Meek Mill has officially released his new studio album Expensive Pain, and he spoke with Zane Lowe from Apple Music 1 all about the process of making this project, as well as other themes surrounding his career, including his friendship with JAY-Z, feud with Drake, and feeling that he doesn't get the same respect as other artists that came up at the same time as him.
Touching on the title of his project, Meek reveals that he got the idea to name his album Expensive Pain from Brent Faiyaz.
"It's one of my favorite right now. I think this is probably one of my favorite albums where I express myself," said Meek. "I actually said expensive pain on a song with Uzi when we was in the booth rapping. I said, 'You ain't rich, your stash can't pay my drug bill.' Basically we smoke a lot of weed and stuff like that, and I was playing it for Brent Faiyaz one day in the studio, he heard me say that, he was like, 'That bar hot.' He was like, 'That's a fire word, expensive pain.' He was like, 'That should be an album title.' And I started thinking about it and then I stuck with it. And then we start coming up with our definition of expensive pain and what I took from it, just being away from your family in the studio all night, being on tour, the things we go through in life, it could be a million different ways you could break down expensive pain, but through my album, I tell you what mines was."
During the interview, the Philadelphia-born artist also speaks about why he can't return to his neighborhood, and why he doesn't feel he gets the same respect as other rappers on the XXL Freshman list from 2012.
"Personally, and it's up for the fans to have a opinion, and that's what keeps me going, I don't feel like I get the credit that I deserve far as the artists," he said. "I come from the 2012 era. If you go check XXL cover, shout out to Vanessa, I'm on the cover. It's me, YG, it's Kendrick, it's Mac Miller, rest in peace, Fred the Godson. But all them guys, I respect them highly, and a lot of them guys last in the game, I'm one of them guys that's still here in 2021, I'm about to put on at a talented level, not a marketed level. I want to go straight to the fans."
Meek also touched on his "slowest" year, which came during the time he and Drake were beefing.
"2019, I think my slowest year, me and Drake was beefing. I was at a disadvantage," said Meek. "He was winning, in the eyes of the people. I still walked my way through that, went through prison, I had to go through something. Once I bounced back out, Championships. We had a pandemic, two years go by, few people fading away. We in 2021, I'm going to stand on Expensive Pain, I'm going to stand on my talent, and I'm going to remain confident and hope that people pay attention to what's going on because they got a long way to go. I'm trying to keep pushing."
Check out Meek Mill's new album Expensive Pain here.