The rapper is out of jail and making new music, but is he #free?
MEEK MILL’S LIFE can be split almost down the middle, into BP and AP: before probation, after probation. Lately, moments from the first half don’t come to him so easily; he’s spent more of the past decade bound to the system than he’s spent out of it. Struggling to recall his last memory of freedom, he says, “Maybe not since I was 10 or 12, sitting at home playing a game all day.” But his snap response feels more truthful: “I’ve never felt free, coming from where I came from.”
Once thought of mainly as a skilled battle rapper, Mill, 31, was raised in North Philadelphia (“Millidelphia” to his fans). Ever since he was sentenced to probation in 2008 for brandishing a gun at a cop during a drug raid—both Mill and witnesses maintain he didn’t do this— he has been at the mercy of local judge Genece E. Brinkley. Every few years, like clockwork, she has had him jailed or put under house arrest at her sole discretion. These days, he legally cannot be away from his hometown for more than 30 days at a time.
He’s about halfway through his current stint away. We’re currently on set—a barren lot in Baltimore’s Green mount West neighborhood—for Mill’s acting debut. He’s playing the leader of a revered dirt-bike gang in an adaptation of the documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, which is named for the group. Street art decorates the exteriors of the otherwise dilapidated buildings. Mill has been splitting his time between Baltimore, Miami, and New York, where he’s recording his forthcoming fourth album, Championships. Since he was released from prison in April, Mill has become something of a criminal-justice reform activist, but the rapper has long been a fixture in hip-hop, first as a member of the Philadelphia group the Bloodhoundz and later as a solo artist.
この記事は New York magazine の November 26, 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は New York magazine の November 26, 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Trapped in Time
A woman relives the same day in a stunning Danish novel.
Polyphonic City
A SOFT, SHIMMERING beauty permeates the images of Mumbai that open Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light. For all the nighttime bustle on display-the heave of people, the constant activity and chaos-Kapadia shoots with a flair for the illusory.
Lear at the Fountain of Youth
Kenneth Branagh's production is nipped, tucked, and facile.
A Belfast Lad Goes Home
After playing some iconic Americans, Anthony Boyle is a beloved IRA commander in a riveting new series about the Troubles.
The Pluck of the Irish
Artists from the Indiana-size island continue to dominate popular culture. Online, they've gained a rep as the \"good Europeans.\"
Houston's on Houston
The Corner Store is like an upscale chain for downtown scene-chasers.
A Brownstone That's Pink Inside
Artist Vivian Reiss's Murray Hill house of whimsy.
These Jeans Made Me Gay
The Citizens of Humanity Horseshoe pants complete my queer style.
Manic, STONED, Throttle, No Brakes
Less than six months after her Gagosian sölu show, the artist JAMIAN JULIANO-VILLAND lost her gallery and all her money and was preparing for an exhibition with two the biggest living American artists.
WHO EVER THOUGHT THAT BRIGHT PINK MEAT THAT LASTS FOR WEEKS WAS A GOOD IDEA?
Deli Meat Is Rotten