Currently, the United States of America is on fire, literally and figuratively speaking. With the protests currently taking place to combat the oppression we experience at the hands of the authorities, many hip hop artists continue to add to the message with politically and socially charged releases. If there’s anyone that understands the injustice happening in America, it’s Meek Mill. The Philadelphia star has been fighting the justice system since a youth, and continues to be transparent about his battles even today. Given that, Meek has delivered a new single titled “Other Side Of America,” which sees him blacking out lyrically in regards to all levels of oppression that we’re experiencing as a community:
“Mama let me sip the forty, I was just a shorty, then I started spittin’ godly, then they said ‘record me’/
I feel like this s*** was for me, this s*** just my story, yeah, jumped off the porch, I got a Porsche, won’t take it back/
I’m on the block with the killers and holdin’ my own, of course, I seen my mom and dad separate, ain’t talkin’ divorce/
Said daddy was livin’ by the fire, and he died by the torch, I’m where the AKs is, we like the Bébé’s Kids…/”
In addition to an excerpt from Donald Trump in the beginning, the song ends with a much more poignant quote from Meek, which he spoke during an interview with Michael Smerconish on CNN back in 2018:
“I always dreamed [of] being like on like CNN and being able to express myself, and speak for like the voiceless young men of America. The first I would say, I grew up in America in a ruthless neighborhood, neighborhood where we were not protected by police… we grew up in ruthless environments, we grew up around murder, you see murder, you see seven people die a week, I think you would probably carry a gun yourself, would you?”
Press play on “Other Side Of America” below.