Free Meek

Episode 1

Two Americas

Fri, Aug 9, 2019 33 mins

Meek Mill is a hip hop superstar, but got his start as a battle papper on the streets of Philly's roughest neighborhoods. Born as Robert Rihmeek Williams in 1987, "Meek" spends his childhood in public housing projects surrounded by violent crime and a crack epidemic. His father provides for the family through a criminal enterprise but eventually meets a violent death. Meek's mother fights to make ends meet as Meek struggles to find a male role model in a community that is rapidly losing men to an epidemic of drug violence and mass incarceration. Meek is a shy, quiet kid. When he discovers rapping, he bursts out of his shell. He has a natural talent and quickly rises on the local music scene. At 17, he moves across town into his cousin's house on Hemberger Street. His new environment brings him into contact with more dangerous surroundings, but also a basement recording studio. As he loses more friends to the destructive violence in his neighborhood, he decides to buy a gun for his personal protection. It's a fateful decision that leads to a dangerous encounter with law enforcement and starts a dark journey into the Philadelphia criminal justice system that he will spend the next 11 years trying to escape.