Intro (Hate On Me)

Intro (Hate On Me) — Meek Mill

Coming Home on His Own Terms

There are few moments in rap more charged with meaning than the prison return. When an artist resurfaces after incarceration, every syllable carries extra weight, every production choice reads as a statement about where they have been and where they intend to go. Meek Mill had spent years in a grinding legal battle with the Pennsylvania court system, a case that drew national attention and eventually sparked a broader conversation about probation and criminal justice reform in the United States. By 2021, he had become as much a symbol as a rapper. Expensive Pain, released in October of that year, was his attempt to step back through the music and remind everyone what he actually sounded like.

"Intro (Hate On Me)" opened that album, functioning exactly as its title promised: a prologue, an orientation, a declaration of presence before the rest of the record unfolds. Meek Mill had always been a performer who treated the album opener as a moment of ceremony, and this track carried that tradition forward with controlled ferocity.

The Sound of Earned Defiance

The production on the track sets a tone of deliberate grandeur. Big, cinematic percussion and layered atmospherics give the instrumental an almost processional quality, as if the music is clearing a path rather than simply accompanying words. Meek Mill's delivery is measured here in a way that differs from his most explosive mixtape performances, though the underlying intensity is unmistakable. The anger has been refined by experience into something more precise and more resonant.

Lyrically, the track addresses critics and doubters head-on, a tradition with deep roots in Meek Mill's catalogue. He had spent years as the target of public mockery after a high-profile rap beef in 2015, and his subsequent legal ordeal transformed that narrative from entertainment gossip into something far more serious. By the time "Intro (Hate On Me)" arrived, the subtext was impossible to separate from the text. Every line about perseverance and vindication carried biographical weight that most rap opener tracks simply do not have.

The Expensive Pain Moment

Expensive Pain arrived at a specific moment in Meek Mill's public rehabilitation. His legal case had been taken up by activists, examined in a Netflix documentary series titled Free Meek, and used as a rallying point for prison reform advocates. The album therefore had to carry a dual burden: it needed to function as a piece of music worth listening to on its own merits, while also absorbing the enormous expectations generated by the surrounding cultural conversation.

The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, a strong commercial performance that demonstrated Meek Mill's fanbase had remained loyal through years of turbulence. "Intro (Hate On Me)" reached number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 16, 2021, its one week on the chart reflecting the concentrated streaming activity that accompanies any major hip-hop album release in the streaming era. For an album opener, charting at all on the Hot 100 represents meaningful listener engagement.

Meek Mill's Career Trajectory at That Point

Philadelphia's Meek Mill, born Robert Rihmeek Williams, had been one of the most commercially successful rappers of the early 2010s, with albums like Dreams and Nightmares and Dreams Worth More Than Money generating substantial chart success. His 2015 public feud with Drake and his subsequent legal difficulties had, in different ways, kept his name in headlines without always serving his music. Expensive Pain was the clearest musical statement he had made in years, a record constructed around themes of suffering, perseverance, and the cost of ambition.

The track's position as the album's opening statement made it an important gateway for listeners who were encountering Meek Mill primarily through the lens of his public ordeal rather than his discography. It did the work that great intros must do: it established the terms on which the artist wanted to be heard.

A Statement That Preceded Its Verses

On YouTube, "Intro (Hate On Me)" accumulated approximately 13 million views, a figure that speaks to the sustained interest in Meek Mill's return rather than a single viral moment. The track's longevity reflects the fact that it delivered on what album openers are supposed to deliver: a reason to keep listening. In an era when albums are frequently consumed as shuffled playlists rather than intentional sequences, a track that functions specifically as an opening statement faces an uphill battle. This one made the case for itself with directness and clarity. Press play and hear a man stepping back into his own story on his own terms.

"Intro (Hate On Me)" — Meek Mill's singular moment on the 2020s charts.