Another day, another podcast conversation. This time, Meek Mill is opening up about the stretch of his career when public opinion turned against him and why he never accepted the idea that his run was over. Speaking on the Desires Podcast, the Philadelphia rapper revisited the period following his highly publicized feud with Drake and his breakup with Nicki Minaj, moments many assumed would define his downfall.
“I’m into proving people wrong,” he says.
Meek described hearing constant predictions that his career had peaked. “People [will] be like, ‘Yo after your second album, you gone be done.” He continued. “‘Ah, Drake, he’s done. Nicki, he’s done. Ugh, he went to jail for two years, he’s done.’”
Behind the scenes, the pressure was not only external. Meek explained that he was also battling his own doubts, but never lost sight of how long he had been building toward success. “You know where I come from?” he said.”I’m on a 20-year journey, and people and someone that might have met you in year 18, telling you, ‘You done.’”
That perspective, he said, made it impossible to walk away. “You know how long I been working at this?”
He also acknowledged being positioned as the underdog during his clash with Drake, a role he says felt familiar given his upbringing. “Being young, coming from poverty—you don’t even have to be Black—you can just be from our class. You’re at a disadvantage.”
Meek pointed to online ridicule as an extension of that mindset. “When I was battling Drake, they had to draw L’s in my comments. We come from the jungle, if ya mom loses her job, it’s people that’ll be like, ‘Ah, she lost her job, that’s a L,’” he says. “We don’t do that where we come from.”