Free Meek (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript

(footsteps)

- I been on this
ship for 11 years,

and every time I bring it up
around somebody they say,

"This shit is unheard of,

"how you get 11 years
of probation?"

I never really looked at it
like a nightmare.

I looked at is as a real life
for a black kid in America.

You know what I'm saying?

This is real life.

♪ Leave a nigga with ♪

♪ More balls than a brick ♪



♪ So close in and catch them ♪

♪ Let 'em all go though ♪

♪ Losses, I cut them ♪

♪ Let 'em all float man ♪

♪ Let 'em all know
that I'm back around ♪

♪ I'm taxin' now ♪

♪ Meek Mill, clappin' now ♪

- Battle rap.

That's where I got
my courage at.

You got three minutes to
get off your best lyrics

and impress the crowd,
and it's a rough crowd.

♪ Look nigga, I do mine ♪

♪ See me in the Yukon ♪

♪ Trucks so big, the
backseat got a futon ♪



- Whoever the best get
the most love from the crowd.

♪ Listen! ♪

♪ I don't give a fuck about
the niggas you killed ♪

♪ Or bodies you got ♪

♪ I sent my niggas through
the body of block ♪

The first time I was battling,
it was really in school.

There was one kid, he was 16.

His vocabulary,
the way-- his talent,

he was just on another level
from me at the time, man.

I watched like my whole
neighborhood turn on me

in the matter of a second.

♪ Stand up straight,
missin' his father ♪

Everybody was teasing me
that the guy was beatin' me.

When I walked off,
I was crying.

It was a sad day for me,

but it was one of
the best days of my life

'cause I was just like,

from here on out
I'm taking rap serious,

you're gonna all remember,

you're gonna be playing
my music one day.

♪ 4 a.m., I'm on the
north side of Philly ♪

- Everybody saw it in him.

He had this drive in him that
he was gonna be this rapper,

he always was sayin',
"I'm gonna be big".

♪ I'm like do it
for the gram, ho ♪

♪ Do it for the gram, ho ♪

♪ She don't want to bust it ♪

♪ I say do it for
them bands, yo ♪

♪ I say do it for them bands ♪

♪ Fuckin' with
that broke nigga ♪

♪ You should do
it for your man ♪

(engines revving)

- Coming from the
environments we come from,

the odds are against you
growing up.

So I just feel like
I'm blessed.

- Because what
African American men

have to go through is so tough,

the ones who make it
almost have like

a mythological power

that the whole world
has to acknowledge,

and Meek has that.

(applause)

- I come from the same place
you guys come from.

I just wanted to come here
and speak to y'all,

give y'all some motivation.

In a bizarre story,

rapper Meek Mill
was arrested

in New York City last night.

Witnesses said

there was a group of people
that were popping wheelies.

He has been officially
arrested and charged

with reckless endangerment.

A Philadelphia judge
has sentenced Meek Mill

to prison time for
violating his probation.

(door slamming)

- Now this goes back
10 years with this judge,

all stemming to 2008
when he was convicted

on gun and
distribution charges.

- A lot of people don't really
understand what's going on.

Its not just two to four years.

This guy got locked up at 19

and been on probation
for 11 years.

- Nobody was doing the deep dive
on the circumstances

that put him back in
the belly of the beast.

- When you see
someone's conviction

based upon the testimony
of one witness,

that's a sign that
you may be dealing with

a wrongful conviction.

- The description here
doesn't match

Meek's physical description.

- Doesn't seem plausible.
- Doesn't seem plausible.

- Even when I go back and read
my case from the beginning,

they just accused me of
a bunch of stuff

with like no real
evidence or nothing.

- We will not stop
until he's out of jail

because this is
a great injustice.

- The system is fucked up,

and you get a judge
like Judge Brinkley,

you can just kiss
your ass goodbye.

- Those who come before me,

they're expected to
behave a certain way.

- I let the lawyer talk.

I'm almost scared
up to the point I'm scared

to speak on my own situation.

(police sirens)

- When cops kill
people with guns,

you know, that's
a terrible thing.

When judges kill
people on paper,

that happens probably a
thousand times a day in America.

- Meek used to always say to me,

"There's two worlds."

The criminal justice system

for a lot of
African American people,

completely broken.

- Meek Mill's story
is way too familiar

to too many black families.

There's so many people had
Meek Mills in their own family.

- People are referencing
this across the country,

"I don't wanna get Meeked,"

meaning I don't
wanna get done dirty.

(crowd chanting)

- There's like millions
of people like Meek.

It's just that Meek has a voice
because he makes music.

So many people we know have
been through this same thing,

and it was like, wow.

This is a shot for
everyone to be heard.

(crowd chanting)

- So today I say
we must stand with Meek.

- Y'all keep
messing with us all,

you're gonna start bringing
black and white together.

You're gonna start bringing
rich and poor together

to get something done.

And once those folks
start getting together

to get something done,
they may not stop.

You might've messed up
and created

the wrong kind of movement,

that can create justice
across the board.

- Free Meek Mill!

Free Meek Mill!

Free Meek Mill!

Free Meek Mill!

Free Meek Mill!

(dramatic music)

(thunder rolling)

- 8:30 about the last
time he can dial out.

It's gonna be cut
by like 8:40, 8:45.

- It'll probably be as
soon as y'all leave,

he's probably gonna call.

(phone chimes)
- There you go.

- This is a call from

Pennsylvania State
Correctional Institution.

To accept charges
press one, to refuse--

(beep)

You may start the
conversation now.

- Hello?
- Yeah.

- What's up, Dad?

- What's up?
- Nothin'.

- How you feel?

- I feel good that
you gonna be out soon.

- You feel good that I'm
gonna be out soon, right?

- Yeah.

- So we can have a bunch of fun
and do a bunch of fun stuff?

- Mm-hmm.

I'm tryin' to make a
mix tape of my song.

- Oh, yeah, so we can
finish your album, right?

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah, no, we're gonna do that
as soon as I get home.

(harmonious music)

- Goodbye.

(beeps)

(harmonious music)

- You know,
I lied to my nephew

and I told him that
his dad was in college.

I didn't know if he was gonna
do the two to four years,

so I thought it was
the best for him

to think it was college,
than to actually know

that he's back in
jail, but he knew.

From the news, and
some of the classmates

were saying stuff about
his dad being locked up,

and he's always been
a great student,

but Papi just started
acting up in school.

It wasn't just Meek

that was going through
everything,

we all felt a piece of it.

- Go ahead, get your stuff,
hurry up.

(dramatic music)

- Meek Mill is one of
many, many millions

of people stuck in a
system in which they have

essentially forfeited
their civil rights.

I've written a lot about

the Philadelphia
criminal justice system.

Sometime in 2017, I believe,
I was looking for a story

about the
post-conviction system,

known as the probation system.

Roc Nation, they said, "Have
we got the story for you."

I drive to the penitentiary,

and Meek and I talked
at great length.

We sat there for three hours,

and Meek told me the
first chunk of his story.

Meek's entire life
has been defined

by one night 11 years ago.

When I began to look
at Meek's casework,

I realized I have never
seen a case

built on less.

This is a story in which
there's injustice

in every crack and crevice.

This is "Filthadelphia."

♪ This shit right here for
my Oddles O' Noodles babies ♪

♪ His ma was smokin' crack
while she was pregnant ♪

♪ So he can't even
help that he crazy ♪

♪ He goin' to jail ♪

♪ It's inevitable ♪

♪ Fo' real ♪

♪ I ain't have nobody
to give me no hope ♪

♪ I hope my momma
ain't doin' do coke ♪

♪ I used to wish that
my daddy was livin' ♪

♪ I had a dream that
I seen him as ghost ♪

♪ I used to act up
when I went to school ♪

♪ Thought it was cool,
but I really was hurt ♪

♪ Wanted my family
to come to my games ♪

♪ My momma couldn't make
it 'cause she was at work ♪

♪ Lived with my grandma,
she took me to church ♪

♪ Really though I
ain't wanna go ♪

♪ Remember I kissed my
aunt in the casket ♪

♪ And her forehead was cold ♪

♪ I was like four years old ♪

♪ We couldn't
afford no clothes ♪

♪ It was hand me down ♪

♪ Who would think a
nigga get a Grammy now ♪

♪ Got a black judge
tryin' tear me down ♪

♪ All this jail time
probably wear me down ♪

♪ Turn the lights
off in the bathroom ♪

♪ Screaming bloody,
bloody, bloody Mary now ♪

- In Philadelphia,
there was a time

where there was a
way out of poverty

through middle-class,
well paying jobs.

1970 though 1979
the city lost approximately

140,000 manufacturing jobs.

And the city at the time
was roughly

somewhere to about
1.7 million people,

so that's a lot of jobs,

and then right after that
the crack epidemic hit.

- Just say no.

(crowd cheering)

- It was violent,
it was crime-filled,

and right after crack was
introduced we had the crime bill

that mandated
three strikes laws,

harsh sentences,
mandatory prison sentences,

without judges having
the flexibility to decide

case by case, it was just
this is what you did,

this is what you're
gonna get, no discretion.

And that overcrowded
our prisons,

and it decimated
whole communities.

I mean, you grew up in
Southwest Philadelphia,

North Philadelphia in the '80s,

there were hardly
any men there at all.

And as a child, you
just sort of thought

that that's how it was,

and so what that did
to the social fabric

of communities in Philadelphia
during the 80's,

we're still bearing
the brunt of that today.

- I came from the slums
of Philadelphia.

Growing up in
drug infested areas

and being influenced by
the guy off the corner.

But I was raised in survival,

I was raised in
how to stay alive,

how to stay out of prison,

what's the right moves to make
so you don't lose your life.

There's murders every day.

Just coming from
these situations,

it's like watching
"Friday the 13th,"

where you see Jason
appear every five minutes.

Watching that movie,

you're expecting to
see death coming up.

(screaming)

- They shot my daddy!

(percussive music)

- If you got 365 days
and you have 400 murders,

that means Jason
is out every scene,

that this is going
on seven days a week.

I don't wanna be judged
off of the fact

that I come from a
fucked up environment,

I wanna be judged off
being a good person,

a good soul first.

(light music)

I was born 1987, May 6th,
in Philadelphia.

My father's name
was Robert Parker,

and he named me
Robert Rihmeek Williams,

and I guess my mom still wanted
me to keep her last name,

'cause my mom
kind of aggressive so...

I always thought Robert was
like a white guy's name,

Rihmeek sounded more ghetto,
so at a younger age

I wanted people to
always call me Rihmeek.

(light music)

I started off on 32nd
and Cecil B. Moore,

it's like a small,
closed off neighborhood

near Fairmount Park.

We used to have a homeless man
sleep in our hallway,

my mom and them--
and my mom, she didn't like it,

but we let him, 'cause he
ain't have anywhere to stay.

But he was killed in front of
my door on 32nd Street.

That was probably the first
time I witnessed death,

it was a homeless
man named Nelson.

(piano chords)

The house was so old that
they needed to knock it down,

so when you live
in public housing,

you don't really have a choice
where you can move at,

they give you an option,

and 18th and Berks
was the location.

The area I came from,
I'm playing with kids

I grew up with
from the age one.

We all had great relationships

and our parents
had great relationships.

I'm just moving in a
brand new neighborhood

where it's like, this
little bit more violent

that's going on around here.

(percussive music)
(police sirens)

I probably was about
four years old,

there was a guy came through,

he had like a duffle bag
of crack vials,

said he was getting chased by
the police and he threw it.

The whole neighborhood
rushing out like roaches,

pushing and shoving
and fighting

to pick it up
off the ground,

and all I seen was like
colorful tops,

'cause they use,
for crack vials,

all the tops was like
yellow, pink, red, blue,

so it attract your eye
as a kid if you see 'em
laying on the ground.

- This is Rihmeek's
father's picture.

He had several jobs,
you know, he tried to,

he really tried to
be a good father

to Rihmeek and his sister,
he tried.

- My brother?

I'm tryin' to find a
nice way to put things,

because he was a nice guy
but he wasn't a nice guy.

- Loved his kids, and
would do anything for them

and make sure that they
had the best of everything.

So if that became whatever
he deemed necessary...

You know what I mean?
So let it be.

(slow music)

- So he was a
drug dealer robber.

He would rob anybody
that sold drugs.

'Cause his meaning
for that was,

they can't snitch.

- I was aware of everything
that he done.

To me, it was like if it
worked for helping me out

with my kids,
it works for me.

(TV playing)

- My father was
allegedly robbing.

That's not really my thing,
I don't believe in that.

I don't believe in robbing.

I don't believe that
nobody should take food

out of nobody else mouth
'cause they got kids to feed.

But that was
my father's mind frame

and I don't knock
him for doing it

because that was actually
how I was fed,

how I ate good at night.

(building music)

(gunshots)

(resounding music)

I remember him teaching me
how to ride a bike.

Teaching me how
to hold my hands,

playin' around like boxing.

And the memory's so old,
you don't know

if it was a dream or a memory
at this point, seriously.

The main thing I remember is
when my dad, at his funeral,

my aunt was just
telling me like,

"Tell your dad goodbye.

You're never gonna
see your dad again."

And she said it that way.

And that stuck with me
all the way up 'til today.

Life still goes on,
you know what I'm saying,

even as a kid I seen that.

That nothin' stops when
somebody dies, you know,

yeah, it hurt people,
and things keep going.

(dramatic music)

My mom was a strong mother.

My mother did anything
she could do to make sure

that me and my sister had
anything by any means necessary.

Even like at times when my mom
got laid off from work,

it was at one point my
mom was boostin' clothes

and making sure that we
got everything we needed

to feel good as kids.

I never felt poor.

My mom kind of was
a little overwhelmed

raising two kids by herself,

so she needed
some type of help.

My grandma was a
big help in my life.

When my dad died,
my grandma used to let me

come to her house
on the weekends,

and three of my uncles
lived there,

three of my aunts
lived there at one time,

they all got kids,

so it's like a real big
family house at the time.

I ended up getting
closer with that family.

(harmonious music)

- You could tell he
was goin' through stuff

coming up as a kid,

and I guess he held all that in

until the day that he
could be able to shine,

and he spit it all out.

♪ Puttin' into the power way ♪

♪ Knowing I ain't
got no change ♪

♪ Not gettin' the proper pay ♪

♪ I don't do the rockin' thing ♪

♪ I ain't shook,
I got that ass hooked ♪

♪ Like Dr. J.
you tryin' string shots ♪

♪ Knowin' you got sloppy
and your block scrimmaged ♪

♪ But they standin' in
shock of the bullet ♪

♪ I let the shotgun bang ♪

♪ And a belly cap
and a gat in his face ♪

♪ Like the helmet
in the hockey game ♪

♪ Not a single doctor
in the hospital
can stop the pain ♪

♪ I'ma ride 'til the cops
give me pocket change ♪

♪ I'ma pit ♪

(crowd yelling)

- Hold up, hold up, hold up.

Look, listen.

- No, I got it.
- Check it.

♪ I be on some shit, dog ♪

♪ Y'all be on that clown shit ♪

♪ Walkin' with your grits on ♪

♪ I'm walkin' with
some pound shit ♪

♪ That lay a nigga down shit ♪

♪ Murder, murder, gun play ♪

♪ Niggas shitty,
I'm gettin' busy ♪

♪ Just like one way ♪

♪ Niggas with me,
I'm on the grizzy ♪

♪ All the way from Sunday ♪

♪ Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ♪

♪ Thursday, Friday,
to Saturday ♪

♪ The cops come another way ♪

♪ I rush 'em in the back,
tuck 'em back ♪

♪ Tryin' get the crack way ♪

♪ That fuckin' Western man ♪

♪ Blow this niggas back away ♪

♪ One tap, gun blap ♪

♪ Move this nigga back today ♪

- Rihmeek, I would call him a
quiet person in the beginning.

My niece came in and she said,

"Rihmeek down there spittin'",

I said, I know he ain't out
there spittin' on nobody.

That's first thing I'm
thinking, you know.

So I go down there,

he battlin' back and forth
with somebody.

♪ I run up on ya
make ya feel acidic ♪

♪ Give 'em seven ♪

♪ Now the man has
gotta wheel that kid ♪

♪ To the hospital ♪

♪ Them shots at you,
you not livin' ♪

♪ So stop trippin' ♪

♪ That pound moves
like Scott Pippin' ♪

(crowd cheers)

- Meek growin' up was
very humble and quiet.

It wasn't until he
was about 15 or 16

I found a rap book.

I teased him,
I said what is this?

He snatched it from me like
he didn't want me to see it.

I feel like me and my mom
were both surprised

at learnin' that
he was a rapper.

- He had this drive in him that
he was gonna be this rapper.

He always would say this,

"I'm gonna be big",

and he had plans on

doin' what he's doin' now
back then.

- As a kid, it's
almost hard to survive

without expressing yourself.

That's why I understand
the ghetto,

I understand when I see some
kids you might ride through,

tattoos all on they face,
they face twisted up,

they look like
they extremely mad

because they probably
is extremely mad.

There's probably a
hundred nights out of
a year they starved

or they had to go out
and find a way to feed

their little sisters or
had to be embarrassed

they mom was on crack or
their mom was a prostitute.

It's cold at night,
and I ain't talkin' about
the weather,

they layin' down in a bed
without nobody to tell 'em

they love 'em every night.

A lot of people say you got
choices and stuff to make,

really there is no choice.

(intense music)

To be real with you,
I don't really know

no men that stepped up.

There was nobody
for me to listen to,

and growing up,
we never even had men

like
hold conversations with us,

communicate with us.

I had a lot of uncles, but
I never really had nobody

like close to me to
communicate with me

besides like maybe
some of my older cousins.

- Since his pop died, I
ain't say we was like his dad

or nothin' like that,
but it's like we was more

protective over him than
anybody else, kinda.

- Meek made a decision
at 15 years old to leave

and go and live
with my boy cousins.

He went runnin' to
the only men he knew

and whatever they were doin'.

(resounding music)

- All my older cousins was
as close as I came to like

men role models in my life,
and they was drug dealers

and stuff like that,
and they didn't have

any fathers in their lives.

(percussive music)

They all know
I was writin' raps.

(percussive music)

I used to have 10 of my homies
in the basement

with a radio machine.

I'm hangin' down in
South Philly now

and now I'm stayin'
the night out,

now I gotta find out how
I'ma keep $20 in my pocket

every night to get
something to eat,

because my mom live

all the way on
the other side of town.

We used to gamble a lot,

play video games for money.

That was my hustle instead of
like selling crack cocaine.

- Meek was a, reality,
he was a good kid,

he ain't never sold no crack
or nothin' like that.

- Yeah, never sold crack.

I was just like, you got enough,
you got somebody to play ball,

you're gonna make sure
he do the right thing.

We kept Meek in the studio.

- It was just constantly,
music just on,

and I remember there'd
be a couple times

where he'd do like,
"Whoa man,

"we gotta fine on
our electric bill."

But we knew where it came from,

but we didn't really
care about it,

as long as they was
makin' music, and--

You know what I mean?

- Once he got that door open
to that basement,

he was there, he was in.

♪ Like I'm so motherfuckin'
hungry, man, my head hurt ♪

♪ I had to get myself together
make my head work ♪

♪ But at the same time
keep my record real first ♪

♪ But everybody know the hood
can be your worst distraction ♪

♪ And when a nigga disrespects ♪

♪ your gun's your
first reaction ♪

♪ That's how we livin'
in this struggle ♪

♪ All we got is pride ♪

♪ So when a nigga
takes it from you ♪

♪ Shit you gotta ride ♪

♪ Murder homicide ♪

♪ So by all means necessary
I'ma strive ♪

♪ To get my momma out the hood
since my father died ♪

♪ If you don't grind
you don't shine ♪

♪ Shit I gotta try ♪

♪ A made man, brave man,
nigga I am I ♪

- When I dropped
my first mix tape

it was called
"Best of Meek Mill."

I watched the interview
from Ludacris one day,

he said, "If you got one fan,
one fan can turn into 10.

"10 can turn into 100,
100 can turn into 1,000,

"1,000 can turn into a million."

And I just took that
approach about it.

Later on, we started
doin' mix tapes

where they had the mom
and pop stores and stands,

then, you know,
we started running

our own little mix tape ring.

A few months later,
CDs start really selling.

It picked up later and then
I started making money.

♪ Chillin' in the cut,
chillin' ♪

♪ Haters see the Louis tag ♪

♪ When I see them biddies ♪

♪ I remind 'em of a Gucci bag ♪

- I remember one day,

I was on Diamond Street
in North Philly.

Every single car was
blastin' Meek Mill.

Now I'm getting chills
talkin' about it.

♪ Fuck the kid
'cause I'm on TV ♪

♪ Diamonds on my neck,
check ♪

♪ Prada, gee that's easy ♪

♪ Child I'm pilin'
up with Pradas ♪

♪ Up and down DC ♪

♪ Jays on ♪

- Right now,
you go on these streets

and man, you listen
to these cars

they bangin' Meek Millie.

Meek Millie
all fuckin' day, man.

All I'm tryin' to do is, man,
keep this shit runnin', man.

Get this fuckin' paper.

♪ But never ever could
they make the hood ♪

- I drove a bus in
the city of Philadelphia,

and I would hear this music,

like every kid get on the bus.

Man, I'm like, damn,
that's my nephew.

And I'd call him like, Meek,
man, I'm tellin' you, man,

it's like every kid get on
the bus is playin' your CDs.

"Oh, yeah? Oh, all right."

I'm like, what the fuck?

Did I just
waste my time callin' you,
you know what I mean?

Like, damn,
I'm excited as all hell

'cause I got--
You know what I mean?

I'm pickin' up
hundreds of kids a day,

and everybody got
that music blastin'.

♪ Every time killin' it ♪

♪ The whole hood feelin' it ♪

♪ I got the word of mouth ♪

♪ Right now I'm on the South ♪

♪ Dealin' with them
killin' niggas ♪

♪ Sheisty and gorilla niggas ♪

♪ Fuck it though, we out ♪

♪ He talkin' what he about ♪

♪ Nigga makin' threats,
it's a bet ♪

♪ I'll send my bloodhound
barkin' at his house ♪

♪ Them summer nights
can even turn cold ♪

♪ In the streets of Philly ♪

♪ Where niggas don't
even get to turn old ♪

♪ My heart pump
until it turns gold ♪

(crowd yells)

(suspenseful music)

- My rap career becoming big,

at the same time I'm still
livin' in these environments

with people dyin'
left and right.

(police sirens)

I would see crime on
a seven day basis.

Traumatizing,
when you see that,

it's--
you'll be traumatized,

and anybody that's traumatized,

I think you would kick
into survival mode.

If you didn't kick
into survival mode,

you may not be able to
hug your mom at night,

and that's just
end of the story.

I remember as a kid that
there was this other kid

named Rihmeek down the block.

He got shot 26 times,

so that was the story of
the neighborhood all month.

Like, it was a kid
got shot 26 times

in front of his mother's door,

his mom had to see him
out there like that.

When that happened
that night

everybody was callin' my mom
thinking I got killed.

(light music)

So like a week later,

I'm sitting on the step,
and a guy walked up to me

and he's like, "I'm a
big fan of yours, man,

"I'm happy to see
you alive, man.

I heard you got killed."

I'm like, naw, man, I'm good.

And he walked off, and
took probably 10 steps

and made a left
around a corner.

(gunshots)

I walked to the corner
and my heart dropped.

I seen a guy that just told me
I was dead on the ground dying.

I'm right here watching him
bleed out for eight minutes,

really the cops are
only two blocks away.

And then when the cop came up,

made the call on
the walkie talkie,

and now the ambulance
take another 15 minutes,

by the time you put him
in there, he was dead.

(sirens wail)

(intense music)

My first gun,

a .40 Smith & Wesson
with 16 shots.

I had a friend,
he went right in the store,

he bought it
and sold it to me.

(dramatic music)

At that age, I had seen
so many people get killed,

I heard so many gunshots,
or heard about violence

or even seen violence.

You want to protect
yourself now,

because you could smell death
when you go to the door,

you goin' to the door like,

man, it smell like
somebody goin' die today,

or like it feel like a day
I shouldn't come outside

I might die, you know.

We just took things
into our own hands,

'cause I feel like that's
what we needed to do

to stay alive.

- As Meek told me,
"I didn't write the rules,

but I chose to live by them."

Meek had bought a gun
to finally,

for the first time
in his life, feel safe.

Little did he know that
that gun,

which he thought
would keep him alive,

would, in fact,
bring him into

the teeth of the system,

which he's not been able
to escape since.

(dramatic music)

- I was with my
cousins and stuff.

We in the house.

You know,
I'm the youngest one,

somebody go to the store,
I got to go to the store.

(percussive music)

When I walked to the door,
I was like--

'Cause when you walk to
the door in the hood,

you gotta look around when you
first walk through the door,

it's nighttime.

(percussive music)

I thought about that kid
that got killed

right here on the corner.

These are the steps
I gotta take.

I ain't goin' to the store
no more without protection.

(dramatic music)

Gun on my hip,
when I open the door,

would take two steps
down the steps...

cops come around the corner,
full blast.

(dramatic music)

- Police!

Hands up!
Hands up!

- You know, I put the gun
down on the ground.

(tires screeching)
(crash)

I ain't even get
a chance to run,

they just tackled me.

(percussive music)

These guys are some big dudes,
you know what I'm saying?

In my head,
I'm thinking like,

we getting robbed now,
we getting kidnapped.

(percussive music)

(handcuffs click)

When I first ran to the door,

they was runnin' up my steps.

- Get him inside.

- And they basically was like

using his head as
a battering ram.

- Shut the fuck up, Williams.

Put your hands up.

(crash)

- As soon as they threw me
through the door,

I hit the TV,

and as I hit the TV,

I just start blacking out.

All I see is hands and
feet punchin' on me.

Dizzy goin' in and out.

- Get on the fuckin' wall!

- Shut the fuck up, Williams.

Shut up!

Don't fuckin' move.

- Ahh.

(shouting)

(punch)

I heard a loud ring sound,

and it was lights out
from there on out.

I'm in pain,

blood in my eyes,
my body hurt.

I'm in it, but I'm
not really in it,

so I'd be lyin' if I told you

exactly what they was doin'
in there,

it's just like a blur to me
at this point.

(dramatic music)

19 charges.

How is it possible?

That somethin' sounds like
that a terrorist should have.

Who made these things up?

- Meek was looking at 19 counts,

the most serious of
those counts were

intent to deliver or
distribute crack cocaine.

- Sellin' crack,
I was never known
for sellin' crack,

and they never had any evidence
for me sellin' crack.

- And also simple assault,
meaning that, yes,

he had a weapon, but he
also pointed it at a cop.

- I had that gun.

I know you don't believe I'm
pointing no gun at these cops,

you know I'd be dead

or at least they would've
shot me or shot at me.

They just charged me up
with a bunch of charges

'cause you young and black.

- Here's a kid who's
not yet Meek Mill.

(door slams)

He's just a kid from
North Philadelphia.

With no money,
no connections,

and absolutely no legal savvy.

How does that kid
come out clean?

He'll spend the next
11 years of his life

trying to do something.

(percussive music)