Rapper Meek Mill was still technically out on bail when we sat down in his studio in New York City to discuss the other thing, aside from music, he has decided to dedicate his life to: criminal justice reform.

Born Robert Rihmeek Williams, he was 19 when he first “caught his case,” when he was arrested in his hometown of Philadelphia in 2007. He uses the word caught because, despite serving his time, and for some crimes he has always denied committing, those charges have plagued him for the past decade. Even while recording his much-anticipated new album, which he will release on November 30, he felt the stress of being on probation: “It’s a dark shadow over the top of your head on a daily basis.”

Meek Mill’s case picked up mainstream attention when he was sent back to jail in November 2017 by Judge Genece E. Brinkley, who has presided over his fate since first sentencing him in 2008. By then, Meek Mill was a hugely successful rapper. His first album, Dreams and Nightmares, had debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in 2012, after he signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation management; he had his own label imprint, Dream Chasers Records; he had dated Nicki Minaj and feuded with Drake—he was very famous.

So it was big news when Brinkley sentenced Meek Mill to a shocking two to four years for parole violations, both of which stemmed from incidents in which charges were eventually dropped or dismissed—in one, the rapper had popped a wheelie on a motorcycle while filming a music video in New York City. “I didn’t even think I was going to court when I stepped in court,” he says about that day. “And next thing you know, my mind frame has to switch from sleeping in my bed to being locked in a concrete metal cell for 23 hours a day for weeks.” Fans and other famous supporters started the #FreeMeekMill campaign.