Meek Mill Surprises Reading With A Rapper (RWAR) For A Special Event in Houston
Multi-platinum hip-hop artist & criminal justice advocate MEEK MILL joins Reading With A Rapper (RWAR) at Houston’s City Hall for a special appearance, surprising the all-male youth of Houston My Brother’s Keeper Movement (MBK). Meek sat down with RWAR to discuss his groundbreaking organization, the REFORM Alliance, which focuses on reducing the number of people unjustly trapped in the criminal justice system.
RWAR also got a chance to catch up with Meek who released his gold-certified, No.1 studio album,CHAMPIONSHIPS in November 2018. The chart-topping hip-hop artist is currently on his nationwide“THE MOTIVATION TOUR”.
“I’ve got a lot of friends in the grave. I’m 31 years old. It’s not good to say, but it’s a blessing to have made it to this age,” said Mill, whose real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams. “I didn’t even think I’d make it to this age when I was 20.” (Meek Mill – Courtesy Houston Chronicle)
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RWAR has been touring middle and high schools in the city of Houston with a series of pop-ups and events demonstrating the program since August 2018. For each pop-up, RWAR invites a rapper to be the featured artist and integrates their music, along with other popular artists, such as Meek Mill into the presentation. As a result, students involved in the demonstration learn ELA metrics and were engaged by the familiar music and lyrics, while getting to know the featured artists, bridging the gap between education and hip-hop culture. Furthermore, RWAR student data will be used to support the efforts of TSU Center for Criminal Research which shares similar focus with Meek Mill’s REFORM Alliance and MBK.
The Houston Health Department serves as the backbone organization of Houston’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Movement. MBK leverage the expertise of nonprofits, agencies, educational institutions and other partners to coalesce around strategies and evidence-based methodologies and programs seeking to increase opportunities and close disparity gaps that persist in our communities.
RWAR has partnered with Houston My Brother’s Keeper ReDirect Diversion Program in efforts to reduce crime and violence and provide a second chance to its program participants. Sunday’s event was the launch of this partnership where MBK ReDirect clients was introduced to the RWAR 8-week curriculum scheduled to commence in Spring 2019.
Meek Mill served as this pop-up’s surprise featured artist, giving the youth of MBK and attendees an exclusive look into the REFORM Alliance while also experiencing RWAR’s interactive program. RWAR took popular tracks from CHAMPIONSHIPS and dissected the lyrics and pointed out familiar ELA elements within the lines of verses – showing the students how they can learn by simply listening to the songs that they already know and love. Other surprises included the gifting of the PUMA CLYDE COURT #REFORM shoe to the young men of MBK, courtesy of PUMA.
Meek’s dedication to criminal justice reform stems from his wrongful incarceration in November 2017, where he was sentenced to two to four years in prison for technical probation violations. After a long legal battle and a star-studded #FreeMeekMill campaign, Meek was released after 5 months. Since his release, Meek has partnered with Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter, Michael Rubin (Philadelphia 76ers co-owner), Robert Kraft (New England Patriots owner) and more to launch the REFORM Alliance.
Youth that interface in the juvenile system can often end up as functional illiterates and society blames the Hip-Hop culture. However, the very thing that stereotypically is to blame is now the tool that RWAR, their partners and featured artists are using to help bridge the gap between education and how our youth are learning today.
Featured Partners & Sponsors: Puma | The Houston Health Department / Houston My Brother’s Keeper Movement | TSU Center for Criminal Justice Research
For more information on Reading With A Rapper, go to www.readingwitharapper.com
ABOUT READING WITH A RAPPER
Reading with A Rapper (RWAR) was created to relate ELA academics with socially conscious lyrics and video content. Through this platform we can relate and uplift our youth socially and academically to skills necessary to thrive in Primary School and Collegiate Level courses.
Creating lifelong readers will ensure and promote academic success through adulthood. Statistics show that students in secondary education struggle to understand the basics of literature, which increases their disinterest in such an important skill. More than 8,000 students quit High school everyday, limiting their financial potential and ability to become strong members of the workforce. Reading with a Rapper is an 8-week program designed to involve students in an interactive learning experience with relatable innovative tools and metrics. This program is geared toward students of all learning levels and social demographics. Students will be given an opportunity to relate real world concepts to literature and writing. This Curriculum will take the place of either creative or practical writing classes on your respected campus.
ABOUT MEEK MILL
Meek Mill is a critically-acclaimed multiplatinum hip-hop artist, songwriter and entrepreneur that hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Meek Mill evolved from Philadelphia’s hottest underground rapper to one of the world’s preeminent musical artists, having released a slew of smash studio albums and singles, including “Ima Boss,” “Dreams and Nightmares (Intro),” “All Eyes on You,” and “Whatever You Need,” among many others. His latest studio album, CHAMPIONSHIPS, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s “Top 200 Albums,” marking his second chart-topper following his 2015 album DREAMS WORTH MORE THAN MONEY. In October 2012, Mill announced the launch of his own label imprint, Dream Chasers, named after his mixtape series. In addition to serving as the CEO of Dream Chasers, Mill is also an advocate for criminal justice reform in the United States with a focus on creating stronger prison rehabilitation programs, improving the bail system, shortening probationary periods.
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Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.
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