French Montana Explains Replacing Lana Del Rey & Talks First-Week Sales

    Upon the release of his first studio album Excuse My French, French Montana isn’t sweating first-week sales.

    “Um, honestly, I really believe it’s not what you sell, but where you end up at,” said Montana in an interview with AskMen.com. “I feel like it doesn’t matter how much I sell; I know what kind of product I have. It’s going to be legendary. I know it’s going to last forever. I know once people hear it, people will be like, ‘Damn. This is really it.'”

    French pointed out that many artists’ sales have started slowly, then picked up steam over time. “Look at Akon. He sold seventeen thousand first week; he ended up selling five million copies,” he said, before going back to the ’90s for his next example. “Look at Shaggy. He sold ten thousand and ended up at ten million.”

    Montana also revealed that there was at least one record he had hoped to keep on Excuse My French, but was unable to. “There was this Lana Del Rey record that I had that I really wanted to be on the album. It kind of worked out for the better, because we swapped it out for a Max B record. That meant more to me.”

    In January 2013, French revealed that Max B was his source of inspiration.

    RELATED: French Montana Details “Excuse My French,” Says He’s More Of A Birdman Than A Lil Wayne [2013 Interview]

    186 thoughts on “French Montana Explains Replacing Lana Del Rey & Talks First-Week Sales

    1. I think French will do about 90k the first week. Checkout thegrandreport, they have some good stuff on there too

      1. Never gonna check that site, because of the fucked up advertising on HHDX.. Step your game up.

    2. He is so right on everything. It may not have sold a million but it will have terrific legs as word of mouth spreads.

      1. Cosign. You might not know this but there were unaccounted sales of 2 million but they could not count those since they were sold independently of Billboard’s tracking.

      2. That means that the album sold 2 million in unaccounted sales plus 50k in accounted sales. 2 million were sold outside of itunes and big box stores.

      3. I work as an accountant for YMCMB but French Montana requested sales information for his album so I did some accounting and determined that 2 million copies were sold outside of itunes and big box stores while 50,000 sales came from those outlets.

      4. Everything you say, dentalboy is lies. All sales count and they say French ain’t selling more than 50k. Stop making shit up.

    3. fuck outta here with that legendary last forever shit

      this album will be completely forgotten about before summer is over.

      before he was saying he was gonna move 200k first week now he has to cop a plea and try to justify selling only 50k under diddy and ross with 35 features and all that promo

    4. “I feel like it doesnt matter how much I sell; I know what kind of product I have. Its going to be legendary. I know its going to last forever. I know once people hear it, people will be like, ‘Damn. This is really (sh)it. My eardrums are bleeding profusely after hearing the first track.'”

    5. Shaggy had a completely different audience as did Akon. So this clown thinks if he does 50,000 1st week he’ll end up at 2 million. Yeah right.

    6. He also claimed he was gonna buy 100 copies himself and have Bad Boy buy another 1000 so lets take 1100 off his first week sales.

    7. Now sales don’t matter to him? He told 50 to release “Street King Immortal” on the same day, so they could see who sells more. It’s like he saw the shitty reviews this shitty album is getting, and changed his outlook.

      1. for real this nicca wanna talk about 50’s sales before he sold 1 record now look what happen nicca. 50 would sell double this on his worst week

    8. all this nigga talked about for the last 2 years was “im sell 200k first week” now projections are saying 45k now it aint about nothing now huh french. lol

    9. Thats why Maybach Music is one of the biggest labels. It just makes senseOf course, Ross is on his fifth album. And like I said, hes only getting bigger. This is going to be Ross first platinum album. He never went platinum. So when 50 came up, 50 sold 10 million. Then after his first album he just kept on going down. You think 50 could come out and sell 10 million now?

      Funny how he said that shit back in October and that Ross album is still no where near platinum.

      1. It doesn’t have to ever reach platinum for Ross to continue this run. How many rappers would love to sell 500,000 + every album? Alot. 50 had more sales, but most of that was because people still bought albums back then. Then with 50’s hype and co-signs, it was inevitable. Today, he can’t even get an album out. Sales mean alot, but they can also be misleading.

    10. shaggy and akon didnt have a bunch of big name features making their songs hits. and when you did that solo shit your songs flopped. you have no excuse french (no pun intended).

      if the biggest names in the game cant carry you to selling less than the minimal amount its not looking good for you.

      1. Pop That had big names and was a hit. Regardless, French’s problem is simple. The songs, regardless of the big names, aren’t that good. You can have all the potential in the world, with the hype to match, but if your skills are minimal, it’s pretty much a wrap. Reading some of the reviews to his album. All of them were negative.

    11. “May 21st,” French confirmed when asked about his album release date. “I’m trying to crack that big number when I drop. Man, I gotta crack at least 200 [thousand] or better. You never know though. You know what I’m saying? You never know though. It all comes down to the shipping. I don’t care [what’s come out in the past ten years].”

      1. for someone who claims to be an accountant you sure spend A LOT of time on here commenting. like you must put in 10 hours on here a day

      1. Stop using my name dickbitch. I am an accountant and I can tell you French Montana sold 2 million copies opening weekend. They are just unaccounted that’s all. BTW, I get paid by YMCMB for my second job to comment here and dispel rumors. Also, Wayne only kisses Birdman to practice kissing women. Also, Nas said Jay Z was gay in ether.

      2. Everything you say is lies. French did not sell 2 million and he never will. All sales count and they all say French is doing 50k.

      3. dentalbitch, you have no proof/evidence to back up your claims. Everything you say is a lie.

    12. If you think Paula`s story is flabbergasting,, a month-back my cousins girlfriend recieved a check for $6071 grafting 20 hour’s a week in their apartment and they’re neighbor’s mother`s neighbour has been doing this for five months and recieved a check for over $6071 in their spare time at Their laptop. use the instructions on this web-site,…… Fox85 com

    13. Hes gonna have to make a Pop That remix called ‘Flop That’. He can get Chief Keef, Game & Papoose on there

    14. This dude is a oomedian for sure. He comparing Akon dropping an album when the mainstream didn’t know who the hell he was, and then having a couple of smash hits off of it that propelled it to long term solid weekly sales,, with his collaboration album??

      Not to mention the Akon success happened years ago when albums were still somewhat selling.

      These days if your lucky you’ll get a single or two that gets heavy rotation and people actually buy those songs,, but still not the album.

      He’ll do his 50k+ first week sales,, and be around 110k two months down the road.

      Get ya show money and have a slice of humble pie in realizing that the rap game didn’t need a NY rapper go out of his way to achieve down South appeal.

      1. Don’t forget that Akon only went platinum off the strength of Smack That. His next album flopped.

    15. French Montana is a bitch. He knows he’s gonna flop and sell 50k 1st week, so now he’s making excuses. His shit is a weedplate album that’ll be forgotten before the end of summer.

    16. All those niggas that used my name and state opposing statements are fake. As an ACCOUNTANT, READ THE FUCKING TEXT, I know he sold 2 million. BTW, Wayne only kisses birdman to practice kissing girls.

      1. Everything you say is lies. You’re not an accountant and French did not sell 2 million and he never will. All sales count and they all say French is doing 50k. You have no proof/evidence to back up your claims.

      2. *Daft Punk (Columbia) 300-325k
        *The National (4AD) 70-75k
        *Darius Rucker (Capitol Nashville) 60-65k
        *Thirty Seconds To Mars (Virgin) 60-65k
        Great Gatsby Soundtrack (Interscope) 55-60k
        George Strait (MCA Nashville) 45-50k
        *French Montana (Bad Boy/Interscope) 45-50k
        Vampire Weekend (XL) 45-50k
        Justin Timberlake (RCA) 40-45k
        Lady Antebellum (Capitol Nashville) 35-40k
        Now 46 (UMe) 30-35k
        Demi Lovato (Hollywood) 30-35k
        Michael Buble (Reprise) 28-32k
        Imagine Dragons (Interscope) 24-27k
        P!nk (RCA) 24-27k
        Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Macklemore) 24-27k

      3. You wanna fuck with us dickboy? Dentaldamboy is working for me right now. He guess accounted for MMG and sales point to 2 million. In fact, Daft Punk’s album has 300,000 false copies, meaning they only sold about 25,000. We know.

      4. I love how dentalbitch always bring up irrelevant bullshit everytime he ethered. You’ll always be a bitch.

      5. And by the way. im stuck in my parents basement getting no pussy whatsoever. My life consists of me dickriding characters in life that i can only dream of ever being. I dont have any friends…obvi thats why im constantly on here 24/7 if ya didnt know.

        I love big cock around my face and mouth, im not even an accountant, tell ya the truth i dont really know what an accountant does. My eyes barely open due to cum squirted in them.

      6. Yeah it does dickboy. What else could it represent besides your gay dick. BTW, Im straight and I live in my own home.

    17. You can’t argue HitsDailyDouble’s projections because they’re always 100% accurate. And they say French is about to sell 45-50k 1st week.

      1. Im straight and you have obviously been using my name. Your arrow indicates your gay ass dick towards me.

    18. Hmm… who should I listen to? A troll on the Internet with no proof/evidence to back up his claims (detaldamboy) or a website that’s been %100 accurate when it comes to album sales (HitsDailyDouble)?

      Yep, I’m choosing the website over the troll.

      1. That post was obviously from ^: who’s gay himself with the arrow representing his dick and the dots representing his balls.

      2. That last post was actually from me. Everything I described about dentaldamboy actually describes myself. The arrow represents my dick towards his ass and Wayne’s my favorite artist. Dentalboy is actually straight.

      3. I now no longer like YMCMB/MMG; those guys are fake pussies. It’s all about Roc Nation/GOOD Music/Aftermath.

    19. Rappers who’s last albums will have sold more than French Montana first week:

      Tyler the Creator 89k
      Kid Cudi 136k
      Kendrick Lamar 242K
      J Cole 218k
      Lil Wayne 217k
      T.I. 179k
      Meek Mill 165k
      Nas 149k
      Wiz Khalifa 147k
      2 Chainz 147k
      Mac Miller 145k
      ASAP Rocky 139k
      Lupe Fiasco 89k
      Game 86k
      Macklemore & Ryan Lewis 78k
      B.O.B. 74k
      Pitbull 64k
      MGK 57k
      Tyga 54k
      Slaughterhouse 52k
      Chief Keef 50k

      1. Numbers don’t lie, but Diddy had to expect this. No way he’s not making money off French somehow.

    20. lol, why is this dude comparing himself to shaggy and akon?.. they may have started off slow but they were selling big numbers during a time when albums actually sold.. less people are buying albums nowadays.. i even remember diggy simmons saying something like this about his album.. hmm, i wonder how many units his album sold as of right now..

      french is delusional if he thinks he’s going to sell numbers like that.. one of the biggest flops i’ve seen after diddy and ross backing him up, all those run of the mill features and repetitive trap beats and all that hype.. all down the drain.. french needs to excuse himself out of the rap game..

    21. I would like to remind people to go out and buy French Montanas new album. French worked hard and really needs your hard earned money. He has 3 year old boy to feed and a baby mama to take care of. Also he is bringing back that real gritty NY rap that has been gone for so long. French is a man with a vision and he needs your help to make his vision a reality. Frenchs new album will forever change hip hop, it will have rappers look at themselves and realize that things get deeper than this rap shit (to use the words of the great Rick Ross). French Montana is going to save hip hop, he is that great light at the end of a dark dark tunnel.

    22. My brother and i was just having a conversation. Both of us have no children and it is hard to find a black woman that have no kids. So many black women have ruined themselves by having out of wedlock kids. Black women don’t realize when you start having out of wedlock kids, your value decrease. What make it even worse these women be having out of wedlock kids by low life niggas and thugs. It defeats the purpose for any good man with no kids, to take you seriously and want to marry you.

    23. The Smartest move a man can make in these anti-man time is to NOT GET MARRIED AT ALL.
      50% divorce rate
      70% of those divorces are filed by women
      The women’s #1 stated reason for filing for divorce? BOREDOM
      Who will get alimony in the form of over 50% of spouse income? THE WOMEN
      Who will get custody of the kids regardless of what kind of parent they are? THE WOMEN
      Who will get child support as a result? THE WOMEN
      Who will be left broke, depressed, and alone? THE MAN
      DO NOT GET MARRIED!!

      Bawse!!!!!!!!!!

    24. 1) The guwopinater
      2) Big Guwhopper
      3) Guwaaap
      4) Guwopperfull
      5) Guwoperator

    25. damn yall some hatin ass dudes man. Weezy been killin the game since his cash money days. Look how much he’s done for hip hop and all yall do is hate. He’s given us classics, and I agree his recent stuff doesn’t top Carter 1 and 2, but you can’t deny he’s top 5 right now(top 3 actually).

      So many other wack rappers and yall choose to hate on Weezy. I bet yall them lame ass “real hip hop” fans who only bump Common(who sucks) and fuckin Mos Def. Them old ass fools don’t even sell units, plus Wayne is lyrically shitting on them. Carter 2 still the best rap album of 2000 era. Fuck anyone who says any different(and Carter III is shitting on the majority of whats coming out today, including yall lame as opinions)

      LIL WAYNE IS SEXY
      RICK ROSS HAS A NICE ASS!

    26. “2 Chainz is bringing the new style, new fashion into rap game, I would like to collaborate with him.”
      – Kanye West (before their first collabo), multitalented genius

      “He’s definitely fresh.”
      – Jay-Z

      “We offered him a deal as well but he chose Def Jam. Never mind, he’s still our nigga and show nothin but respect for YMCMB. One hunnid.”
      – Birdman, rapper, CEO of Cash Money records

      “ANOTHER CLASSIC ON THE WAY, BITCH ASS NIGGAS BEEN HATIN FOR A LONG TIME.”
      – YEBO, master of internet trolling

      “His chain game crazy. Burrrrrrr. GUWOP!”
      – Gucci Mane, king of chainz

      “My brother, Playaz Circle forever, now he’s changing the game.”
      – Dolla Boy, longtime 2 Chainz partner

      “He brought some syrup, then we made a track together.”
      – Kreayshawn, random racist girl

      “King of gold chainz. My inspiration.”
      – Trinidad James, rapper

      So who should I listen to? Haters and people with irrelevant opinions? Or talented artists with years of practice? I don’t think I have to answer that. This is going to be the best album of 2013.

      1. you know this article isnt about 2 Chainz right? This is about french montana.

        THATS A TROLL FAIL

    27. Just look at this arab lol! If you really feelin this terrorists flow n lyrics, killyoself! When the fuck do that Daz/W.c. album drop?

    28. lol. What a paranoid , egotistical piece of unknown human being.
      He got mad production but when it comes to flow and lyric he aint got shit. A lot of nigga from the street can spit betta than him. The reason why his lyric and his flow r wack cuz English is 3rd language and plus the dude raised up on the street so that affect his English a lot. This dude gotta work a lot more on poetic, lyrical speech so he can rhyme and spit more articulate.

    29. this reminds me of Immortal Technique famous line
      ” If u go platinum, it aint got nothing to do with luck. Just mean a million people are stupid as fuck “

      1. this has nothing to do with that and that line is moronic as well. i guess it makes him feel better about never going plat though

        french selling 50k first week proves that 50k people are stupid as fuck

      2. JUST BECAUSE FLOP AS MOTHERFUCKER ALL THE TIME DOES NOT MEAN THAT HE HAS AN INTELLIGENT FANBASE. BETTER BE FRENCH MONTANA AND HAVE 50K STUPID PEOPLE BUYING YOUR RECORDS THAN HAVING LITTLE FANBASE STUPID AS WELL.

        AND BY THE WAY, FRENCH MONTANA HAS ONLY INTELECTUALS IN HIS FANBASE. AT THE SAME TIME, ONLY DUMB PEOPLE LISTEN TO IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE OR NO PEOPLE AT ALL.

      3. First of all, Immortal Technique fans are stupid as fuck bc they believe in every retarded gov’t conspiracy he makes up, people dont wanna be bored to death when their in the club listening to some paranoid nutjob rapping about the “illuminati” which doesn’t exist.. And whos says all mainstream fans are stupid either when some are studying to be lawyers and doctors, not everybody is a paranoid pothead whos afraid of the gov’t!!! #YOLOsWaG

      4. DON’T SAY IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE AND MATURE FANBASE IN THE SAME SENTANCE. HIS FANBASE IS MOSTLY 15-YEARS-OLD HIPSTERS BELIEVING IN ALL THAT ILLUMINATI BULLSHIT, HE IS WANNABE CONSCIOUS RAPPER, HIS RAPS ARE BULLSHIT COMPARED TO REAL CONSCIOUS RAPPERS LIKE TALIB KWELI, LUPE FIASCO, COMMON OR NAS.

        AND HIS RAPS ARE BULLSHIT COMPARED TO FRENCH MONTANA TOO.

        JUST TO BE SIMPLE – HIS RAPS ARE BULLSHIT ANYWAY. ONE OF THE WORST RAPPERS OF ALL TIME.

        IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE BRAINWASHES YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SAME WAY AS CHIEF KEEF DOES.

        – IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE MAKES THEM PARANOID AND BELIEVING IN MADE-UP BULLSHIT WITH NO EVIDENCE
        – CHIEF KEEF MAKES THEM VIOLENT, STUPID, SEXUALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND PROUD OF BEING STUPID AT THE SAME TIME

        THEY SHOULD TEAM UP TOGETHER AND MAKE A COLLABORATIVE ALBUM. “BRAINWASHERS” OR “BRAINWASH HOUSE”, WHATEVER.

        AND FRENCH MONTANA IS A VERY INTELLIGENT RAPPER. JUST CHECK ANY OF HIS INTERVIEWS, HE’S HUMBLE AND SELF-CONFIDENT AT THE SAME TIME. YOU CAN HATE HIS MUSIC BUT YOU HAVE TO ADMIT HE HAS A VERY BIG IQ.

      5. LOL dude is steps away from being legally retarded hannnnnn

        even his ablibs sounds like something a mentally challenged person would say hannnnnn ju herd??

      6. Bobyahed2dis and YEBO.
        First of all, I aint no hater to French Montana. Highly reverence to the real hustler if he is.
        But U both mind r superficial when it comes to real intellectual rap .
        Immortal Technique’s music never force the fan ought to believe in everything he said unless the fan agree so .
        Immortal Technique is on that Rakim, Jedi Mind Trick, R.A. the Rugged Man … level son who he has conglomerated with . He has sit down in the university and academic room which u both Bobyahed2dis and YEBO would never have enough intelligence to enter and discuss the history with Dr.Cornel west . U heard me 2 Bobyahed2dis and YEBO shallow …. Dr. Cornel West while ya’ll both sitting home , being broke and dropping these fatuous comments on hiphopdx.
        The point is different between independent Hiphop and extremely mainstream. Ur the one got brainwashed over that hiphop reinforcing materialism like ice , car , clothes on internet.
        And the bottom line is HIPHOPDX is about that real hiphop shit instead of these cliche rapper.
        Damn. I wish i can pay a few bucks to HIPHOPDX to highlight this topic.

    30. I fuck wit french I brought the new album excuse My French it’s garbage it’s really wack Mac and cheese 3 better then his album I’m only buying his bootleg CDs I can’t believe he floped like dat smh

      1. dont buy albums from major label artists.. thats same as giving money to rockafeller banksters and blood draining diddy.. montana himself gets, what i can say 1 dollar per sold copy.

    31. Hopefully the fact Chief Keef and French flopped, considering their styles and the fact that they’ve received decent airplay, is a sign hip hop fans aren’t willing to pay for crap too much longer.

      Yelawolf did 41,000
      Slaughterhouse did 52,000

      Those two get absolutely no radio play from any of their singles, and they did similar numbers to French, which is sad for French. French is whack as fuck, there’s just no way around it. I’m glad he flopped. Dude was talking about he wants to hit that 200,000 number first week, and now he’s saying sales don’t matter for the first week. The only way first week sales don’t matter is if you have a single on there that will take off big time like Macklemore did.

      1. SLAUGHTERHOUSE WERE SUCKING EMINEM’S DICK FOR A YEAR AND EVERYTIME THERE WERE SOME NEWS GOING ON ABOUT THEM. THEY HAD MORE PROMO THAN FRENCH AND CHIEF KEEF TOGETHER. THEY JUST FLOPPED BECAUSE THEY ARE UNTELENTED STUPID CUNTS.

      2. Slaughterhouse DID NOT have more promo than French Montana. He had Ross and Diddy plus most of the industry co-signing him and giving him features.

        How the fuck he gonna sell less than Tyler the Creator who had no promo or radio play, or even Machine Gun Kelly and Tyga? I could go on and on.

        THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF A FLOP! FLOP OF THE YEAR

    32. I was a violent, materialistic, paranoid, stupid, narcistic, overconfident, rude and not treating omen like human beings at the same time.

      But I have to say that French Montana’s new album changed my life. I decided to change myself into better person because it is never late. French Montana inspired me.

      Few examples:
      1. Almost all of the rappers since ever talk disgusting stuff when it comes to women. French Montana and his song “Marble Floors” is a good example how to treat a real and respectable woman.

      2. “Gifted” is a anthem for everybody trying to use their natural gifts and talents. Alongside with perfect flow, French delivers his conclusion about marrying a woman and comparing it to pissing into a freezer. The best metaphor of the year. He really helped me to understand a marriage problematic. “Gifted” is the best song ever made in conscious rap touching the real problematics of talents, marriage and Whitney Houston.

      3. “Freaks” is a perfect picture of a typical club night. French is a good role model, he ironically criticize club life and freaky people and he glorifies depper priorities by making this song.

      4. “Ballin’ out” shows another perfect role model for young people – Diddy. One of the best and richest rapper alive who made it because of hard work. I’m so proud of French that he made that song.

      To conclude, I recommand this album to everybody who is trying to find himself and improve his spiritual and daily life. French is the real motivator.

      1. nigga u better stop with that asshology analysis. that aint making no fukin sense at all. I guess u tryna write some type of essay shit for ur school tomo right

    33. This guy is such a bum the only people who wanna interview him the week his album comes out is AskMen dot com. LOL fuck is that shit sound GAY

      1. he dont run shit clearly. anyone moving 50k first week with all that promo and big name features aint shit!

      2. only thing French runs is straight outta the interscope offices when 50 cent came through to check out his album listening party

    34. “couldnt even save your last album, hasnt sold 7000 copies yet in over a year”

      What has 50 sold lately? That’s right, ZERO!

      1. guarantee 50 sold more copies of his olds album lately than ja has sold of his new and old combined

    35. Lana Del Ray made him take her song off cause she didn’t want to be part of the biggest FLOP of the year.

      Even Lana sold 77k and 67k first weeks of her last 2 albums and who ever heard of her

    36. even if he dont sell a lot french montana still out there on the grind while you niggas stay scheming

    37. lmao remember french talkin bout 50s album sales a few months ago and talkin shit bout how ross is gonna sell more and all this diahreeaaah of the mouth……now 1st week his album drops he changes his mind and album sales arent important?? lmaooooooooooooooooooooooo ‘haaaannnnnn’

    38. “it’s going to be legendary”
      french is right it is going to be legendary and he has a lot of people backing him up on the streets

    39. Got no respect for a nigga who’ll jettison the ace Lana del Rey and replace her with whatever wack faggot. I’m glad she’s not on this record though, it would be a shame to see someone as spectacular as Lana squander her talents on garbage like French, it would only tarnish her illustrious carrer.

      1. so does macklemore and any other artist that does have a shitty contract.

        sorry that you are signed to bad boy, home of the slave contracts

    40. This wack ass nigga Montana used a dope WEEKND collab and ruined it…fuckin terrible.
      I’m fuckin happy as shit he didnt waste a Lana Del Rey feature

    41. That album trash french falling off I’m not buying no more albums only bootlegs he kept pushing his album back to only be garbage Mac and cheese 3 way better then his album smmfh

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