Tough Love: Everything We Know About Meek Mill's Relationship With Nicki Minaj (Based on His Lyrics)

Image via Complex Original

With Nicki single and on the market, it fell to Meek to finally act on years of infatuation. The prospect was previously so improbable, that when the opportunity presented itself it was almost too good to be true. Meek's first verse on "All Eyes on You" is all about how being in the presence of the girl of his dreams and how it "all lies on me to say something to your pretty ass." The verse is full of apprehension and anxiety. But, he took his shot, and we know how that worked out.

This is much deeper than your average playboy rapper bagging one of the game's most desirable women. Mr. Mill is positively, genuinely caught up. Even on the songs that don't directly address the relationship, the album is littered with glowing references to his new girl. The intro "Lord Knows," for example opens with Meek rapping, "My bitch so bad she on my Christmas list." This isn't too far off from the norm of rappers going out of their way to mention a dime is on their arm as a status symbol. But later on the album, even on lituation-ready bangers like "R.I.C.O.," Meek again opens with "woke up with the girl of my dreams" and a pattern of pathology is evident. Nicki is Meek's "dream girl." Awwww. (Also, contrast Meek's "R.I.C.O." dream girl line with Drake's "the girl of your dreams, to me, is probably not a challenge." Meek's dream girl is, famously, one of very few women who effectively hit Drake with the curve. Lol.)

The fact that this high-profile relationship got up and running not very long after Nicki's own high-profile breakup has been a big topic of discussion. Meek's references to that, and Safaree in general, aren't exactly subtle, but they're fleeting and slick enough that one might miss them on the first few listens. The couple's second collaboration on the album, "Bad For You," features Meek admitting that they recognized their chemistry within the first year of knowing each other. Later, while acknowledging all of the women he left in the dust over the years, he says [Nicki] broke hearts too "but that boy ain't fight." This would seem to support Nicki's recent claims that she remained faithful to Safaree up until he could not do the same.

Meanwhile, Weeknd collaboration "Pullin Up," a song he admitted via Twitter was "all about her," lines like "she fell in love with the real, now she don't fuck with the fakers/Me and her nigga was sharing a home, I'm talking like Clippers and Lakers," and later, "soon as he slippin', I'm making you mine," more or less implies that there may have been some, uh, overlap. These songs seem to hint at shared guilt over both how fast their relationship started but more so that these feelings were evident even while Nicki was spoken for. In the end, obviously, acting on feelings that seemingly grew into a genuine relationship—not to mention, Safaree's fuccboi behavior—have absolved them of any guilt.

"All eyes on trust," is the Nicki line that stands out on their chart-topping duet. After a decade-plus relationship with Safaree apparently crumbled due to his infidelity, trust is clearly more crucial to Nicki than ever. On "Bad for You," Meek hints that, chemistry or no, she wasn't readily sold on the idea of going all the way for him just yet. Instead he had to reassure her that he was indeed "ready":

You look at my eyes and see what's inside

You know that it's pride, you say that I'm worth it

But said I ain't ready, baby I'm ready. 

She said it brazenly in "Only" and reaffirms it on "All Eyes on You": "none of them niggas ever hit this." Later Meek acknowledges he's the Chosen One on "Bad for You" with "flirt with them guys, but they never would score." And yet, she's still at the top of all their "hit lists/But what they gonna do?" Watch silently and jealously as Meek continues to score, it seems.