by Umar Hassan

Meek Mill’s Meekend Music 2 EP dropped a day after Tunechi’s In Tune We Trust and though Tune’s Mula Gang was by miles the dopest song of both 4 track EPs (Wayne only laid a verse mind you), Meek had the better mixtape with 3 good songs out of 4 in Organized Chaos,Save Me and Young Nigga Dream as against only one solid for Wayne in Mula Gang and a ‘well,well’ track in Loyalty.

 

He rightly earned our anticipation for the Wins and Losses album and when it dropped, it blew to bits.Not that Meek had been a bad rapper prior, it’s more down to the sheer quality of this work.

We witnessed a huge Meek step up in Dreams Worth More Than Money where he worked on his weaknesses and utilised his strengths to become a better all round MC. In Wins and Losses, he sounds accustomed to being just that and even goes on to try his hands at new things. Yea, he sings now.

He opens the album with the title track, Wins and Losses and like it suggests, Meek has gone from a dreamer to being thick in the mix. He chops it down in thumping Meek fashion..”Wins and losses come with being bosses….Top of the food chain, head of commission, we breaking niggas without permission”. You should get the memo.

He has grown far more comfortable speaking from deep and on Price and Heavy Heart, we see him speaking introspectively to captivating effect on the challenges of being him and not only the long ride to where he’s at like old Meek would.

1942 Flows is a lot like both songs albeit a bit more edgy. He has been on a lyrical ascent since DWMTM and he puts that to good use as he tells you a gripping tale with a strong message for his haters. He sings awesomely on the hook and drops some lines on his ex, Nicki Minaj as well…”Ain’t doing no interviews, i’m busy, nigga we litty/So when you see me out don’t ask me about no Nicki/F**k I look like telling my business on Wendy/Niggas gossip like Queens, we was serving fiends”.

He jumps on Jigga’s Momma Loves Me alongside The Dream for YBA (Young Black America), an arresting walk through on the tribulations of the young Black American. Originally a single off this LP and it played a huge part in the anxious wait for Meek. Epic stuff.

He takes grieving to new heights on We Ball where he reminisces on Lil Snupe and his other lost soldiers and lets you know he does it grand for them. He solicits Young Thug for this great tune and Thugga did get his ‘sober’ on real nice.Further proof of Meek’s comfort in the growth zone is packed in Never Lose which is one of the best songs of the album. Meek gets on beast mode delivery and his guest, Lihtz Kamarz supplies him a bomb of a hook. He reminds you he is one of the very few rappers in the game with a distinctive style and it happens to be one that doesn’t dwell much on lyrics and he makes you very appreciative of him for going through the trouble of dropping enough catchy lines. Watch out for Lihtz Kamarz. He’s cut out for really huge things.

Meek drops some really tight bars on Issues and even takes out time to do some singing. All of which combine pretty well. Meekend Music 2’s Save Me already gave a hint as to a more versatile Meek, and it felt great to see him sync the new and old aspects to his game on this song.

And talking about old Meek, he reassures you he still speaks up tempo just as fluently as anyone in the game. He recruits Quavo for Ball Player and he puts his talents to stupendous use. Hard to stay put when this comes on.

Lil Uzi Vert joins him for the trappy Fvck That Check Up where Meek struts major with a classy hook to match. Glow Up completes the roll call of ‘built for speakers’ songs that make you want to bribe a DJ before clubbing on a Friday.

He brings his street soldier status to the fore on the hard-hitting Connect The Dots where he features Yo Gotti and Rick Ross. It oozes a mind-blowing grittiness with all Mcs firing from all cylinders. Gotti has been killing major features lately and he follows up his outstanding verse on DJ Khaled’s That Range Rover Came With Steps with another one here. How’s this for an opener-“Let’s talk about the trap, lets talk about the streets/You look up to Jordan, we look up to Meech”?

Meek softens up that mode for Made It From Nothing and boy, does Teyana Taylor pull those chords? Ross was again on hand to help make this beautiful tune.

‘For the ladies’ may have hit a rough patch in Whatever You Need feat Chris Brown and Ty Dolla $ which certainly doesn’t measure up to his previous Breezy collabo, All I Wanna Do but he makes up for that in the amazing Fall Thru where he flaunts his singing in breath-taking fashion and even ups the ante to baby making level on Open with Verse Simmonds.

Basically, Wins and Losses is an album you could bump from start to finish without skipping a single track.Meek has come of age and he deserves respect.A whole lot of it.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Umar Sa’ad Hassan is based in Kano. He tweets@alaye26