French Montana has another reason to celebrate his monumental 2017 single “Unforgettable” featuring Swae Lee.
On Wednesday (August 24), French Montana finally received his diamond-certified plaque from the Recording Industry Association of America for moving over 10 million copies of the single off his second studio album Jungle Rules. French hit the achievement back in June but had to wait for the plaque to arrive in the mail.
French was accompanied by family and friends, including Epic Records CEO Sylvia Rhone who had a few words for The Bronx native accomplishing such a rare feat.
“This doesn’t happen every day,” Rhone said, standing next to French who was holding up the massive plaque. “This only happens when you have a special song, and you have a special team behind you and, most of all, a special artist.”
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The Coke Boys leader took to his Instagram page to further gloat about his accomplishment with a post that said he’s “the first African born artist to ever receive RIAA Diamond certification and the first male artist to achieve this status from the South Bronx the Mecca of Hip Hop.”
French reiterated that claim in June during his visit to Gillie Da Kid and Wallo’s Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, where he boldly stated he’s the first rapper from New York to get a diamond certification.
“I’m the first male artist from the mecca of Hip Hop to go diamond, you know what I’m saying,” French Montana said before Gillie and Wallo were taken aback and asked him to say it again. “I’m the first male artist from the Mecca, The Bronx, and the first born African artist to ever go diamond.”
French wasn’t wrong, as he is the first NYC rapper to go diamond off a single. With albums, Brooklyn legend The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death was certified diamond in 2018. Technically speaking, 2Pac was the first NYC-born rapper to go diamond with his Greatest Hits album reaching the mark in 2011.
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There was a little controversy regarding “Unforgettable” between French Montana and Swae Lee in 2020. French claimed he had restructured the song during an interview with Everyday Struggle.
“I have one of the best A&R ears,” he said in the interview. “You think ‘Unforgettable’ came to me like that before it went out? It was nothing like that. It didn’t have no structure, I had to sit there like a scientist and put it together.”
Swae claimed he was lying about the song, which led French to say he didn’t want any smoke with his collaborator.
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“I LOVE SWAE LEE,” French wrote at the time. “LETS STAY POSITIVE RAMADAN MUBARAK NEXT TIME COME GET ME FOR UNFORGETTABLE PART 2 ! AND I HAD A MONKEY BEFORE YOU WHO HAD THE MONKEY FIRST ? LETS BEEF ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE NOT UNFORGETTABLE WE WON.”
