“I just won
I was on the corner with the reefa
And they got us warring for our freedom
See my brother blood on the pavement
How you wake up in the mornin' feelin' evil?
Uhh, trauma
When them drugs got a hold of your mama
And the judge got a hold on your father
Go to school, bullet holes in the locker”

The topics covered in this song include Meek Mill’s experience in jail, the fight for freedom for African Americans, and the Colin Kaepernick situation which is encapsulated in this hook where Meek Mill raps about the environment that led to the topics covered in the song.

Uptown Vibes (ft. Fabolous & Anuel Aa)

One of the singles that led to this album. The best way to describe this song is a song that is meant to do well in club environments. The key factor that leads to this the horn and reggaetón bass in this Papamitrou beat. The beat does switch during the first two verses as Meek and Fabolous switch between flows masterfully. The beat switches in structure for Anuel Aa’s verse to a more reggaetón heavy beat versus the first two verse. Primarily because Anuel Aa is a reggaetón artist who obviously specializes in reggaetón beats. Overall, this song serves its purpose as a club hit.

On Me (ft. Cardi B)

This Bangladesh and Bennywond3r beat has a dark vibe which is a contrast from the first as the high hats take a step back to the background low pitch piano and bass. The Meek Mill verse is a standard one where he raps about the girls he wants. The Cardi verse is what has become a standard Cardi verse with it’s catchiness and boss bitch talk. Nothing about this song really pops to me at all, the beat, flows and content are average. I could do without this song

+.5

What’s Free (ft. Rick Ross & JAY Z)

On this song I’m expecting to get barred to death with three lyrical wordsmiths like Meek Mill, Rick Ross and JAY Z. What we get on this first verse by Rick Ross is a story which is ended by Ross commenting on the current Tekashi 6ix9ine case who had been recently arrested. Meek Mill gives us a narration of what went in to him being detained, as he discusses being arrested for popping a wheelie in NYC. JAY Z discussed his situation with Kanye West and the loss of control of the culture with the introduction of the 360 deal. Overall, with the violin and bass guitar carrying the beat produced by Tarik Azzouz & StreetRunner the song has a somber tone to it. Important topics were discussed on this song, making it one of the must listen songs on the album.

Respect The Game

This song starts with a high pitched piano with an overlying bass for the first half of the first verse before the bass and high hats drop midway through on this beat produced by Papamitou and Beat Menace. There’s some similarity with this song and a Pusha-T song titled “Hard Piano” featuring Rick Ross where Push opens the song by rapping the lines

“Never trust a bitch who finds love in a camera
She will fuck you, then turn around and fuck a janitor”

Where the Meek Mill lines are similar to these Pusha-T lines are in the hook where Meek Mill raps,

“Rule number one, never count your homie pockets thinkin' you deserve it
Rule number two, never trust a bitch that'll fuck you for some purses
Rule number three, save you some of that money, shit you better stop splurgin'”

This hook summarizes the topics discussed in this song where Meek Mill is rapping about ways for young rappers to prolong their careers. Meek raps about the cautionary tales he has seen as a way to give credibility to what he’s saying.

Splash Warning (ft. Future, Young Thug & Roddy Ricch)

One thing that stands out to me is the heavy reliance on the “Aye” flow which isn’t executed well. The idea with an “Aye” flow is to rely on the “Aye” or in this case “Ooh Ooh,” to regain the rhythm of the song and also make a catchy, easy to catch on verse. Nobody executed this right, primarily because the flows on this song were too fast to execute this “Ooh Ooh flow” One reason is because the beat selection for this flow is poor. While fast paced high hats and bass with the occasional flute made by ATL Jacob is a nice beat, it’s too fast for this flow.

Championships

This beat made by Dario Productions is a masterpiece. It gives off that classical feel with that high-pitched trumpet, high hat drum, bass and piano. Meek Mill tells a story about how he grew up, and how he got locked up. He raps about being around guns, death, overpopulated jails and self-medication through marijuana use. He summarizes all this in the outro where he tells the listener,

“Yeah
See comin' from where I come from
We had to beat the streets
Beat the system, beat racism, beat poverty
And now we made it through all that we at the championship”

This helps to give context to the song, which closes out with the beautiful beat riding into the sunset.

Going Bad (ft. Drake)

Wheezy is out here with this hard beat. The switches between the bass, piano and high-hat section and the piano heavy section which appears at the end of each verse. Drake’s first verse isn’t impressive to me. The cadence switches between the lines and adlibs don’t make this song attractive to me at all and the singing at the end of the hook is out of place to me. The Meek verse is solid and the adlibs are executed better however, the adlibs of Meek Mill aren’t attractive to me either. Overall, this song doesn’t have an identity to me in terms of what each rapper wants to do with this beat.

Almost Slipped

This acoustic guitar driven beat supplemented by a bass that changes in intensity and high hats made by Maaly Raw and The Trillionaires is a calm beat. On this song Meek Mill executes his adlibs much better than he did on the previous song. This beat is a perfect beat to sing on which Meek Mill executes well on this song. On this song, Meek Mill sings about catching himself from “falling in love with a thottie.” something many rappers find themselves trying to do.

Tic Tac Toe (ft. Kodak Black)

Tay Keith is definitely fucking these niggas up with this beat, with the flute, fast paced high hats and bass. Meek Mill executes his adlibs well on this song with his fast flow to match the pace of the beat. One thing that is disappointing with this song is the lack of a Kodak Black verse as well as the quality of Kodak’s audio on the hook.

24/7 (ft. Ella Mai)

This “Me, Myself and I” by Beyoncé sample made by Austin Powerz, E.Y, OZ and Pro Logicworks to set the vibe for this love song. Ella Mai sings her heart out on the hook and Meek Mill gives us the feels of love on his verses as he raps about how well he wants to treat his girl and how she makes him feel.

Oodles O’ Noodles Babies

The second of the two singles predating this album’s release. This is another beat that gives that classical feel, this time made by Butter Beats and Kendxll. The beat’s faint drum set, brass instruments, and faint bass this song gives a calm vibe that also allows for Meek’s words to shine through. A theme that Meek revisits on this album, the theme of growing up as an African American in the inner city is once again addressed on this song as Meek Mill raps about some experiences he has had when he was younger.

Pay You Back (ft. 21 Savage)

Once again, Wheezy is out here with another hard beat. With the help of CuBeatz, this bass, high hat filled beat with the occasional piano gives a dark vibe which screams 21 Savage. The verses on this song are all great as both artists bring their boss talk and put it on display. One thing that I like is Wheezy’s tag reoccurring at the end of every verse.

100 Summers

This song is a blend of the topics Meek Mill has been rapping about on this album and the cadences he’s used on love songs. This song has Meek singing about other things he has seen while he was growing up. The verses are solid, however I’m not a fan of Meek’s cadence on the hooks. Meek could have used a Young Thug or Gunna feature on the hook, which would have added to the quality of the song. This calm beat made by Hit-Boy incorporates a gentle lagging beat with the high hats taking a step back and serving as the background instruments.

Wit the Shits (W.T.S.) (ft. Melii)

This C Sick produced track starts of sounding like a video game theme song before the bass and high hats come in with Meek Mill’s first verse. What stands out to me on this song is Melii’s verse as she starts off rapping in Spanish and then raps in English while staying on beat. The hook on this song is also a standout to me because of its’ tendency to stick with the listener.

Stuck In My Ways

This piano driven beat by Cardo supplements Meek Mill’s fast flow with the fast-paced high hats and bass. There’s nothing much that stands out with this song, Meek Mill raps about the women he likes and has encounters with and the different ways he chooses to have encounters

with them based on how they look.

+.5

Dangerous (ft. Jeremih and PnB Rock)

The lone track off of Meek Mill’s summer EP titled “Legends of Summer,” produced by Prince Christian and Hitmaka. This slow jam, with a consistent bass, with faint high hats and a harp, once again has Meek Mill rapping in this love song. Jeremih and PnB Rock’s vocals on the hooks and their verses sound amazing.

Cold Hearted II

The final song on this album. Made by Beat Menace and Papamitrou, this calm bass and slow high hat beat with harmonizing in the background gives room for Meek to do whatever he likes on this beat. Meek does what he feels on this beat as he consistently switches up his flow. On this song Meek Mill raps about fake people, which is shown in the hook where he raps,

“Used to be my dawg, you was in my left titty
Scream, "Ride or die," I thought you would ride with me
Found out you was jealous, you wouldn't even grind with me”

It’s also shown with the outro at the end where Meek speaks on how he feels about his real friends and the fake friends he recently dropped from his life. This reflective song is a great way to end this album.

Meek Mill’s “Championships”

Raw Score: 15/19

Quality Score: 16.5/19

Playback Value: 3/5

I see no difference in quality between Meek Mill’s “Wins and Losses” and “Championships.” With that being said, like “Wins and Losses” “Championships” is a quality project from Meek Mill. The album’s flow is good, however it could be a lot better. The content on some songs was important, however on other songs it was lacking. At times the album felt a bit repetitive, because of how the songs were laid out, but also because of the overall length of the album in the first place. There were some songs I could have done without like “On Me” featuring Cardi B and “Splash Warning” featuring Future, Young Thug and Roddy Ricch.However, the three standout songs on this album are “Intro,” “Trauma,” and 24/7 featuring Ella Mai. Go stream Meek Mill’s "Championships" today on your favorite streaming platform. Also, don't forget to follow OLDMLK.com on Instagram @OLDMLK and let us know what you think of the album!