Today marks Meek Mill's thirty-third birthday, and it feels right to highlight one of the hardest-hitting bangers of his career -- that would of course be "R.I.C.O," featuring none other than his friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend-again Drake. And while much can be made about the ensuing shitstorm that followed its release, the song itself has plenty of stellar merits worth celebrating. For one, the instrumental (laced by the trifecta of Allen Ritter, CuBeatz & Vinylz) is absolutely insane, a sinister line of creeping pizzicato soaked in bombastic and claustrophobic synth bass.
Meek himself responds to the darker instrumental like a man possessed, springboarding off Drizzy's braggadocious opening verse with an equally confident declaration. Never one to push his flow beyond where it needs to be, Meek Milly ably works his way through increasingly dexterous rhyme-schemes, catching a particularly interesting pocket as his verse closes out. "I'm back on that hood shit, yeah that wish you would shit," he spits. I'm talking that cross you that fade you fourth quarter / like Jordan, we back on that bullshit."
Five years removed from the release of Dreams Worth More Than Money, it's safe to say that it's been one hell of a journey for the Dreamchasers rapper. One that only appears to be going upward from this moment on. Happy birthday Meek Mill!
QUOTABLE LYRICS
I'm back on that hood shit, yeah that wish you would shit
I'm talking that cross you that fade you fourth quarter
Like Jordan, we back on that bullshit
We came up from nothing
We started on list's most wanted but now it's the Forbes list
We really was doing shit
I can hear echoes from feds on this beat from informants
I think they're recording