- Network: Prime Video , Amazon Prime Video
- Series Premiere Date: Aug 9, 2019
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Critic Reviews
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Fact-based, fast-paced, and infuriating as all hell, Free Meek benefits from having the participation and financial backing of Jay-Z and his Roc Nation company; from the support of Meek’s tight-knit family that accompanies him every step of the way; and by having a fabulous explainer in Rolling Stone’ investigative journalist Paul Solotaroff, who helped nationalize the Meek Mill story in 2017 and whose silver throat makes anything sound like butter.
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The documentary is forthright about aiming to defend Meek. And it’s impressively clear-eyed about the bigger picture: how disproportionately the criminal justice system penalizes young black men who, like Meek, become ensnared in a vicious arrest-prison-probation cycle and, unlike him, lack the considerable resources required to break free.
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As it traces Meek’s case and career, the doc illuminates several of the broader but less publicized issues his story exemplifies [how one relatively minor conviction can lead to a lifetime of cycling in and out of prison]. ... If the transition from deep dive into recent history to present-tense detective story feels a bit bumpy, both parts of the narrative are equally important.
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The series doesn’t purport to take an ostensibly impartial view of Meek’s original case. It’s more interested in tying the story of the artist’s 12-year legal limbo to that experienced by black people around the country, especially in low-income neighborhoods.