Philadelphia Gives Meek Mill His Own Weekend

UPDATE: According to TMZ, Connecticut State Rep. Brandon McGee presented Meek Mill the State Key to Connecticut on Tues., March 19. As was the case with other state-gifted awards, Meek's honor was precipitated by his criminal justice reform efforts.

Meek Mill is performing in Hartford, Conn.'s XFinity Theater for a stop of his Motivation Tour tonight.

ORIGINAL STORY:

It's officially Meek Mill Weekend in the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia City Council President Darrell L. Clarke made a city-wide proclamation bestowing Meek with the honor on Thursday morning (March 14), kicking off the festivities that will go through Saturday (March 16). This announcement is expected to be followed by a statewide-proclamation by Pennsylvania State Senator Sharif Street, according to a report by ABC Philadelphia.

Much like the time he was given his own day in the city of Houston, the rapper's hometown recognized his efforts for criminal justice reform, as well as his contributions to music and art. As for why Meek Mill Weekend landed on this weekend specifically, it's because he's in town for multiple dates of his Motivation Tour, and so he was on hand to accept the proclamation this morning. In his speech, Meek expressed his gratitude for the honor and explained why he is so passionate about his efforts to change the criminal justice system.

"As you see, I got a 7-year-old son. My son is 7-years-old. He may make mistakes in life. I don't want my son growing up in a world where if he decided to use marijuana one time, he could spend two or three years in a state penitentiary raised by people he don't know," Meek said.

Meek continued, "I don't believe young kids where we come from, minorities like myself, should have a shot like that. I think we deserve better and I'm trying to fight for the young kids that I actually spent time and sat in prison with multiple times for not even committing crime. I want to thank the people here for the support because the support done mattered a lot. I've been in prison a few times for probation violation, but the one time that my city of Philadelphia showed me support was the one time I came out of prison, and I want to show the support back and do it for the people that actually stood up for me."

Check out Meek's full acceptance speech, as well as his reaction on Instagram, below. Let Meek Mill Weekend commence.

See Photos of Meek Mill's Different Looks Over the Years