‘Ima Boss’ emcee Meek Mill has announced that he will begin donating money to reduce gun violence in his home city of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania city has seen an increase in homicide rates over the years, and the Kensington neighbourhood of the city is infamous for its soaring number of drug users.
In a recent post on Twitter/X, reflecting on the murder of Philadelphia emcee Phat Geez, Mill (real name Robert Williams) unveiled that he wants to work with the city’s authorities and contribute 10% of his music earnings to clamping down on violence in the area.
However, despite the goodwill shown in his post, Williams got a swift response from cultural commentator DJ Akademiks, who insisted that the rapper was a hypocrite as he still exacerbates and glorifies violence in his music.
Tweeting his desire, Meek Mill wrote, “Ima do a public contract with the city of Philadelphia where 10% of my music earnings go to the city of Philadelphia to combat gun violence in our city… ima start this movement! PIP PHAT GEEZ. I wanna do in contract the city of Philadelphia!”
However, Akademiks was direct in his reply, commenting, “Rap about Gun Violence to increase violence in the inner cities by 400%, then pledge a measly 10% of your earnings from said rapping to combat the same violence your music just promoted… Wow, this guy is a saint.”
The emcee, Phat Geez, was shot in his own city last week during a drive-by. There have been no arrests so far. However, the Philadelphia police have put out a $20,000 reward for anybody willing to offer the murderer up to enforcement agencies.
Meek Mill has recently called Philly a “terrible place for black people to live”…” and noted that “you see too much death!!!!” Although Williams raps about murder, many insist that he is simply reflecting his surroundings.