The artwork for Meek Mill’s new album, Expensive Pain continues to evoke strong sentiment nearly one month after it was initially unveiled.
In a viral video on Twitter, a White man in Los Angeles went on a two-minute rant about Meek Mill’s tour bus which was wrapped with the album’s cover art that depicted animated imagery of naked Black women and abstract interpretations of their body parts.
“Is this what you want, Black women? Look at this s—,” the unidentified man yelled in the video. “Is this how you want to be respected in life? This is disgusting,” he added.
Meek Mill sat down with Complex News for the latest “360 With Speedy Morman” interview on Oct. 14, 2021, and made it clear that he isn’t concerned with the controversy surrounding the artwork, which was created by Black artist Nina Chanel Abney.
“These people don’t worry about our community when we dying and going to jail and then trapped inside of poverty, so don’t speak on this when you think you feel some type of way when you see some s— you don’t like. Speak up when you see a little girl get killed in our neighborhood like we do,” Meek Mill told Morman.
He went on to question the man who made the viral video and ask if he had the same level of anger he has over artwork on a bus when George Floyd was killed at the hands of a White officer last year.
“I know he was outraged about a bus and a painting that was on it, but what did he say when he seen a White man choke a Black man out for nine minutes,” he questioned.
Meek wrapped up his comments on the subject saying that he doesn’t necessarily think it’s appropriate to have that type of artwork on a bus and that his marketing team could’ve done something different. He did make it clear that he respected the artist’s vision which is why he went in that direction with his album cover in the first place.
