Meek Mill - Championships Album Review (Billboard 200 Top Debut Week of 12/15/18)

Hi everyone. This is my first one of these posts, so I suppose you'll see the format for the first time here. It's pretty basic but here we go:

Background
I honestly didn't expect to hear more from Meek Mill and have it get big. He's been making music since like 2003, and got his first Hot 100 debut in 2011 via a feature on Wale song. Since then, he's had his biggest hit in All Eyes On You with Nicki Minaj and....sigh Chris Brown. So he loses some points there. The song was pretty forgettable, and honestly not exactly worthy of being a hit in the amazing year for music that was 2015. So yeah I didn't exactly have high expectations going into this.

But what is Meek most famous for? Well, that would probably be his beef with Drake. Basically Meek called out Drake on Twitter for not writing his own song, to which Drake responded by saying Meek had ghostwriters on a song where they collared. Then they both had diss tracks of each other for years, and earlier this year it seemed like Drake still wasn't over the beef. But now he's on the album so there's that.

Overview
So I really had no idea what to think going into this. I had heard maybe one or two Meek Mill songs prior to listening to this album. Also I heard mixed reviews of it. So what do I think overall? Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I think Meek shows a lot of talent here, both as a performer and (sometimes) a lyricist. I think his guest stars also need to get recognized here, as many of them deliver really damn great performances. But what really lets Meek down is the production. A couple of these songs are pretty well produced, but overall I find the production ranging from generic to legitimately bad. Which is really a shame since Meek does his best to ride some of these beats, but he just cannot do it at times. 

Individual Song Reviews
1. Intro: I don't exactly love this one. I do think Meek is pretty good here at parts, and I'm here for the disses on mumble rappers. However, the production doesn't really click with me, and I also think when Meek gets too aggressive his flows suffer. 3/5

2. Trauma: Meek brings some solid flows, but plays into his upper register for reasons that are not totally clear to me. However, I still don't love this production, since it is still pretty generic. The more synthesized tones in it are pretty good though. The lyrics are quite good on this one, so I think a 4/5 sounds right.

3. Uptown Vibes (feat. Fabolous & Anuel AA): So this song is based around a horns melody. With a trap beat. Didn't really expect that. Meek does his usual thing, but I think he's better here than in the first two songs. Fabolous's verse is really good, as he is much more restrained than Meek. But then Anuel AA shows up and he doesn't do anything interesting. I think maybe a 4.5/5 is right, since the non-Anuel parts are really good.

4. On Me (feat. Cardi B): Meek and Cardi  have a lot of chemistry. They both have naturally pretty heavy, aggressive delivery so this should not come as any surprise. I don't like the weird pitch-shifted background voices, and the lyrics here are pretty good. So aside from solid performances, not much here. 3/5

5. What's Free (feat. Rick Ross & JAY-Z): I don't like this song. It's really rich people talking about how hard their life is. This is literally my least favorite type of lyrically content. It doesn't help that the production is made up of a trap beat mixed with a synth that ends each measure going up. This is not how you end measures. You go down on the final note. Otherwise, it sounds incomplete and unsatisfying. Also I just don't like Rick Ross as a rapper. By the way, it's 6 minutes long. 0/5

6. Respect The Game: This is kinda just another version of Intro. Meek's performance and lyrics are solid overall, but the generic production hurts him. 3/5

7. Splash Warning (feat. Future, Roddy Ricch and Young Thug): Meek's co-stars really let him down here. Because this production is pretty good here. But Future is here. And Future pretty much sucks as a rapper. He delivers a boring, generic verse here. Roddy Ricch isn't much better though, as he goes into what I think is his falsetto at point. Then Meek Mill and Young Thug deliver some decent but not special performances. Also, the entire song has these little "ooh-ooh"s at the end of every line which gets really grating. 0.5/5

8. Championships: Now this is more like it. Meek kills it here, and oh my god the production here. Most of the beat is made up of what I think is a saxophone and damn it's solid. There's also a sample of a female vocalist who fits into the mix perfectly. This is easily the second best song on here, 5/5.

9. Going Bad (feat. Drake): I also quite like this one. The flute (I think that's what that it is) sounds like a little off key at points. But our performers more than make up for it. Drake delivers a solid rap verse, along with a really well sung verse. Meek gives one of his better performances on the album. Also the production in the verses is actually pretty good. This seems to be the hit of the album, and I'm frankly fine with that. 5/5

10. Almost Slipped: So uhhh... I don't quite know what happened here. Meek is drowned in autotune, and the trap beat is drowns out anything else in the mix. But were not losing that much as the rest of the beat sounds like it's something I could've made for the Wake The Pop Up theme song. Let's just move on and give this a 1/5.

11. Tic Tac Toe (feat. Kodak Black): More bad production yay. I actually don't mind Meek here, but oh god Kodak. Why is he here? Why do people enjoy listening to him? Why do I still have to talk about him???? 0/5

12. 24/7 (feat. Ella Mai): Wow I did not expect Ella Mai to be this good here. Like her hook is legitimately great. The production here is also pretty good, as it takes another soul sample and mixes it with a pretty damn good beat. Also Meek is here I guess. He sounds pretty good, but Ella and the beat steal the show. 5/5

13. Oodles O' Noodles Babies: The title is.... uh well it's something. But about the actual song, wow the lyrics. This song probably has the best lyrics of any song on the album, as Meek sings about his rough upbringing. Meek is also decent here. But my problem is the production which is really grating. I suppose it still gets a 2/5 for the lyrics.

14. Pay You Back (feat. 21 Savage): 21 Savage kinda kills any momentum this one had. Meek's performance is nothing special, but the production is actually pretty good here. Shame 21 Savage had to be the guest. 2/5

15. 100 Summers: Once again, Meek is drowned in autotune here. Especially when he tries to go into his upper register. His flows overall feel messy, as he tries to cram lots of words into his bars and they just don't fit. 1/5

16. Wit The Shits (W.T.S.) [feat. Melii]: I hope this song is NOT a single, because I don't need W.T.S. becoming a regularly used abbreviation. Also the song is very mediocre. The production is not good, and Meek's flows are stuttered. Melii's verse is actually pretty good though, so she kinda redeems the song. But it's still a 2/5 at best.

17. Stuck In My Ways: At this point in the album, I'm kinda expecting more from Meek than yet another retread of his intro. 3/5

18. Dangerous (feat. Jeremih and PnB Rock): PnB Rock is right, this vibe is contagious. Both Jeremih and PnB both show that they've got pretty good voices in their parts. I also like Meek's parts, random Boo'd Up reference and all. Overall, this is probably the song here I'll come back to the most, hence why I believe it to be the best song here. 5/5

19. Cold Hearted II: This is a really great closer. Meek sounds pretty good, and it features another soul sample over a really good beat. I don't have much to say expect this is a pretty good song. 4.5/5

Final Thoughts + Rating
So overall I would say I liked this album. It did suffer from the production not being all that great at points, but I liked Meek and his guest stars for the most part. I think the highs here are really high and the rest is just kinda there. I 'd give this a recommendation if you like Meek or just want a good rap album.

Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Best Songs: Championships, Going Bad, 24/7, Dangerous
Worst Songs: What's Free, Tic Tac Toe