Album Review: Dreams Worth More Than Money
Artist: Meek Mill
Rating: 9/10
There’s a general theory that many people believe in the sophomore curse. It is the belief that an artist’s second album turns out to be either a complete flop or it just wasn’t as good as their debut. In 2015 we seemed to have avoided that theory altogether and instead of seeing weak sophomore efforts, we’re getting albums that are meaningful, different and above all, entertaining. Such is the case with Dreams Worth More Than Money, the sophomore album by Philadelphia native Meek Mill. Apart from having a shitty 2014 with being locked up and all, he scratched the original version of the album and started all over. What we’re left with is something that we’ve should’ve heard the first time he dropped an album.
From the jump Dreams Worth More Than Money is a monstrous hit, with the opening track being ‘Lord Knows’, Meek lets loose the pent up frustration he’s been holding back. What’s noticeable about this particular track, and the album itself, is that he’s managed to implement new flows in his repertoire. This time around he’s not just yelling into the mic about women and money. He’s utilizing his ability to make an emotionally charged song. This is a complete step up from his debut Dreams and Nightmares, which was an album that I just couldn’t listen to due to its lack of cohesiveness. Granted, there were a few dope tracks, but this time around Meek listened to his detractors and took that as motivation to craft an album that continues the streak of straight fire that 2015 has brought thus far.
Meek has always been a friend of the people, having quite a few features on both his albums. On Dreams Worth More Than Money, we have features from girlfriend Nicki Minaj, Drake, Future and more. Now, a pet peeve of mine is an album that has too many features. For the simple fact that its your album, we want to hear you not everyone you collaborate with on a mixtape. However, in this case, it works for Meek because most of these collaborations are artists on the hook and not so much stealing the entire song. The standard version of the album is a decent length at fourteen tracks. I truly believe keeping it short and simple is the key to success. If you want to talk about standout tracks, look no further than R.I.C.O. From production to word play, everything about that song is on point. Meek even uses his new found delivery and it works so well. Dare I say, he even keeps up with Drake.
As a whole Dreams Worth More Than Money is an extremely solid album, from start to finish. If anything could be improved on, I say it would be the production. On some songs like, ‘Cold Hearted’, as an emotionally charged song, you need something to reflect that and it just didn’t mesh well. However, with that complaint aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Meek set out to make a statement with his Dream Chasers movement and he’s doing just that. Road blocks aside, he now has the motivation to make an even stronger statement with everything he does after this album, here’s to Philly and everyone dream chasing.
