Meek Mill launches new record label with JayZ’s Roc Nation

Meek Mill is in a JayZ state of mind: The Philadelphia rapperturnedentrepreneur is launching a new record label in a joint venture with JayZ’s Roc Nation.

The two hiphop players celebrated the launch of Dream Chasers Records on Tuesday at the Roc Nation headquarters in New York City, signing contracts at a small press conference and popping champagne to celebrate the partnership.

“Of course I had offers to do a lot of business with other people, but the relationship we’ve built from (Roc Nation) believing in me through my whole career, through my ups and downs and the morals they showed to me and my team when it wasn’t in their best interest to have showed it — I feel comfortable going through this right here at home,” Mill said. “We’re ready to work. We’re just starting the beginning of a new chapter, a new page.”

Mill, 32, will lead Dream Chasers as president, overseeing the label and its staff.

Mill built a strong fan base and buzz in Philadelphia with a string of mixtapes, and reached the mainstream when he topped the charts with his majorlabel debut in 2012. He’s released two platinum albums and two gold records and reached the Top 25 of the pop charts with songs like “Going Bad” and “All Eyes on You.” He even beat out Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Dre to win top rap album at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.

JayZ, Mill and others joined forces earlier this year to form a coalition that lobbies for changes to state probation and parole laws, called the Reform Alliance. Mill became a symbol for criminal justice reform activists after a judge in Pennsylvania sentenced him to two to four years in prison for minor violations of his probation conditions in a decadeold gun and drug possession case. He spent months in prison before a court ordered him released.