A Tale of Reversed Fortunes
Earlier in the Avengers film franchise we saw the Hulk be pretty much a cheat code against any battalion from any galaxy. The Incredible Hulk fought dragon-like metallic monsters, and he was capable of reaching gigantic proportions when faced with an adversary. “You wont like me when i’m angry”. Was a message that struck fear in any being that attacked him. Hulk could barely talk, you didn’t want to have a conversation with a being that could put Hercules and Samson (from the bible) to complete shame. Hulk’s supernatural strength and his ability to grow made him unstoppable. The Hulk is the embodiment of a one man army who could make a leather jacket out of godzilla. However in Avengers “Infinity War”, we saw our hero be humiliated by a villain named Thanos. Now in avengers there are crystals that hold the power to every fiber in the universe. These crystals are called “infinity stones’, and each of them holds a different power. Now granted it is because Thanos had the Infinity stone of power he was able to defeat Hulk, it does not change how Hulk changed for the worse. Hulk was half human half mutant and it would take aggravation from him to change from his human state to his mutant state. However after that encounter with Thanos, Hulk could not move past that defeat, eleven his angry side could not return because of the fear Thanos put in his heart. Fast forward to Avengers End Game, we find Hulk in his mutant state, but he’s not angry, as a matter of fact he is actually gentle, warm and friendly. The once ferocious, almighty destructive superior being that evoked fear into the hearts of even the most staunch villains, all reduced to an overgrown nerd who looks like the wet dream of every steroid user, but is in fact a kind, geek like non-threatening green empath with a good hold on his temper. Fans of the Marvel franchise complained as to why the Hulk was reduced to a character of comic relief. Even though it played well into the narrative between Avengers Infinity War – Avengers End Game, If there is a chance Avengers is to make any kind of comeback it’s going to be hard for the writers to return the Hulk to his prior glory of evoking fear and being the beast he used to be.
Now looking at Meek Mill, born Robert Williams in Philadelphia. Meek Mill was seen as a dangerous man. Philadelphia is known for its high murder-rate and one of the toughest cities in the United States today. Philadelphia has even been nicknamed ‘Kiladelphia’. Meek used to sell drugs growing up in order to combat his financial situation. He also turned to ‘battle rap’ which is the most aggressive confrontational and lyrical form of Hip Hop. Against all odds he emerged victorious with his head held high and became a global rap superstar. Stadiums played his music, he had sold out shows, early in his career a lot of people even compared Meek Mill to the late legend “Tupac”.
Today Meek Mill is the laughing stock of Hip Hop. His sales are lower than they have ever been. He is now an easy target for bloggers to make fun of. From 2011-2014 you would have had a price on your head for even looking at Meek Mill wrong, today even stand up comedians are using him as a punchline for their stand up material. But how did it all unravel?
The year was 2015 Meek Mill was fresh from jail (which meant he had respect from the street culture), his protege ‘Lil Snupe’, was killed in a shooting (which meant he also had sympathy from the world for his loss), he was also dating Nicki Minaj. The world was on Meek Mill’s side. This year was the peak of Meek Mill’s career. After releasing his anticipated “Dreams Worth More Than Money’ album in 2015 to great success, this was a homerun for the Philadelphia drug dealer turned Hip Hop superstar. In the saturation of success he decided to divulge some information that negatively implicated a fellow rapper who gave Meek a feature verse. This rapper happened to be Drake. He exposed Drake for allegedly not writing his own lyrics. The response was overwhelming. Drake became the subject of ridicule, people stopped believing that Drake was as great as he said he was. However that exposure did not come without any backlash. Drake released two records insulting Meek, the second record being “Back 2 Back”. “Back 2 Back” caused a wave as being one of the greatest diss records in Hip Hop history. He shamed Meek, and dragged him to filth and the entertainment world laughed. The internet was in a frenzy, it became a trend to insult Meek Mill, everyone joined the bandwagon of destroying Meek’s reputation. So many memes, jokes and parodies were created to the point Meek couldn’t even reply, there was even a competition on who could insult Meek Mill the best.
Meek then had a point of redemption. He was arrested in 2017 for riding his motorcycle in an unsafe way, and police saw that as a parole violation. There was another campaign to free Meek Mill. He got released from Prison and started speaking about Jail reform, which momentarily restored his dignity. However even after making peace with Drake and aligning with powerful people Meek still found a way to return to his state of idiocy. From perpetuating foolery on twitter to humiliating people on social media only for it to backfire, Meek somehow lost favor and found his way back to being the ‘butt of every joke’.
Some may say it’s Karma because in 2014 Meek Mill used his street status and his band of ruffians to bully other artists who he knew would not retaliate. Meek did this with Nicki Minaj’s former boyfriend Safaree at his video shoot, where they came to the venue unannounced and viciously attacked him. The same thing happened during his debacle with Drake, after Meek ‘exposed’ him. Meek claimed another writer named “Quinten Miller” was the one who wrote for Drake. Meek also attacked Quentin Miller in public for not corroborating Meek’s accusations. SO everything that happened on social media manifested into real life on more than one occasion.
Did this let Meek learn his lesson? Absolutely not! In 2020 Meek went on a social media app called Clubhouse, and basically started Insulting and sending threats to another rapper named Tekashi 6ix9ine and a blogger named DJ Akademiks. Tekashi then confronted Meek at an event and took an unflattering photo of Meek Mill which made its rounds on social media. Dj Akademiks spoke on Meek being a coward and offering to fight him further humiliating the rap star.
In 2024 music mogul Sean “P.Diddy” Combs has come under fire amidst sexual abuse allegations from his former girlfriend, and other collaborations. We are witnessing the death of a dynasty in real time. Diddy has lost endorsements, he has had to step down from his companies and he has taken so many of his shows out of syndication. Now Sadly enough Meek Mill’s reputation has now joined in that collateral damage. Sources have unearthed allegations of Meek Mill having sexual relations with P.Diddy. There have been some suggestive videos of the two being affectionate wearing matching clothes and Sean giving Meek nicknames like “Daddy”.
And now Social media has once again gone on a tirade against Meek. Meek even threatened to leave America to live in Ghana because he can’t take the ridicule any more. And social media continues to make a joke out of Meek. Meek Mill’s latest project “Heathenism” was released and it only sold 6000 units making it his lowest sales to date. If that is not worse now bloggers are offering to challenge Meek Mill in a celebrity boxing match.
A once respected and feared figure in Hip Hop has now been reduced to a meme. Unlike the Hulk, Meek was his own worst enemy. Even when chances of redemption came he destroyed them through his own actions and utterances. For 9 years people have taken Meek as a complete joke. Even with those powerful dignitaries he aligned himself with, there has been footage of him hopping up and down like a rabbit for their amusement. We don’t know what the future holds for Meek but for now he is a story of the worst reversal of fortune ever to exist in music.