Meek Mill To Receive Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players Award

Judy Eddy/WENN.com

Meek Mill To Be Honored By Inaugural R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players Award

Billboard is throwing the first ever installment of a new awards show they have dubbed R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players. The show will air on Thursday, September 27 and has announced that the event’s marquee moment will be Meek Mill receiving the first ever “Power Players Impact Award.”

CNN’s Van Jones will be the one to present Meek his award.

Billboard reports that they are hoping to recognize the “strength [Meek] has demonstrated in the face of America’s criminal justice system, the light he has shined on the country’s need for justice reform and his constant creative output.”

Back in April, the Philly rapper was released from Pennsylvania state prison on bail after he was sentenced last November to two to four years in prison. The rapper is still fighting the probation violation charge that prompted the sentence, which was issued on the basis that he was arrested earlier last year, once for reckless driving and once for fighting at an airport, although both charges ended up being subsequently dropped.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Mill’s release amid a contentious legal battle, in which the rapper’s lawyers argued that his judge was biased. Beyond that, his original arresting officer, who was the sole witness in the 2008 trial for drug and firearm charges that later resulted in Meek’s probation, was banned from witness stands by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office due to a history of “lying, racial bias, or brutality.”

In the few months since Meek’s release, the Roc Nation rapper has been a very outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform. In addition to public comments, he formed a reform awareness foundation with Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin and partnered with Jay-Z to create a docu-series about about the criminal justice system.

Congrats to Meek on the upcoming award.