Album Review: Meek Mill’s DC4
2015 was a year of ups and downs for Philadelphia native Meek Mill. After releasing Dreams Worth More Than Money, an album that received critical acclaim as being one of his best works yet, Mill got into a beef with Drake. Two diss tracks by Drake later and Meek Mill was the laughing stock of the rap game. Oh, and he started dating Nicki Minaj.
Mill remained quiet, however, and now it is November. Mill released his fourth installment in his “Dreamchasers” line of mixtapes with the release of DC4 on October 28. With it, Meek Mill looks to silence all of his haters, even if for the temporary.
What Meek Mill has always excelled at is the trap party anthems, and that does not change here. He opens with “On The Regular” and Mill puts it best what he is doing. “Stickin’ to the basics.”
Songs such as “Litty” pop off thanks to incredible production and beat selection, another place Meek Mill has always excelled. He has gathered a group of producers here he is comfortable with that know his style, and the album is crafted to be something easy for Meek Mill to rap on.
From start to finish, it is truly one of the better installments in Meek Mill’s career. The problem he faces, however, is an unwillingness or inability to evolve his style. DC4, for all intents and purposes, sounds just like anything else Meek Mill has ever released. The problem is, now in 2016, a lot of rappers do what Meek Mill does but better.
Take a look at someone the features on the album: Quavo. Quavo and his group Migos do a lot of the same things as Meek in terms of production and the type of music they make. But bar for bar, Quavo has a wider range of the things he can do and the types of flows he can have. Quavo can be choppy if you want, or flow effortlessly. With Meek, it is all one continuous flow with no variation.
Meek Mill’s shortcomings are most notable on “Offended”. Mill enlists help from Young Thug and 21 Savage on the song, and Young Thug shows what range is. On the track, Thug goes from singing to rapping flawlessly before going back to singing. His ability to go from style to style is what makes Young Thug such an incredible commodity. On the same track though, Meek Mill incorporates his same old flows, which at this point you either love or do not.
In the end, this album is not a far cry from everything else Meek Mill has released. If you are or have ever been a fan of Meek Mill, this will satisfy your want for new music. Even for myself, someone who has not always loved the former battle rapper, I saved this to my Spotify and still find myself listening to it at times. It is a good album that deserves a listen or two, but in such a crowded genre like hip-hop, this album does not stand out above Islah or Always Strive and Prosper.
David Arroyo is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email arroyodavid01@gmail.com.
