Meek Mill On Why He Doesn’t Like Interviews: “I feel like it is selling my soul.”

Meek Mill has been a bit quiet on the music front, until now. The 30-year-old Philly rapper recently released his third studio album Wins & Losses and reveals how this project is different than his previous work. He also dishes on how Jay-Z’s new album motivated him, what’s on his bucket list and why he isn’t a fan of interviews. Peep the excerpts below.

On who he is listening to right now:

I rock with my team of course, Oh Melly, Scolla. I am feeling a young kid name TK, Money Bag Yo, he already popping, Core he is from Philly a young artist coming up.

On what motivates him:

Winning and being successful. I came in the game trying to achieve success, got on the road and started driving, turned my navigation on and now we are on the way, you know just being successful motivates me.

On his bucket list:

When it is all said and don, I got to make a hundred million, I got to get some pus-y on the jet, I have dreams of pulling other people I grew up with and seeing them be successful, it does not really have to be all about me, I want to give back to my community, build somethings in my community, make it a better place for the young kids that come up under us. I just want to ball, I am not even going to lie. I just want to live and just live a legendary life.

On comparing the street life and music business:

The streets are cut throat really. If you back stab somebody you are probably going to have to deal with that. In this game if you back stab somebody it’s political, you can’t really do nothing, you can not really make people pay the price for the things they do. So people go a little harder in this game, but there’s vultures in the streets, there are vultures in the game and there are vultures in the world. So you know you just have to play the game and the hand that you were dealt.

On adjusting from the streets to the music business:

Yeah, that is a big adjustment to me. Where I come from someone say something to you, you address it, now if someone say something to you, they will tell you your mother ugly or I wish you die right now and all you can do is read the comments. Jay-Z said ‘you all be talking crazy under those Instagram pictures’ and there is nothing you can do at this point. You just have to expect it and roll with the punches.

On what Jay-Z ‘s new album means to him:

It means growth to me, he motivated me, I learned form the CD, I do not think the controversy about the money to the ear was to much, do what you do. Our jeans are tighter than Jay-Z’s jeans, we wear [the brand] Off White and Hov rocking Tom Ford, it is just two different things, but at some point you are going to want to put some Tom Ford on at some point you are going to want to put the money down and invest, get some credit.

That is what he is saying for real. He is kicking real reality rap, anybody can look on Instagram and see that Meek Mill’s has six foreign [cars] and Meek Mill got good credit too, but we do not put that on Instagram. He is just teaching people the game. People run around with a hundred thousand in their pocket for what? You got the money to your ear for what? I like it because it is a good picture for me.

On loyalty and still having old friends from his neighborhood:

I do not like to get caught up in the game. I have a song called ‘’Love Hollywood’’ about getting caught up in Hollywood, a place where no one there really loves you and everything is based upon what you can do for others and favors. I like to keep my family around me to keep me grounded and to a certain level. If you do not have any one in this game to tell you yes at the right times or no at the right times, or either someone you built with who knows you for who you are and can see you and motivate and up lift you than you are lost.

Why Meek titled his upcoming album “Wins and Losses”:

 It has been a lot of controversy through the Internet or people talking saying I am losing or he winning. I break it down and give you my perspective of winning or losing. I come from the jungle where like you start off at zero, now we are seeing some millions, we are taking care of our family, we are living the way we want to live, yacht and planes, Bentley’s and private school, big mansions for your family. There is no way you can break it down and make me see it any other way else. I am giving my perspectives on losing. When I lost, I lost my case. I went to jail. I lost my freedom. I lost Lil Snoop, I lost my friend, my young boy, stuff like that. It is a blessing to be thirty and young black and in America. That was a win for me. To be able to see six figures, seven figures in this game is a blessing. Where I come from, out of a thousand people only one person makes it to thirty.

On the creative process behind the upcoming album:

I just went in the studio and poured my heart out and kept it real. I spit reality, this is a rap album, not a trap album, this is not a mumble [rap] album, this is not an instrumental tape. This is a rap album where I am pouring my heart out, I am speaking reality, I am using lyrical content and some sh-t that is going to make you think every here and there and you are going to have to double back and hear what I said. I have a little bit of the new wave on here to keep up with the young cats.

On how this album is going to be different from his other music:

It is a lot different. I am speaking on a lot of things. Everything that people want to hear me speak on, I’m speaking about on the album. That is why I have not been doing interviews and giving it all away. These are things that I need to talk about on my own.

On why he is sometimes uncomfortable with doing interviews:

I feel like it is selling my soul. I never thought that just because you are rapping that or a celebrity that you have to tell all of your business. We are not really in to that where I come from that is kind of like breaking the code. It is kind of awkward. I do not want to talk about my mom or talk about someone I was once in a relationship with just to sell my music.

On advice he gives to young guys who want to be in his position:

Focus up. Hustle hard. Do what you got to do to get where you want to go, because no one is going to take you there, there is no easy routes out. I feel like I am the voice for the young men, no matter what the situation is they always see me stand on two feet with my chin up. I feel like that is why a lot of people come at me because people want to see you break, they want to see the vulnerable side of you. Where I come from we are not in to showing that. We are into standing on your feet. Stand up to what ever you are going through, be a man and be a man of your word.

By:@Thankm3soon