Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Rapper and REFORM Alliance co-chairperson Meek Mill teamed up with fellow co-chair Michael Rubin and Jay-Z, one of the Alliance’s founding partners, to pitch in for a gift and surprise New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on his 80th birthday. Rubin then paid a visit to Kraft and finally stunned his Hamptons, NY neighbor, with one heck of a present: a fresh blue “drop-top” Bentley.
“We knew you wouldn’t get it yourself…,” Rubin told the newest member of the octogenarian club, “you went all in for this house!” According to the Wall Street Journal, Kraft plunked down a hefty $43 million last month on his 7,000-square-foot abode for himself and fiancée Sarah Staudinger, so he may have had a hard time splurging for the car.
“How the fudge did you get it,” Kraft asked, “’cause we couldn’t get it?”
Rubin replied accordingly, “We have resources.”
The moment was posted to Meek’s IG. “Drop top bent for Kraft 💎💎💎💎💎,” he captioned the post, “awwwwww lol hbd robert 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆.” Meek’s excitement for his friend stems back to when the Pats owner visited him three years ago in a Pennsylvania state prison. The rapper was incarcerated for a parole violation, but the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment turned the affair into a cause célèbre and jumpstarted more conversation about prison reform in America.
“Amazing young man. I know how I’d feel if I was in the situation [Meek] is,” Kraft said in April 2018. “Every time I see him, I just come away more impressed. He’s very intelligent. And makes it clear to me we have to do something with criminal justice reform.”
Calls mounted for Meek’s release and, upon his exit from prison, Kraft then partnered with Hova, Rubin, and Meek to establish the nonprofit REFORM Alliance the following year. “After meeting [Meek] in jail, I felt affection for him,” Kraft said, as reported by USA Today. “We had developed a nice relationship. And I’ve never been to jail before. Going there and seeing him, I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night when I got home. Because here I’m thinking how out of touch something like myself is with what’s really going on.”
