'Free Meek' is the gripping story of the injustices that turned a young Philly boy into the legendary Meek Mill
Imagine being born to a life of poverty and clawing your way out through hard work and perseverance. Now imagine having everything you built torn down by a justice system that actively tries to keep you at the bottom. For Meek Mill, this has been the story of his life.
‘Free Meek’, a brand new Amazon docuseries produced by Jay-Z, chronicles Mill’s lifelong struggle with the system. Mill, born Robert Rihmeek Williams, has been plagued by the same case for over a decade. A disputed conviction on gun and drug charges has turned the rapper’s life into a living hell since he was all of 19-years-old.
Mill faced 19 charges, the most serious of which were that he was in possession of crack cocaine and that he pointed a gun at a police officer. While the rapper has admitted to having owned a gun, he has vehemently denied ever having sold drugs or threatened a cop, suggesting had he pointed a gun at them, the officers would have killed him without a second thought.
The docuseries is easily one of the best in its genre, a gripping piece of storytelling that almost feels like a crime thriller. Featuring interviews with reporters and people close to Mill, the five-episode series provides viewers with an intimate perspective into the rapper’s childhood, conviction and the probation that has haunted him for literally his entire adult life.
Music is front and center in ‘Free Meek’ but so is injustice. It brings in his freestyles, songs, battles and shows how Mill's music has been impacted and molded by his traumatic life experiences. The series also shows how Mill, despite constantly grinding his way to the top, was forced to become an eternal underdog by a single judge who turned him into her own pet project.
Thanks to Judge Genece Brinkley, Mill has been forced to start from the bottom more times than any other musician. Every single time he started to rise, she ensured that he would be brought back down. All because he did not adhere to the vision she had for him.
The series shows how Mill’s career was sabotaged by minor technical violations of his probation. The rapper was sentenced to 11 years on probation when he was convicted way back in 2008.
He has not been convicted of a crime in the years since but has been pulled into court multiple times over technical violations, which are not crimes but are treated as such under the circumstances of probation. Mill has been pulled up by Judge Brinkley for things as bizarre as taking a picture with a water gun and making an unscheduled stop in a city in order to catch a flight.
After he was sentenced to two to four years in prison in 2017, Mill had finally had enough. The series chronicles how a movement erupted demanding his freedom and the cries of "Free Meek Mill" resounded both online and offline across the nation until he was finally released five months after his conviction.
‘Free Meek’ shows us how Mill has been brought face to face with violence and death from a very young age. The rapper has lost family and friends to the streets and those deaths are what has given him the drive to survive and succeed no matter what.
The series also chronicles Mill’s addiction to Percocets and how his drug abuse almost demolished what was left of his career before he checked himself into rehab and made an effort to get better. Mill does not deny his mistakes but the series shows he is glad to have found his way past all his problems.
All, that is, except one -- the system that refuses to let go. Over a decade since he was allegedly framed on charges of selling drugs and threatening police officers with a gun, Mill is still not free.
While his initial conviction, which was built on minimal evidence and the word of a single police officer, has been reversed, the rapper still needs to win a fresh trial before he can finally enjoy the freedom he has worked so hard for. Until then, Meek Mill remains prisoner to the system irrespective of whether he’s in jail or not.
‘Free Meek’ will be available for streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video starting August 9.