Jay-Z and Meek Mill join forces to launch Dream Chasers record label

Music mogul Jay-Z and hip-hop artist Meek Mill are getting into business together with the announcement of Mill's new record label: Dream Chasers. The label is a joint venture with Jay-Z's Roc Nation and marks the beginning of a new chapter for the 32-year-old emcee on the business side of the music industry.

Mill became a symbol for criminal justice reform in 2017 when a Philadelphia judge sentenced him to two to four years in prison for minor probation violations. He would go on to spend months behind bars before a court ordered him to be released in April 2018. Last Tuesday, Mill's lawyers asked a Pennsylvania appeals court to grant Mill a new trial.

In an excerpt of their interview with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King, Mill and Jay-Z open up about why they think it's important to establish a legacy as entrepreneurs for the next generation of artists and their shared backgrounds.

"The music and culture we create, you know we've been giving it away for so long. Which is understandable, you've got to start somewhere. You've got to clean the floors up before you own the building but we don't shine shoes anymore," Jay-Z told King.

Mill has described Jay-Z as a major influence in his life and someone he's looked up to in more ways than as a fellow artist. Asked what it's like to be signing this partnership with someone he calls the GOAT (greatest of all time), Mill said "like a dream." 

"Coming into the music industry, of course, there's always the people you admire, there's not too many people I admire on a music level and a business level and on like, as a man level. So doing business with Hova is like, like even when we talk I always explain it to him like that that was crazy, it's a regular day for you but this is a part of my dreams being in this situation," Mill said.

"I was wondering if you all see each other in yourselves on some level?" King asked.
 
"Of course. We come from the same neighborhoods, been through the same things – with not the exact same story obviously – but we've been through some of the same things, some of the same struggles," Jay-Z said. "And, again, like I said, that responsibility is not lost on us."

"Like he said, we come from the same ghettos of America. I always felt like I had a responsibility to lead the culture as much as I can," Mill said. "I always say Jay-Z and others that come before me, was like a snow plow for people like myself. They made it easier to walk through the snow storm. I want to continue to be a snow plow for the next generation coming behind me."

For more of Gayle King's interview with Meek Mill and Jay-Z, tune in to "CBS This Morning" on Thursday, July 25.