Meek Mill-Dreams and Nightmares

Artist: Meek Mill

Album: Dreams and Nightmares

Label: Maybach Music Group

Producers: Boi-1da, Tone the Beat Bully, Jahlil Beats, Cardiak, Kane Beats, others

Self-promotion has made hip hop artists street cred overnight. 50 cent showed the world how it’s done and made himself a one man self-marketing machine. Touching base in the hood has made its mark. There is a downside: it may stunt their career by appeasing one type of fan base unless you’re 50 cent, Rick Ross or Drake to name a few. This can be a hit or miss on making a debut studio album; either you make it or not This does not intimidate North Philadelphia’s saint Meek Mill as he explodes into the scene with his debut album “Dreams and Nightmares”.

Meek Mill’s emotions on the album create the curiosity of the listener. Whether its anger, pain, glee or a couple of nice punch lines, Meek Mill delivers on a couple of listenable tracks. The beginning of the album hits hard and “In God We Trust” proves how to start off strong. He pours out the struggles of the hood and how the love of money affects psyches. The Boi-1da track “Traumatized” pulls the listener to the life and struggles of Meek Mill including addressing his father’s killer. “Polo and Shell Tops” has the nicely piano beat laced by Cardiak which matches his rhyme flow while “Real Niggas Come First” allow Meek to go ham with his high energized delivery.

There are many gaping holes in this album which affect the consistency of making a complete album and can bore the listener. Many of the songs pigeon hold Meek Mill into a one dimensional rapper with monotonous rhyme flow and limited concepts. The production is good but does not have that up tempo solid punch that match Meek Mill style and made him a household name like “House Party” (original and remix) and “Burn”. The guest appearances are impressive on paper but definitely don’t deliver. “Amen” featuring Drake is a commercial attempt of depicting contradictions of preaching and stunting but the production doesn’t ignite momentum unlike his previous mixtape smashes. “Who You Around” featuring Mary J. Blige sound very sloppy and falls flat while “Maybach Curtains” featuring Nas, Rick Ross and John Legend sound like recycle rhymes from previous work over a beat with lopsided rhyming chemistry which Meek was overshadowed by his guest appearances. This proves that having big stars does not guarantee a hot track, it’s all about consistency and compatibility.

Overall, this is just an okay album with average production and repetitive rhyme flow delivery. The theme of this album is mostly about repping your hood, partying, getting money and the hard knock life stories. Otherwise the solo Meek Mill tracks are the only ones worth listening to. If you’re a diehard Meek Mill fan, this should not bother you. If you are looking for some substance, this album will annoy you. This is an okay debut attempt by Meek Mill but has the potential to become one of the biggest stars. It took Rick Ross a minute to be in the comfortable space way before his debut album “Port of Miami”. It takes patience and consistency but for now this is an album that does not compare to his Dreamchaser mixtape series. Either way, the Maybach Music young prodigy has finally graduated from the mixtape scene to the studio album leagues, can he handle it?

Strong Tracks: “Traumatized”, “Polo and Shell Tops”, “Real Niggas Come First”, “In God We Trust”

            Weak Tracks: “Maybach Curtains”, “Who You Around”, “Amen”

            Rating:out of