Meek Mill is back with his fifth studio album “Expensive Pain”. A title that fits the body of work, as Meek discusses the different problems one may go through with his status/wealth. Meek has always been an expressive rapper, never holding back from letting his emotions take over the track. You look at songs like “Polo & Shell Tops” and “Cold Hearted” from his earlier projects, you can just feel the lyrics from his soul. Meek is one of those artists that just never fail to deliver. From his 2012 studio debut “Dreams and Nightmares” to “Expensive Pain” nine years later, you can tell that he hasn’t lost a step.
Since his last full length release in 2018 with “Championships“, Meek had been quietly awaiting for a time to drop his new album. After constantly teasing fans with snippets and tweets, Meek finally set his release date for October 1st. A$AP Ferg, Vory, Kehlani, Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert, Brent Faiyaz (who is the inspiration behind the title), Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Giggs and Moneybagg Yo were the features listed on the track list. The album got off to an energetic start with “Intro (Hate On Me)” and “Outside (100 MPH)” but transitioned smoothly into a calmer “On My Soul“. Meek definitely implemented a lot more slower songs on this project, but it was a good call. The stigma that surrounds Meek by people who don’t actually listen to him is that he only yells on tracks when it reality it’s just his style. The album didn’t fly off the charts commercially, as it sold 93K units in its first week peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200. It was third to both Drake and Taylor Swift, so that was going to be a hard ask to get to #1. However, I don’t care one single bit about the album sales. It could’ve sold 5K first week, the music is what is consistent. There are at least three songs on this album that I would put in my top 20 Meek Mill songs of all time. Through all the internet antics/beef, Meek never fails doing the one job that he’s been destined to do. Make great music. From the battle rap scene of Philadelphia to having dinners with Jay-Z and Robert Kraft, I think his pain is definitely a lot more expensive now.
You ain’t gotta talk behind my back, you know my number, call me – “Love Train”
Favorite Songs:
- Expensive Pain
- Cold Hearted III
- Halo ft. Brent Faiyaz
- On My Soul
- Outside (100 MPH)
- Blue Notes 2 ft. Lil Uzi Vert
- Sharing Locations ft. Lil Baby & Lil Durk
- Angels (RIP Lil Snupe)
- Intro (Hate On Me)
- Love Money
- Love Train
- We Slide ft. Young Thug
- Ride For You ft. Kehlani
- Flamerz Flow
- Hot ft. Moneybagg Yo
- Me (FWM) ft. A$AP Ferg
- Northside Southside ft. Giggs
- Tweaking ft. Vory
Rating: 9.2/10
It’s very hard to grade an album by your favorite artist. I genuinely spent about 20 minutes just trying to figure out my top 10. “Expensive Pain” has been out for a little over a month now and it has been getting constant spins in my music rotation. Meek dropped another great album, and in my humble opinion, that make him 5/5 for studio albums. Next album review will be “Life of a DON” by Don Toliver and then the biggest YSN article of the year is set to drop in December. My “favorite albums of the year” article will be one of my most difficult I’ve ever done. It will be my third year doing the album of the year rankings and this year has a lot of gems. Silk Sonic just dropped today, Bryson Tiller is dropping a Christmas project, Tory Lanez is dropping an 80’s album and Juice Wrld’s second posthumous album “Fighting Demons” is coming out on December 10th. A lot of projects to go over and rank for y’all, but I couldn’t be more excited. Y’all know the drill…
This is YSN, until next time, signing out.
