French Montana has shown some love to 2Pac and other Hip Hop greats, and also recently shared some fun facts about the first album he ever bought — and how.
During a stopover at Rock The Bells Radio on SiriusXM on Sunday (May 7), the “Pop That” rapper praised the likes of Big Pun, Nas, and The Notorious B.I.G.
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But he had a special affection for 2Pac’s “Ambitionz az a Ridah,” from the seminal All Eyez on Me album, revealing that he’d been listening to the track long before he even moved to the United States.
“I was listening to that when I didn’t even know English,” he shared with the radio station. “I was listening to it in Africa. It was the first album I ever bought. I felt his pain, his passion, I felt his comeback, and I didn’t even understand English. I felt it was that powerful, and it was that spiritual, and it was bigger than music. That’s when I felt that, you know, music is the only language that everybody speaks in the world.”
A Moroccan immigrant, French recently revealed that he’ll be telling his “immigrant story” in an upcoming documentary, in which Drake will serve as the executive producer.
French, who moved from Morocco to The Bronx before achieving rap fame, joined Apple Music’s Ebro Darden last month for an episode of The Message celebrating Arab Heritage Month where he further detailed what fans can expect from the doc.
“Well, this documentary just tells my immigrant story basically, and all the people that followed me from the day that I started till now,” he said. “I feel like a lot of people know me, but a lot of people just know me by the music. A lot of people know me from me dating people. It could be this, it could be that, but I want people to know me for the right reasons and I feel like this documentary just is more based on the struggle.
“We was on welfare, to me getting shot, to me meeting Chinx, me meeting Max B. Max B be getting 75 years in jail. It’s the whole thing. It’s the whole enchilada. Me being almost blackballed after he went to jail. Me just going through all the obstacles.”
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Montana continued: “Shout out to Drake for helping me do it. Shout out to Puff. Shout out to Max B for letting them cameras come inside that maximum security prison and helping me document it.
“Shout out to my mother. She never been on nothing. That was her first one and it just shows that me, her and my father came here not even speaking English and it shows that your temporary moment doesn’t have nothing to do with your long-term.”
