hen he isn’t in the studio or on the road, Meek Mill prefers to be in the streets. The 25-year-old rapper, known for his punctuated style, has taken his love of motocross bikes to the Internet through a partnership with iPhone app VIDDY, serving as a judge for a contest that ends on June 2.
For the competition, entrants can upload videos of themselves doing motocross bike tricks through viddy.com/MeekMill. The Maybach Music Group rapper will sort through the entries to determine the most skilled rider, who will take home a custom ETHIKA, Inc. custom motocross bike with an $8,500 value, as well as other prizes. According to the Philadelphia native, participating in the giveaway was a no-brainer based on his prior experience with bikes.
“I actually ride myself, and I know the tricks and things like that. I can actually determine the best tricks they do and who puts out the best video,” Meek told The Juice. “I’ve been riding my whole life. I’ve been around for a second, it’s what I do on my time off. I have about five bikes that I ride different times when I get a chance to.”
The contest comes on the heels of the release of his “Dreamchasers 2” mixtape, hosted by DJ Drama and released earlier this month. The project, which features guest appearances from Drake, Big Sean and Rick Ross, became the highest trafficked mixtape on DatPiff.com where it was downloaded more than 2.5 million times in 24 hours. It’s a new benchmark of success, but he’s letting his fans define his status.
“That’s really for the people to judge. But for myself, yeah. That’s what it means. Two million people downloaded it. That’s another level for me. I never had something like that going on,” he said. “‘Dreamchasers 1,’ that was my intro to the music game. My first mixtape as an unsigned artist. This is my second one. I had no music out in like 10 months as my own. I did some promo on it for a minute, my label was backing me on it, and that’s just the way it turned out.
The mixtape came in tandem with the announcement that he’s joining his label mate Wale under Roc Nation management. The “I’m A Boss” spitter announced the news a few days after the release of “Dreamchasers 2,” serving as the culmination of talks with the management branch of Jay-Z‘s label over the past few months. Though Mill explains that the company is yet to secure any deals or placements, he has faith that the decision will usher his career into new territory.
“This theory is that I’m an underground rapper and I come from the street… There’s parts of the game that I can’t reach with my management and so we combined with them and made things work out to the point where they could bring things to the table that we need,” explained Mill, noting that there weren’t any other management deals in the works. “They’re taking it to the next level. I’m not looking for anything. Everything else falls on me.”
With “Dreamchasers 2” already ramping up demand for a proper debut, Mill is currently recording his first studio album “Dreams & Nightmares,” due August 29. Laying down “two to three songs” per day in a studio recently installed on his tour bus, Mill has knocked out roughly half of the tracks for the project. He says that no cuts are confirmed for the LP, but was quick to discuss a recent collaboration with Nas titled “Maybach Curtains” that may or may not make the final tracklist.
“Nas is one of the best rappers ever. Just having him in the studio, that’s a big thing to me. I grew up listening to this guy. I came and I played the beat for him and he liked my music, so we just vibed out,” he said, explaining that the feeling of his unfinished songs will dictate guest features on ‘Dreams & Nightmares’. “If I have a song that sounds like it fits Nicki [Minaj] the best or it fits T.I. the best, that’s the people I would sort of lean towards getting on them songs. But it depends on how the songs fit the person.”
Ahead of the album’s release, fans can anticipate hearing Mill on the upcoming Maybach Music Group compilation “Self Made Vol. 2,” debuting on June 26. But don’t expect more new music from him ahead of his debut’s release. “I’m just going to be working my mixtape and just grinding. Same thing I’ve been doing. Same thing I did to have my mixtape do two, three million downloads, the same plan I’m going to have for my album,” Meek said. “Right now, I’m just focusing on the album, man. You gotta score a touchdown before you worry about the next point.”
