Trauma

Album: Championships (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Meek Mill recounting some of the "traumas" he has experienced both growing up in Philadelphia and in more recent times.
  • The rapper has had a number of run-ins with the law and spent time behind bars in 2008-2009, 2014 and 2017-18. Meek Mill's stints in jail have opened his eyes to a flawed criminal justice system. He feels prison destroys the lives of inmates and strips them of their humanity. Here, he recalls the traumatic experience of being locked up and also describes the struggles of his fellow inmates.
  • During the second verse, Meek Mill talks about Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who in 2016 took a knee during the National Anthem in protest against systematic oppression.

    They told Kaep' stand up if you wanna play for a team
    And all his teammates ain't saying a thing


    Few NFL players publicly supported Colin Kaepernick's protest and he was unable to find another NFL team to sign with at the end of the 2016 season.
  • The song was produced by Atlanta legend Don Cannon, who has also supplied beats for Meek Mill's fellow Philly native Lil Uzi Vert. Cannon incorporates a sample of Barclay James Harvest's 1977 track "Taking Me Higher," which was also borrowed from by Mobb Deep for their 2001 cut "Get Away."

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