So Meek and I played a game
of ping pong backstage.
Basically, I gave Ellen
that smoke backstage.
[LAUGHING]
Yeah.
He beat me and I said, I'll
get you, I'll come back,
I'll get you.
I will.
[LAUGHING]
You got to go to jail
to get as good as me.
[LAUGHING]
Spend some time
in jail and then--
because you have that spin.
You have that--
A little wrist action.
Tricky, it's too tricky.
I just learned that you
watched my show in prison.
Yeah.
It's not a lot of good
things to watch on TV.
They gave us, like, the basic
channels so I found myself
watching Ellen.
Some days it was CNN and
then there was Ellen.
[LAUGHING]
All right, so let's
talk about this
because it's really kind of
infuriating and frustrating.
Let's talk about the first
time that you went to prison.
What happened?
The first time I went
to prison I actually got
locked up in the
South Philly areas,
like, really I call them
ruthless environments where,
like, you know,
a lot of violence
happened, a lot
of drugs happened.
You know, this is where
you have to hang at.
If you grew up in this area
and you don't have money,
you grow up in poverty, these
are the areas that we hang at.
So you end up at the wrong
place at the wrong time.
Actually, I didn't
really have any guidance.
I was hanging around a
bunch of the wrong people
and I got caught up.
When I went to
court, you know, I
don't know if anybody seen my
mug shot when I went to court.
When I went to see the
bail judge she was like,
you're here for shooting
a police off-- well,
pointing a firearm at a
police officer, selling drugs.
I'm like, whoa, whoa,
whoa, pointing a gun?
I wouldn't be here right now
if I pointed a gun at a police
officer.
Anybody believe that, I think--
[APPLAUSE]
I got locked up--
I got locked up in, like, a
bus where five or six officers
come at one time.
So it wasn't like me and
the officer one on one.
Five cops, you got two,
three cops saying I
pointed a gun at them without
a single shot being fired,
nobody being hurt but me.
And you know, actually, I
had to fall for that case
and I got felonies on
my record for that case.
And they put me on
probation from--
I was 18 years old, 19 years
old when I got on probation.
I'm 31 years old,
still on probation.
OK, so you're on
probation, and then
what happens the next time?
What was wrong?
A year ago I got locked up
for wheeling a motorcycle
and was sentenced
two to four years.
For doing a wheelie
on a motorcycle?
Yeah.
Actually, I didn't even
get caught on the bike.
I posted on my Instagram,
so the next day
I went back to that area to
a charity basketball game,
20 cops came up and arrested
me and I went to prison.
Well, you shouldn't
have posted that.
[APPLAUSE]
If you follow me on
Instagram, my whole Instagram
is about wheeling bikes.
I've wheelied bikes through
America for the last seven
years.
I know, but now
look what that did.
All right, so you're
in for stupid reasons.
You shouldn't have
been in there.
And you had no idea
that so many people
were fighting to get you out.
You had no idea.
No, I did have an idea after,
like, the fourth or fifth day.
The first week I was being,
like, a public figure,
they put me alone in a cell.
You're locked down
23 hours a day.
When I got out I actually
start watching the news on TV
and I was saying, like, CNN,
like, big TV stations talk
about my situation,
so I'm like, this
must be something good
going on because I
got people standing behind me.
And usually in these
situations people
go to jail over these
things all the time,
like minor things, not
even committing crime,
which people don't understand.
A lot of people would
see somebody, oh, he
violated probation.
It could have been
loitering at Starbucks,
it could have been anything.
Police contact is a violation.
So a lot of people would
say, he belongs in jail.
But I didn't commit a crime
and I've been doing goods
since I've been--
Yeah.
No, you did not
belong in jail at all.
You didn't.
So the day you find
out you're getting out,
did you know you were getting
out or they just came to you
and said, you're getting out?
I was in my cell, I just cooked.
I had rice and
mackerel, they good.
They sell, like,
a mackerel fish.
And I was eating and I was
watching the news, actually--
three or four o'clock.
What time your show come
on east coast, 4:00?
Mm-hm.
I'm watching the news and,
Meek Mill is up for bail.
I dropped my food,
jumped up in the air
and, you know, I was
leaving 10 minutes later.
Wow.
So you get out and
you saw all the people
outside waiting for you?
Yeah.
I came outside--
I was kind of, like, dizzy.
That's it right there.
Yeah.
That's amazing to
see that many people
supporting you and
celebrating you getting out.
How long were you in?
Five and a half months.
Yeah, five and a half months.
Yeah.
Well, you're out now.
And so you're the face of
criminal justice reform
and did you ever imagine
you would get to this point?
Just having, like, growing up
in the environment I grew up in,
it wasn't never really
like a lot of support.
You got support from,
like, your mother.
If you had a father, you
had that type of support.
But we didn't really
get a lot of support,
so I wanted to, like, pay
the people back that actually
came out and, like,
supported me and really
just make what's right, right.
Because a lot of these things
don't make sense and everybody
know that it don't
make sense, but nobody
focused on changing the system.
Well, you're going to
help a lot of people
because a lot of people are
going to listen to that.
[APPLAUSE]
There's a lot of work
that needs to be done.
There are a lot of people in
jail that don't need to be
or in prison that don't
need to be in prison.
They just sit there and wait
and wait and wait, and you know.
It's almost like
you being voiceless.
Like, even being on a
show like this too--
I appreciate having
me on this show.
Like, a lot of people that
I was locked up with I
know they're probably
watching this show right now.
Shout out to them.
And it needs to be changed.
It really does.
So I'm glad you're
doing it and shout out
to your friends who are
watching in prison right now.
Shout out to whole [INAUDIBLE],,
everybody that helped me down.
You have a new album coming out.
You can go to
Spotify this Friday
to stream Meek's new album.
It's called Championships and
thanks so much for being here.
Oh, yeah.
Thank you for having me.
And whenever you want your
rematch, let's get it.
[APPLAUSE]
We'll be back.
