Meek Mill is back to restore mixtape culture.
On Nov. 21, the Philly icon revived his decade old Flamerz mixtape series with Flamerz 5. Instead of putting the project out on DPSs, Meek dropped the tape of DatPiff, AudioMack and SoundCloud for free, hoping to restore the agency he has over his music and feed the “people who support him” for free.
Much like many of the mixtapes from a decade ago like Lil Wayne‘s No Ceilings series, all of the tracks on Flamerz 5 are remixes of either all-time popular songs or chart-topping singles from this year. Whether it be the fiery “Eye of the Tiger” sampled intro, a “GOD DID” interpolated track using Fridayy‘s vocals, his Ice Spice “Munch” remix whose snippet went viral last month or “Wait For You” and “Massaging Me” from Future‘s 2022 album, Meek went to work on this tape.
Releasing renditions from 2008-2010, the Flamerz series originally helped Meek gain buzz in his hometown of Philly during the DatPiff era where mixtape culture thrived. So, it’s nice to see him revisit this method and light a fire into his fanbase once more, on his own terms.
On the same day as the mixtape release, Meek put out the music video for his “GOD DOD” remix, which is one of three tracks on the tape that features vocals from Fridayy.
Flamerz 5 comes just over a year after he dropped his most recent studio album Expensive Pain, which showcased his vintage emotionally-driven, shouted raps. In May of last year, Meek perhaps hinted at the return of this series, as he dropped his “Flamerz Flow” freestyle which would later be included on Expensive Pain as a bonus track.
In September, Meek dropped his new single “Early Mornings” exclusively on YouTube, as it helped spark fans’ interest in a new era for the 35-year-old. Before then, he had teased multiple mixtapes, even going as far as to say he would drop a whopping 10 projects before year’s end. Additionally, while sorting through label and management drama, Meek claimed he wanted to put out some of these tapes via blockchain instead of on DSPs, but we now see that he instead opted to go the DatPiff route.
With Flamerz 5 now released, hip-hop fans should be thrilled about the return of new Meek music, especially in such a uniquely nostalgic capacity.
Check out ‘Flamerz 5’ below!