After months of snippets, beefs(Drake, The Game and Beanie Sigel) and several push-backs Meek Mill has finally delivered his fourth installment the Dreamchasers series; DC4.
DC4 follows on from his two-part EPs 4/4 and 4/4 Pt 2 neither of which really set the world on fire. The only real highlight was War Pain ft Omelly from 4/4 Pt 2 which was almost instantaneously released after Drake – Summer Sixteen and sounded like a direct response. The origin of this beef (and the others) Meek discusses in great detail in his Tasxstone interview. In this interview, he alludes that the origin of a lot these beef is jealousy of his relationship with Nicki Minaj.
Now that this introduction is done, I will provide my unfiltered thoughts after listening to it in full for the first time. Let’s go!
- On the Regular
This isn’t exactly what I expected out the intro. I thought it was going to be really slow tempo with DJ Drama’s voice in the first 20 seconds dropping some motivational diamonds. The Carmina Burana sample gives it a triumphant feel reminding me of Burn ft Big Sean for some reason.
- Blessed Up
“It’s outstanding that I’m still standing”. Meek seems to be aiming this one at all the people who thought he was finished after all the memes and diss tracks during the Drake beef. It gives me the vibe of “I’m here to stay and don’t ever doubt me”. Nice track nothing special.
- Litty (Ft Tory Lanez)*
As with all Dreamchasers mixtapes, there are a large number of features and one consistent person on Meek Mill projects is Tory Lanez. Their flows really merge well together on this one with Tory taking over the chorus and delivering a vicious verse with a cheeky reference Drakes “Ghost Writer”
There are some arguments Tory sounds like Travis Scott on this track(which I can hear). His response to this is well maybe they sound like him.
“I just counted up a Quentin Miller a QM that’s a quarter million” – Tory Lanez
- Shine*
Wow, this song hits my soul with the same level of impact of songs like Maybach curtains and Traumatized from his debut album Dreams and Nightmares. The raw hunger and vivid description are Meeks strong points.
“Diamonds dancing all on me, doing the stanky leg” haha. Better late than never I guess Meek (listen to Drake – Charged Up for clarity)
- Froze (Ft Lil Uzi Vert and Nicki Minaj)
I’m slightly confused by the track order now, why this follows Shine I don’t know. It would’ve flowed better after Litty. This is a decent song and without the exception of the chorus “you know how froze it is” nothing really stands out for me.
- The Difference (Ft Quavo)
Hmm ok, I really dislike this repetitive chorus and the same ad libs from Designer on almost every track. Quavo has really been on form this year with his features but didn’t really save this one for me.
- Lights Out (Ft Don Q)
The piano in the background gives a smooth feel. I can imagine a very flashy video for this with lots of Rolex’s and chains ha. This is my second time hearing Don Q after his freestyle with A Boogie he really held his own with Meek.
- Blue Notes*
Scratch the last one this is what I call smooth. I really like the pauses Meek takes in-between the verses. The guitar strings take me to the scene of some western shootout. This is a mix between soulful and hype Meek. My only complaint on this one is it doesn’t feel long enough! Almost like an interlude.
- Offended (Ft Young Thug and 21 Savage)
On seeing the tracklist this was one of the songs which intrigued me the most. To me, this just sounds like a Young Thug extra and it didn’t actually need Meek or 21 Savage on it. To be honest I got bored by the time it got to 21 Savage.
- You Know (Ft YFN Lucci)
I was waiting for one of the crossover type tracks and I guess this is it. Sounds like its dedicated to Nicki Minaj, not really liking Meek on this chorus. This really is a forgettable and I can’t see myself playing this again.
- Way Up (Ft Tracy T)
Tracy T always just sounds like a Migos clone to me. Another loose extra sounding track, not really into this one much either. Hearing way up so many times in a row just made me think of the Drake chorus on Blessings.
- Two Wrongs (Ft Guordan Banks and Pusha T)
Finally, a chorus which sounds like it has some actual craft to it and took more than a couple of minutes to construct. I always felt Heaven or Hell was one of the highlights from DreamChasers 3 and Guordan delivers a good hook here again. It just feels like its missing something though can’t really put my finger on it.
- Tony Story 3
The Tony Stories are always Meek really gets into storytelling so my expectations with this one were sky high even before hearing it. The story telling is great again on this but I really don’t like the instrumental. Tony Story 2 is still the best for me.
- Outro (Ft Lil Snupe and French Montana)
It really was a sad to hear when Lil Snupe was murdered over something as silly as a video game; he had so much potential.
I really don’t know why Meek didn’t open up with this part of the track. My only assumption is that this wasn’t finished version maybe there was an intention for another Lil Snupe verse. The second half really does sound just like a remake of the second part of the Dreams and Nightmares intro.
Meek really is in a unique pocket with what he does from motivation for the streets to flossing lingo. This isn’t my favorite Dreamchasers project but definitely an improvement from DC3 (third behind DC2 and DC1). This really helped to bring back why I became a Meek Mill fan in the first place.
Although, a good project I feel like having it was actually missing the DJ Drama gems at the over the tracks which I really found connected well on DC2.
Top 3 tracks: Litty, Shine and Blue Notes.
8/10
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