PHILADELPHIA — Meek Mill’s newest single “Nightmares to Dreams” has a surprising cameo star: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

The North Philly rapper calls it a “full circle Philly moment.”

Shapiro makes an appearance a little more than a minute into the music video, hugging and conversing with the rapper, with whom he’s built a friendship over the past decade.

That clip of Shapiro and Meek Mill is from a brief meeting the two had before Meek took stage at the One Philly: Unity Concert for America on July 4, according to state officials.

The decision to include it in the video, as it turns out, was far from a random creative choice.

The song is a spirited sequel to Meek’s 2012 anthem and title track of his debut studio album, “Dreams and Nightmares.”

The update features a similar melody as the original, but with a more frenetic, more menacing instrumental on the song’s back half. Shapiro’s appearance in the song’s music video marks a convergence of some key themes in Meek’s life and music career.

“‘Nightmares to Dreams’ is about coming from North Philly, surviving everything that came with that, chasing a dream, and then using what I built to create opportunities and make change for other people,” Meek, also a criminal justice reform advocate, said in a written statement to The Inquirer.

With “Dreams and Nightmares,” the career of the rapper born Robert Rihmeek Williams began to take off. But he remained on probation with a decade of legal woes stemming from a 2008 drug and gun charge. Court-imposed restrictions disrupted his ability to travel and work, he said, and years of supervision limited his freedom and his musical ascension.

“I was selling out shows, taking care of my family, and representing my city, yet the system still controlled my life,” Meek said in the statement. “That probation nightmare followed me for years and sent me back to prison because of technical violations.”

In November 2017, the rapper was sentenced to two to four years in state prison following a string of nonviolent technical probation violations.

It was this court decision by former Common Pleas Court Judge Genece E. Brinkley that brought the incident to then state attorney general Shapiro’s attention.

“Meek got a real raw deal,” Shapiro said in an appearance on the Higher Learning podcast in March.

After Meek’s sentencing, Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of the sports platform Fanatics and a mutual friend of Meek’s and Shapiro’s, urged Shapiro, to look closely into Meek’s legal battle.

The #FreeMeek campaign was launched soon after Meek’s sentencing and Shapiro urged Rubin to broaden the mission of the movement, he said on the podcast. The campaign became a national push for criminal justice reform for those who fell victim to systemic corruption.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Meek to be released from prison on bail in April 2018. In January 2019, he co-founded the nonprofit Reform Alliance, with Rubin, Robert Kraft, and Jay-Z. The aim was to mount a five-year campaign to overhaul Pennsylvania’s probation system.

“What happened to me wasn’t just my story,” Meek said. “It was happening to millions of people across this country. That’s why we created Reform Alliance. We wanted to turn one person’s experience into a movement that changes the system for everyone.

“Gov. Shapiro understood this issue was bigger than me” said Meek, “He told us to put a bill on his desk, and when we did, he kept his word.”

Shapiro signed Act 44 into law in December 2023. It creates new pathways for eligible Pennsylvanians to receive early termination hearings, finish probation after demonstrating sustained progress, and limits incarceration for technical violations of probation.

The Act, “created a more proportionate approach to technical violations, the same kind of noncriminal missteps that repeatedly sent Meek back to prison and derailed the progress of too many others,” Reform Alliance CEO Jessica Jackson said in a statement.

Shapiro commends Meek for opening his eyes to the failures of the Pennsylvania criminal justice system, and for working to ensure others didn’t face the same barriers as him.

“I’m a more compassionate person and understanding person for what he’s taught me over the years. And I appreciate him,” Shapiro said to "Higher Learning" podcast hosts Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay. “There are a whole lot of people who are no longer incarcerated, who shouldn’t have been incarcerated in the first place, because of policies I’ve changed in Pennsylvania; decisions I’ve made on pardons and clemencies because of lessons Meek has taught me.”

Meek has even informed his musical tastes, the governor said.

When they first sat down for a dinner at Rubin’s house, Shapiro admitted he wasn’t a fan of the rapper’s music. “I really find a lot of your music quite offensive,” Shapiro recounted telling Meek.

But after Meek played his songs and explained the meaning behind the lyrics, “it opened up my eyes a lot more into understanding his music, the way he thinks, the way he approaches things,” Shapiro said.

Years later, Meek said his music and circumstances have changed vastly.

That is what is reflected in the video to “Nightmares to Dreams,” which includes Philly landmarks and other high-profile cameos from the likes of Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and "Million Dollaz Worth of Game" hosts Wallo267 and Gillie da King.

It illuminates his North Philly roots, the distance he has traveled, and the change his advocacy has inspired.

What was once a nightmare is shaping up to be a dream. With a friendship with the governor to boot.

©2026 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.