A Seven Part Series from decARcerate
Hip Hop and Policing
Meek Mill's Lyrical Exploration of Trauma Inflicted by American Policing
Caleb Conrad
Oodles O' Noodles Babies
In the way of the unapologetic and unfiltered artists that shaped the rhythmic, lyrical, and cultural impact of hip-hop in the genre’s inception and early era, Meek Mill’s music features deeply personal and emotional themes derived from the rapper’s own lived experiences. Employing infectious beats and catchy hooks, Meek has followed hip-hop’s tradition of pushing topics considered taboo into the mainstream conscience, as his hit tracks describe in striking detail his own childhood trauma, his battle with personal demons, and his experience as a victim of police misconduct and brutality.
Meek Mill does not hide the fact that his life and career have been punctuated by trauma, from his childhood lived on the streets of Philadelphia’s projects through his rise to fame and his arrival as one of hip hop’s household names. Just listen to his music. In his ever-expanding and evolving catalog, through tracks like Trauma, Otherside of America, Stay Woke, and Oodles O’Noodles Babies, Meek describes the deeply traumatic experiences that shaped his life, including his decade-long and ongoing saga with the American criminal justice system.
Meek’s story is unfortunately not an anomaly; instead, it’s one that mirrors the same realities and traumas that impact the daily lives of countless similarly situated young Black people in the United States.
Meek Mill was raised in an area of Philadelphia where poverty, addiction, and violence were not just factors on the environment—they made up the environment. These pervasive traumas, along with the threat of catching a bullet—from a gang member or police officer alike—lurked around every corner. Meek has seen countless neighbors and family members be taken from the neighborhood in shackles and locked away from their loved ones and their lives. He raps about this cycle in Oodles O’Noodles Babies:
Lot of daddies goin’ back and forth out of jail
Lots of sons growin’ up and repeating it
This the belly of the beast, you won’t make it out
Man, this shit was designed just to eat us up
Meek has seen friends and family gunned down and killed in the street by violence that was random, gang-related, or prompted by police:
Killed my lil' cousin, I'm like, "Damn it, man"
Had to see the footage on the camera, man
On the pavement, with his brains out
With the white sheet, he was laid out
Meek has seen his own family unit upended due to criminality, addiction, and death. And, as a young man—at just 19 years of age—he was needlessly beaten by corrupt police, arrested and incarcerated, and ultimately convicted of crimes that he did not commit, becoming another statistic as a young Black man swallowed by the American criminal justice system. In Oodles O’Noodles Babies, Meek carefully extrapolates the ways that American policing and the criminal justice system literally traumatized and endangered his young Black life.
I think it's funny how
We used to go to school, play SEGA's
And then, next thing you know, you runnin' round with Glock .40s
We ain't never believed in the police, they was shootin' us
***
Yeah, they called it the projects, they put us in projects;
What they gon’ do with us? Can’t call the cops yet;
You might just get popped at;
‘Cause they the ones shootin’ us;
I’m on my mom’s steps, it’s like a bomb threat;
The violence pursuing us…
Meek Mill’s experience with police brutality and misconduct began on January 24, 2007, when he was arrested by the city’s Narcotics Field Unit (“NFU”) on suspicion for selling crack cocaine. The arrest warrant that would kick-start the rapper’s now infamous battle for his freedom was issued based on a single statement from NFU supervising officer Reggie Graham, who stated that he witnessed Meek Mill leave his residence, sell crack cocaine, and return to his home.
Meek Mill’s experience with police brutality and misconduct began on January 24, 2007, when he was arrested by the city’s Narcotics Field Unit (“NFU”) on suspicion for selling crack cocaine. The arrest warrant that would kick-start the rapper’s now infamous battle for his freedom was issued based on a single statement from NFU supervising officer Reggie Graham, who stated that he witnessed Meek Mill leave his residence, sell crack cocaine, and return to his home
However, we all know now what Meek Mill knew then: Officer Graham was not telling the truth. In fact, since the time that he testified at Meek’s trial, Officer Graham has been discharged and blacklisted from testifying by the Philadelphia District Attorney due to his long history of dishonesty and corruption. Graham’s NFU was found to be so corrupt that thousands of cases involving the unit have been thrown out. NFU officers were said to have lied to show probable cause, obtain warrants, bust through the doors of suspected drug suppliers, and steal all of the drugs and cash they could find on a scene. Meek’s case was no different, as it is now clear that Officer Graham lied about witnessing Meek selling drugs to obtain the arrest warrant. On the exact date and at the precise time that Graham claimed that he witnessed Meek selling contraband, the rapper was in court supporting a cousin who had to appear there. Officer Graham also lied on the stand at trial when he told the judge that Meek had pointed a gun at officers.
According to a former NFU officer on the scene the night of Meek’s beating and arrest, Meek never raised a weapon toward the officers; instead, he removed the firearm from his waistband and laid it on the ground before placing his hands in the air. This statement corroborates Meek’s story from the very beginning that he had never pointed the weapon in the direction of the officers. Meek has since stated that if he ever pointed a firearm at police, he would surely be dead. With the unprecedented murders of young, unarmed Black men by American police, this logic from Meek cannot be argued with.
Meek Mill’s songs, like Oodles O’Noodles Babies, are now blasted from speakers, cars, and headphones all around the globe, casting the rapper’s reality of childhood environmental trauma, police brutality, and a rigged criminal justice system to a worldwide audience. Meek’s story of how the corrupt system of American policing traumatized him and impacted his life is a powerful story, as he is one of only a few to have reached success in the face of such adversity.
How we take Meek’s story, and what we do to rectify similar harms, is in our hands.
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