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French Montana Interview · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wake up in the morning. Breakfast Club Morning. Everybody is
0:05
Speaker 1: DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlemagne the Guy. We are the
0:09
Speaker 1: Breakfast Club. We got a special guests in the building.
0:14
Speaker 1: It feels like it's been like a decade since you've
0:16
Speaker 1: been up here. For real, on, guy, it's been a
0:19
Speaker 1: long time. What's been going on with you? French Man? Working, working,
0:23
Speaker 1: staying out the way acting music. Yeah, yeah, just finished this,
0:26
Speaker 1: finish this project. Getting ready to drive today, you know.
0:29
Speaker 1: So that's about it, just staying out the way. You're
0:33
Speaker 1: back into because you know, you gave up liquor, you
0:37
Speaker 1: gave up that life. Yeah, you still gave it up.
0:40
Speaker 1: Are you still away from that? I'm still drunking high
0:45
Speaker 1: from from from before. Yeah, I'm still drunk high Friday
0:49
Speaker 1: something something someone loose. But yeah, but you know I
0:52
Speaker 1: had to. My body couldn't take them while I did it,
0:53
Speaker 1: I couldn't take them one. I think that's like, you know,
0:57
Speaker 1: you know, I just took a little break trying to
0:58
Speaker 1: get something real, some real money got you. Did you
1:01
Speaker 1: feel better now that? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, for a million
1:03
Speaker 1: times better. You know. I feel I feel that, you know,
1:06
Speaker 1: I feel the accomplishments I feel the losses. I feel everything,
1:08
Speaker 1: you know, at one hundred percent back then, you know,
1:11
Speaker 1: you just anything happening. You know, we're celebrating every day.
1:13
Speaker 1: You just take a shot to go to the next
1:14
Speaker 1: celebration for the next up. Yeah, especially like in LA
1:19
Speaker 1: and New York, because like every day somebody is celebrating
1:21
Speaker 1: something every day. You know, you'll come through here. You know,
1:24
Speaker 1: I just dropped my cologne. Come through here. I just
1:26
Speaker 1: dropped my water, you know what I'm saying. So it
1:29
Speaker 1: was back to back, So you haven't slipped up at all. Nah,
1:32
Speaker 1: that's good. That's amazing testament to willpower. I saw you
1:36
Speaker 1: a celebrating your album released with our mayor Eric Adams.
1:40
Speaker 1: Shot Yeah, shot the Mayor Eric Adams. I think I'm
1:42
Speaker 1: the first one in New York to ever have the
1:44
Speaker 1: mayor come to the album listening to party. I wouldn't
1:47
Speaker 1: have to second that. I think so too. I haven't
1:49
Speaker 1: heard a si thing. But he also has to been
1:50
Speaker 1: mayor that long either any mayor. He's the mayor of
1:54
Speaker 1: New York City. Shot the Eric. You know what I'm saying.
1:57
Speaker 1: He's you know, he's he's a cool dude, man, He's
2:02
Speaker 1: and he's trying to make a difference, you know what
2:04
Speaker 1: I'm saying, and um, and you know, just just for
2:07
Speaker 1: everything that he's been doing so far and just having
2:10
Speaker 1: like the right people, you know what I'm saying, and
2:12
Speaker 1: supporting the right people that influenced the the youth. I
2:16
Speaker 1: think that's very important. Did you tell to him about
2:18
Speaker 1: not using lyrics to indict people? Yeah, definitely definitely brought
2:22
Speaker 1: that up, he said. He I mean, he said he's
2:24
Speaker 1: gonna make everything, you know, I mean, he's one of us,
2:28
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, He's one of us. So
2:29
Speaker 1: he's definitely trying to, you know, try trying to help
2:32
Speaker 1: the kids. Here's want to make sure that the kids
2:34
Speaker 1: is not going to do the same thing again. Now,
2:36
Speaker 1: are you still sign a bad Boy? No? No, no,
2:38
Speaker 1: no notice on the bad Boy? You just I mean,
2:40
Speaker 1: I'm sure your contract was something you just I think
2:42
Speaker 1: I'm the first one to complete a contract with bad Boy.
2:49
Speaker 1: Shot the puff Man, Shot the puff He was definitely,
2:52
Speaker 1: you know, a mentor. He's still a big brother. Love
2:54
Speaker 1: him to death. Now, No, I said, I think it
2:56
Speaker 1: was in the Blue Chail song you said that you
2:58
Speaker 1: passed up that beef with Did he and Drake. Um,
3:02
Speaker 1: I think I think it was. It was something going on,
3:05
Speaker 1: Like I didn't really know exactly the details of it,
3:07
Speaker 1: but I know, Um, I had a birthday party that
3:10
Speaker 1: Iggy is earlier two for me on a boat and um,
3:13
Speaker 1: when I got there, Drake was there waiting for me,
3:16
Speaker 1: and and Puff Hack came in his own little boat
3:19
Speaker 1: and that was the first time they met. Um after
3:22
Speaker 1: it was going to Yeah, but I was already talking
3:24
Speaker 1: to Puff before that. I was like, whatever y'all got
3:26
Speaker 1: going on, y'all need to that that. You know what
3:28
Speaker 1: I'm saying. They're both like my best friends, so I'm like,
3:31
Speaker 1: y'all need to det that. So I'm glad that they
3:32
Speaker 1: didn't even know that each other was coming to the
3:34
Speaker 1: party when they came to just spent the whole night
3:36
Speaker 1: talking to each other. And I was like, see, like
3:38
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I think that's better anyway,
3:39
Speaker 1: because when when you're planning to meet somebody, yeah, a
3:42
Speaker 1: bunch of people, but if it's just a night out,
3:44
Speaker 1: you might come in one or two and then you
3:45
Speaker 1: could actually have a conversation without people around you. Yeah,
3:48
Speaker 1: I didn't tell Drake Puff was gonna be there, and
3:50
Speaker 1: I didn't tell puff Drake was gonna be there. So
3:52
Speaker 1: I waited until they got there, and you know, and
3:54
Speaker 1: there was and it was good, you know, good friends
3:56
Speaker 1: before that. So when they got there, they just sat
3:57
Speaker 1: down and they just you know, spoke the whole night.
4:00
Speaker 1: And I'm like, you see, that was best friends to
4:02
Speaker 1: start with. And as you squatch a lot of your
4:05
Speaker 1: beefs that you've had it and throughout the last couple
4:07
Speaker 1: of years, because it was with a gym and cam
4:10
Speaker 1: and fifty and so why do you think you had
4:13
Speaker 1: to do that? Now? Was you just over it or
4:15
Speaker 1: what made you say, you know what, let's just let
4:17
Speaker 1: it go. Um. You know, it's just like when you
4:20
Speaker 1: beefing or you feel handicap, you can't hand do nothing.
4:23
Speaker 1: You can't you know, you can't move here, you can't
4:24
Speaker 1: do this. It's like you feel like, you know, you
4:26
Speaker 1: stuck to a little space. And I'm saying I wanted
4:28
Speaker 1: to expand autumn beefed my whole career since you know me,
4:34
Speaker 1: since you know me, I've been beefing whatever these kids
4:37
Speaker 1: is doing, whatever's going on, I don't did it. I
4:39
Speaker 1: don't ran circles around it. I didn't did it. Ten times,
4:42
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So, so I know what
4:44
Speaker 1: beef could bring you. But then I know what talent
4:48
Speaker 1: and what you know, longevity could bring you, and what's
4:52
Speaker 1: showing love could bring you know what I'm saying. So
4:53
Speaker 1: I know both. But it doesn't mean that you know,
4:55
Speaker 1: you're gonna let anybody you know, say whatever they want.
4:59
Speaker 1: But it's just you know, you rather pick the money
5:02
Speaker 1: and pick you know, the love. Yeah, what about did
5:05
Speaker 1: you ever get a chance to talk to a th
5:07
Speaker 1: because I know your thug were going back and forth
5:08
Speaker 1: at one time. Um yeah, definitely me and Thuugh Me,
5:12
Speaker 1: Me and Thu, got no problem. That's watched it out too.
5:13
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, definitely free wise, self free, free gun up
5:16
Speaker 1: for everybody. Yeah, and you also survived the Kardashian curse.
5:19
Speaker 1: You talk about that. Not too many people survived that
5:22
Speaker 1: Kardashian curse. I was I was basically saying that, like,
5:27
Speaker 1: you know, there is no curse. That's why I'm still
5:29
Speaker 1: doing my thing. I think that's I think that's what
5:31
Speaker 1: I was saying in the song. I was like, there's
5:32
Speaker 1: no curse, so I'm doing my thing and Travis doing
5:35
Speaker 1: this thing. You know, I just feel like you know
5:37
Speaker 1: um and and shout out to them. I just feel
5:40
Speaker 1: like when you go out with them or have a
5:42
Speaker 1: relationship with them, with anybody out there caliber, I feel
5:46
Speaker 1: like that, um, you know, the media start picking up
5:50
Speaker 1: on your relationship life and forget about you. You know,
5:53
Speaker 1: your talent life, you know what I'm saying, your music life,
5:56
Speaker 1: you're acting life, or whatever it is. If yeah, it
5:58
Speaker 1: overshadows everything you come this reality start. Well, that's not
6:01
Speaker 1: really the goal, you know what I'm saying. It could
6:03
Speaker 1: be playing basketball or do whatever it is. It takes
6:06
Speaker 1: away from your game and they'd be like, Yo, this
6:08
Speaker 1: guy is now this this because he go out with
6:11
Speaker 1: this this. You know what I'm saying, So that label
6:12
Speaker 1: just changed. This used to be funny to see you
6:14
Speaker 1: on the Kardashians that I'm not gonna lie always French,
6:18
Speaker 1: you never changed. He used to be bad, funny, like
6:20
Speaker 1: Yo Franchis on Yeah, I might be tied two, He's
6:28
Speaker 1: not two, man. Honestly, I just I just feel like, Um,
6:34
Speaker 1: I can't give whoever it is the time they want
6:36
Speaker 1: because I'm just so focused on doing what I'm doing.
6:38
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, And I know and I
6:40
Speaker 1: know some of them be like, nah, you know you
6:41
Speaker 1: need somebody to ride with you and be there with
6:43
Speaker 1: you until they right there with you, and you'd be like, yo,
6:46
Speaker 1: I gotta go on these thirty days. You know what
6:48
Speaker 1: I'm saying, shows and this and that after club it's
6:51
Speaker 1: like it's it's hard and you want to give somebody
6:53
Speaker 1: you all when you go out with them, and I
6:54
Speaker 1: don't feel like I'm I'm in that space right now.
6:56
Speaker 1: You think you've ever been in love? Um, yeah, I've
6:59
Speaker 1: been love before. Heartbroken, Yeah, of course, plenty of times.
7:06
Speaker 1: Yet breaking nah, because you know you gotta go through
7:09
Speaker 1: that early because if you go through that late. You know,
7:12
Speaker 1: I'm saying, you don't want to be going through the
7:13
Speaker 1: heart breaks after after you're thirty, Like you ain't gonna
7:16
Speaker 1: know how to handle it. I feel like you're the heartbreaker.
7:19
Speaker 1: I can't now, I really don't. I really don't. They know.
7:23
Speaker 1: I mean, they know what it is, you know what
7:25
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Usually just just be you know, a little
7:28
Speaker 1: a little tap kids and I'll keep going. Now. Now,
7:30
Speaker 1: you usually play with with with music and sounds on
7:32
Speaker 1: your albums, whether it was one of the first to
7:35
Speaker 1: do the afrobeat sounding records or one of the ones
7:37
Speaker 1: to sound to do the drill sounding records before I
7:39
Speaker 1: heard other New York artists with Drake and Beyonce and
7:43
Speaker 1: a bunch of people changing the direction a little bit
7:45
Speaker 1: with with house sound and music. Are you dabbling and
7:48
Speaker 1: dabbling with that as well? Um? I think that was
7:51
Speaker 1: something that me and Max be started, you know what
7:53
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Like with me and Max, me was doing
7:55
Speaker 1: it from back in the day, since Kolke Wave, you
7:57
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And it's just like you know,
7:58
Speaker 1: as soon as Max heard Drake, he was like, yeah,
8:00
Speaker 1: it's my swack, you know what I'm saying. I think
8:02
Speaker 1: that that that that sound you know from we used
8:06
Speaker 1: to grab Britney Spears song and and and and redo
8:10
Speaker 1: them and do a whole bunch of stuff. I think
8:11
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's a Jersey DC vibees and you
8:15
Speaker 1: know it's just a wavy vibe I think. And Drake
8:18
Speaker 1: could do whatever he wants, you know what I'm saying.
8:20
Speaker 1: He could do whatever because he he playing this week,
8:22
Speaker 1: could drop proudly, you know, a rap album right after.
8:25
Speaker 1: He always do it right, Yeah, I mean he did
8:27
Speaker 1: that with Um with the controller and all that at
8:30
Speaker 1: that one point when he just tested the music. You
8:32
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, But yeah, I think it's definitely
8:35
Speaker 1: something different. Max. When we spoke to you, I think
8:37
Speaker 1: a while ago we was was praying for good news.
8:40
Speaker 1: You said Max might be released soon. Yeah, we're here
8:42
Speaker 1: in the camps now, so that's that's that's a step down,
8:45
Speaker 1: you know. But you know Bergen County, when you give
8:48
Speaker 1: you seventy five years, they don't want to they're letting
8:50
Speaker 1: you write out. So yeah, so so he fighting free,
8:53
Speaker 1: Max b Have you ever healed fully from you know,
8:56
Speaker 1: Max and Chinks? And I heard one of the songs
8:59
Speaker 1: now was like you still feel it to this day?
9:01
Speaker 1: Have you feel healed fully from any of that? Because
9:04
Speaker 1: you got you gotta think about it. Me, Max, b Um, Chinks,
9:09
Speaker 1: even Zach my brother, like we always just you know,
9:13
Speaker 1: the same clue making music, you know, so you go
9:15
Speaker 1: through it, Max speaking seventy five years, Chinks die, my
9:19
Speaker 1: little brother get deported. It's like I'm the only one
9:21
Speaker 1: making music. So it like it wasn't feeling the same,
9:23
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So you know, definitely, I
9:27
Speaker 1: mean I don't. I don't feel like I don't probably
9:28
Speaker 1: get my time time to heal about it. I mean
9:31
Speaker 1: from from from from the thing. I don't think I
9:33
Speaker 1: get myself the time. What makes you still want to
9:35
Speaker 1: do music going through all of that? Because music, music
9:40
Speaker 1: is something that I do to get away from my job,
9:43
Speaker 1: which is music. So I kind of making music about
9:47
Speaker 1: making music. It's like, you know, that's why I find,
9:49
Speaker 1: you know, my sanity. That's that's like, you know, that's
9:52
Speaker 1: my therapy. So you know, it's like that's that's what
9:55
Speaker 1: keep me, you know, going, and that's what gave me longevity.
9:59
Speaker 1: To the love from music. I think none I could
10:01
Speaker 1: take that away from me. I don't know. I don't
10:03
Speaker 1: know what else I would be doing. Blue Chairs. It
10:05
Speaker 1: seems like a very therapeutic song for you. Yeah, so
10:07
Speaker 1: when when you wrote that, like what was going on
10:10
Speaker 1: with you at that time? Um Man shot to Harry Fraud.
10:14
Speaker 1: It's just everything came back full circle and everything was
10:17
Speaker 1: going back to that, you know, to that sound. I
10:20
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, I feel like I went I
10:22
Speaker 1: went down south to Atlanta. I heard nothing but Atlanta music.
10:26
Speaker 1: I went to La I heard nothing but music that
10:29
Speaker 1: had the g funk sound in it. Then I came
10:31
Speaker 1: back to New York and I was sounding like I
10:33
Speaker 1: was in London, and I was like, nah, like as
10:37
Speaker 1: me being one of the pillars in New York. I'm like, yo, like,
10:39
Speaker 1: let me try and know what I'm saying. I'm bringing
10:41
Speaker 1: that wavy sound back with Harry Fraud. And when I
10:43
Speaker 1: went in the studio, it's just, you know, I just
10:46
Speaker 1: I just spoke how I felt at the time, and
10:48
Speaker 1: I'm saying everything that I went through, everything that happened
10:50
Speaker 1: for the past couple of years, and I put it
10:52
Speaker 1: and you know, put my pain to the music. Do
10:54
Speaker 1: you ever missed that twenty year old a twenty two
10:57
Speaker 1: year old French Montana from the Bronx with you wasn't
11:01
Speaker 1: a huge star. You could still move around and you
11:04
Speaker 1: could enjoy life a little better. Do you ever miss that? No?
11:07
Speaker 1: Because I would have been shot or killed. You know
11:10
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. You know I would have been shot
11:12
Speaker 1: and killed. Rest in piece pop smoke, rest of the
11:14
Speaker 1: piece nipsy. You know for sure, you know what I'm saying.
11:18
Speaker 1: You know, um, we're praying for a little t J.
11:21
Speaker 1: It's like I would have been you know, I would
11:22
Speaker 1: have been shot because I felt like everybody loved me.
11:24
Speaker 1: I felt like everybody loved me. I wasn't moving on defense.
11:27
Speaker 1: I was moving on offense. I was you know, I
11:30
Speaker 1: thought everybody was happy I made it, and it was.
11:33
Speaker 1: It wasn't that. It was the other way around, you know.
11:35
Speaker 1: And your greatest threat come from the inside, you know
11:38
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And I'm glad that you know, I
11:43
Speaker 1: moved to LA for a little bit, you know what
11:45
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm glad I did. I did certain things
11:47
Speaker 1: because I could have protected me from something, you know.
11:50
Speaker 1: But yeah, but I'm I'm glad I learned the game
11:52
Speaker 1: and just and just you know, now, now when I moved,
11:55
Speaker 1: even though I don't know problem with nobody, I moved on,
11:57
Speaker 1: I got a problem with somebody. Me having me having
11:59
Speaker 1: be for people kind of helped me, you know what
12:01
Speaker 1: I'm saying, because I was always on point. I was
12:04
Speaker 1: going to ask that, you know. I was talking to Jim,
12:07
Speaker 1: and Jim says, you know, probably one of the toughest
12:09
Speaker 1: jobs to him is being a rapper because you're always
12:11
Speaker 1: on target, like you're a targeting It's like everybody knows
12:14
Speaker 1: where you're gonna be right. If you're on a club
12:16
Speaker 1: promoter flyer, if you're at a party, if you're performing,
12:19
Speaker 1: if you're at a concert, whatever it may be. Do
12:21
Speaker 1: you feel that way and how do you make sure
12:24
Speaker 1: that you're not that target? What do you tell some
12:25
Speaker 1: of these younger artists out there? Um? I know this,
12:29
Speaker 1: I know this, this said um Um twenty one Savage
12:33
Speaker 1: said that Jay Z said get a chef, get a lawyer,
12:36
Speaker 1: and get something else. I think he spent all your
12:38
Speaker 1: money on security. I think that's the number one thing.
12:41
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I think that's security. I
12:44
Speaker 1: mean when they caught Pop smoke and have no no
12:47
Speaker 1: security with him, you know what I mean? And I
12:49
Speaker 1: think all the young artists just need to know you
12:51
Speaker 1: need security. You need like you need like one of
12:54
Speaker 1: those it's gonna take a bullet, you know what I'm saying.
12:56
Speaker 1: And honestly, and I do mean your homeboard's neither because
13:01
Speaker 1: when you have your homeboys with you and you're thinking
13:03
Speaker 1: that's security, that's not. That's just the case. Who are
13:05
Speaker 1: going to happen? You know what I'm saying. Like, and
13:07
Speaker 1: you don't want you know, you don't want that Burger
13:09
Speaker 1: on your back. What about when it comes to women.
13:12
Speaker 1: You know, as you said, you were to tap two snipers,
13:14
Speaker 1: but you have to be careful with that too. Yeah, yeah,
13:16
Speaker 1: of course, of course. I mean we targets. We targets
13:20
Speaker 1: from every aspect, from every angle. All the women are
13:23
Speaker 1: looking for bags. Some of them that they think that's
13:25
Speaker 1: the way they get paid. You know, some you know,
13:28
Speaker 1: some people, you know, they've been taking their whole life.
13:31
Speaker 1: You know what what I'm saying. Robbers we come from you know,
13:32
Speaker 1: you come from there. I come from there where you know,
13:35
Speaker 1: people have been robbing their whole life. And you know
13:37
Speaker 1: if you look sweet, they're gonna grab you, you know
13:39
Speaker 1: what I mean. Some people, you know, they just push
13:42
Speaker 1: the limits something. I call them suicide bombers, but they
13:45
Speaker 1: don't really care. What was your biggest mistake? You'd have
13:48
Speaker 1: to say, in this industry, what's the one thing you
13:49
Speaker 1: said there? I shouldn't have did that. My biggest mistake
13:55
Speaker 1: was not forcing Chinks to stay with me in La.
14:00
Speaker 1: Because he was with me in La. We were supposed
14:02
Speaker 1: to go to it was supposed to go to um Coachella.
14:07
Speaker 1: I remember I was, I mean, I was still going
14:10
Speaker 1: out with Chloe and he was and he was um
14:13
Speaker 1: and he was with me and Maliko was there, and
14:16
Speaker 1: he was we were supposed to go together, and I
14:18
Speaker 1: kept on telling him like, yo, let's go, let's go.
14:21
Speaker 1: She wants you to go, like you know, let's trying
14:23
Speaker 1: to put them together. And I'm saying, hooked them up.
14:25
Speaker 1: And he was like, na, I gotta go home. I
14:27
Speaker 1: got my daughter, this, this, this and that. You know.
14:30
Speaker 1: He came back and that happened like two days right
14:33
Speaker 1: after that, the day after that, So that was my
14:35
Speaker 1: biggest mistake. I should have just forced him, but we
14:37
Speaker 1: was all drunk and I not let my you know,
14:40
Speaker 1: my pride and might eagle to all you want to
14:42
Speaker 1: stay over me? All right? Fuck out there, you know
14:44
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So he came back and it was
14:46
Speaker 1: just like a sad situation. What do you think is
14:48
Speaker 1: the smartest decision you've made? The smartest decision I made
14:56
Speaker 1: was rapping, start rapping, pick up a mic. I think
14:59
Speaker 1: that was a smart decision I made. And let me
15:03
Speaker 1: ask you this. So you also recently were a type
15:05
Speaker 1: of a conversation because the Basketball Wives, right, DJ Duffy
15:09
Speaker 1: is on this show. Yeah, and she had a baby
15:12
Speaker 1: she's engaged, and she was saying that she might take
15:15
Speaker 1: some time off from being on the road. Yeah, and
15:17
Speaker 1: you were like, all right, you can't come back then. Yeah,
15:19
Speaker 1: so let's talk about that for a second, because I
15:22
Speaker 1: saw that was a big topic on social media. Yeah,
15:25
Speaker 1: I think that. Um, you know, when you come into
15:29
Speaker 1: this game, a lot of people don't understand that it
15:32
Speaker 1: comes It doesn't come with your own schedule. It comes
15:35
Speaker 1: with sacrifice in order for you to be the best DJ,
15:39
Speaker 1: will be the best artist, will be the best basketball
15:42
Speaker 1: for basketball players and you know they're on the road
15:44
Speaker 1: for most of the year, you know what I mean, Like,
15:46
Speaker 1: you have to you have to be able to make
15:47
Speaker 1: certain sacrifices. If not, then you can't be in this game.
15:51
Speaker 1: Say you can't just come in, come in the game
15:52
Speaker 1: and just expect to make all this money, to get
15:55
Speaker 1: all this fame, be this, you know what I'm saying.
15:56
Speaker 1: Then you just want to stay home. It don't happen
15:59
Speaker 1: like that. Fine, fighting, you gotta sacrifice. But if somebody's like, okay,
16:02
Speaker 1: I just need like you know six, especially a woman
16:05
Speaker 1: who had a baby, yeah, which she did have to
16:08
Speaker 1: take time off because yeah, yeah, yeah, you know of
16:10
Speaker 1: course that time, then I can come back. No, that
16:14
Speaker 1: time she had to take off, but she was taught
16:15
Speaker 1: about she was going to retire, right, Yeah, she was like,
16:18
Speaker 1: she was like, you know, I want to, I want to,
16:21
Speaker 1: you know, I'm confused. I'm don't be confused because there's
16:25
Speaker 1: people that want to be in their position, right, don't
16:28
Speaker 1: be confused. That's the crazy thing about that is is
16:30
Speaker 1: you know, and this is when you start people getting upset. Right.
16:35
Speaker 1: The new generation feels like, I feel like a lot
16:38
Speaker 1: of times things should be given right now. Maternity leave
16:42
Speaker 1: is totally different. Right you have a baby, Absolutely you
16:44
Speaker 1: deserve maternity leave. Some fathers out there paternity leave. But
16:48
Speaker 1: I think we lose the grind, right. You figured, like
16:52
Speaker 1: if we look at French and we've seen all the
16:53
Speaker 1: stuff that French did, the sacrifices. French was was taping,
16:57
Speaker 1: you know, taping you know what was cocaine city stuff,
17:00
Speaker 1: and he was at the clubs, he was traveling. He grinded,
17:03
Speaker 1: didn't sleep, just to any other. So now when somebody says, hey,
17:07
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna take a couple of months off
17:08
Speaker 1: to see if I'm a retire or not. If you
17:11
Speaker 1: take if you take that time. If you leave me
17:14
Speaker 1: while I'm working, I gotta find a replacement. I'm not
17:16
Speaker 1: gonna find a replacement for a week or a month
17:18
Speaker 1: till you figure out what you want to do. I'm
17:20
Speaker 1: gonna find a replacement to replace you. I don't think
17:22
Speaker 1: there's anything wrong with that, do you. Well, I just
17:26
Speaker 1: think it's I think he was honest about it, you know,
17:28
Speaker 1: because somebody could have said, do what you gotta do
17:31
Speaker 1: and then they get replaced anyway. Yeah, and so, but
17:34
Speaker 1: I also feel like you never know what could happen.
17:36
Speaker 1: He could have got somebody else and then she could
17:38
Speaker 1: have been ready to come back, and he could have
17:39
Speaker 1: felt like, man, she was better, and you know, you
17:41
Speaker 1: never know what had happened. Yeah, but it's still up
17:44
Speaker 1: in the air to me. But I do think that's
17:45
Speaker 1: an honest thing to say to somebody, because yes, you
17:47
Speaker 1: do still need to have Yeah, of course, man, you
17:51
Speaker 1: gotta let them like when you tell them that, that's
17:53
Speaker 1: when they have to make a decision. Do I really
17:55
Speaker 1: want this? You know what I'm saying That decision have
17:58
Speaker 1: to be made one at one point in your career,
18:00
Speaker 1: because if you don't love whatever you do, you're gonna
18:02
Speaker 1: get tested, You're gonna go through certain levels. Then we're
18:04
Speaker 1: gonna be like, man, do I really love this? Because
18:06
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't take it no more when But
18:09
Speaker 1: I know for women in particular, it's different when you
18:11
Speaker 1: have a kid and you have that connection and they're
18:12
Speaker 1: really young, and then you leave and you miss your
18:15
Speaker 1: baby so much. But then she missed work a lot too,
18:18
Speaker 1: so it's a harder balance. I feel like when it's women, yeah, definitely.
18:21
Speaker 1: I mean she had the time with the baby. Now,
18:23
Speaker 1: Like it wasn't like I was gonna ask you one
18:29
Speaker 1: one time the conversation was versus, Yeah, would you do versus?
18:32
Speaker 1: Would you be willing to do? Versus um? I didn't
18:35
Speaker 1: one with Tory Lanes. I blew a sockshall that that
18:38
Speaker 1: was That was the earlier was earlier. It was the
18:40
Speaker 1: first ones that started versus um because versus and I
18:44
Speaker 1: told Swiss that Swiss on me a check. I swear
18:47
Speaker 1: I hit him. I told me you gotta give me
18:49
Speaker 1: a check, and he did. He said it to my lawyer. Yeah, yeah,
18:52
Speaker 1: he sent me paperwork like yo. You know, because the
18:55
Speaker 1: first time it was, it was they were just beat battling.
18:59
Speaker 1: I remember saying, I called Swiss and I called I
19:01
Speaker 1: called timber Land. Up. I'm like, y'all need y'all to
19:03
Speaker 1: judge this joint. We're about me and me and Tory
19:05
Speaker 1: Lanes because he had the quarantine radio and I was like, yo,
19:10
Speaker 1: but instead of me just going on your quarantine radio
19:12
Speaker 1: and doing that, let's just do it a versus. He
19:16
Speaker 1: was like, oh, nah, you an't got me. Nah. I'm like, yo, bro,
19:20
Speaker 1: you gotta stop playing with me. Man your catalog and
19:23
Speaker 1: even you know what I'm saying. So we did it.
19:25
Speaker 1: We was talking back and forth. I remember then I
19:28
Speaker 1: had um timber Land and Swiss beats on the on
19:31
Speaker 1: the thing and everybody would judging it. And after that
19:33
Speaker 1: they just took it and just like you know, to
19:35
Speaker 1: you know, to the next level. You know, all up
19:37
Speaker 1: to them. But as far as me, it is whoever know.
19:40
Speaker 1: One time, Jim, it was supposed to be you and Jim,
19:42
Speaker 1: which I think would be great because y'all had problems
19:44
Speaker 1: before y'all squashed it. I think that would be a
19:46
Speaker 1: good one. Yeah, I think because you and Jim, Jim,
19:49
Speaker 1: Jim got records. Nah, Jim, if you're watching this, don't
19:51
Speaker 1: do it. I think I think that you both told
19:55
Speaker 1: is so. I think if it would be really really entertaining,
19:58
Speaker 1: really really good, I don't think you don't think so. Nah,
20:02
Speaker 1: Why now Jim got records? No, he do? All right?
20:05
Speaker 1: After Balling, go go against pop that right, let's just
20:08
Speaker 1: say Balling and pop that had the head were you
20:10
Speaker 1: gonna go next? Jim got, Jim got Baby Girl, Jim
20:13
Speaker 1: got uh summer in Miami, Jim got all the dip
20:16
Speaker 1: set records, Jim got, Jim got records, all right, Jim
20:22
Speaker 1: got records. But yeah, But honestly, though, I think I think,
20:28
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to versus, you could just
20:29
Speaker 1: go twenty for twenty or anybody just because it doesn't
20:32
Speaker 1: matter what else you got. And know what I'm saying,
20:34
Speaker 1: you can just pick those twenty records and just go
20:36
Speaker 1: against you know, just like how Drake go against jay Z,
20:40
Speaker 1: even though jay Z got a longer catalog. It's the
20:42
Speaker 1: top twenty records. But you choose and what you put
20:44
Speaker 1: against exactly whatever record exactly. Now for this new album
20:49
Speaker 1: with Harry Fard, he did the whole album, right, yeah,
20:51
Speaker 1: the whole album. I want to ask you this, You
20:52
Speaker 1: think that people have a certain expectation of you, like
20:55
Speaker 1: they expect more of the party songs now nowadays, because
21:00
Speaker 1: those are the ones that have always been really big
21:02
Speaker 1: as of late. Um well, I'm you know. I became
21:06
Speaker 1: the first African born artist to go diamond, and I
21:09
Speaker 1: became the first male artist from the Bronx, from the
21:12
Speaker 1: mecca of hip hop, to go diamond, you know what
21:14
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And I got four albums, three even platinum.
21:18
Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, for me, I
21:20
Speaker 1: accomplished everything I wanted to do, and now it's time
21:23
Speaker 1: for me to make music for me and for my
21:26
Speaker 1: core audience, the people that helped me get here, the
21:28
Speaker 1: people that started listening to me when I made Shot
21:32
Speaker 1: Caller and New York Minute and Mac and Cheese mixed
21:35
Speaker 1: Saves and this and that. So I felt like me
21:38
Speaker 1: and Harry Fraud, we never gave it a full push
21:41
Speaker 1: as far as my you know, my music, so we
21:44
Speaker 1: always just did a one offs. We did the Shot Callers,
21:47
Speaker 1: we did I'm a coke boy who did this, but
21:49
Speaker 1: we never did a full project. So I just wanted
21:51
Speaker 1: to get back full circle to the essence of hip
21:54
Speaker 1: hop and just like you know what, that's what I
21:56
Speaker 1: want to make. I want to make a full rap album,
21:58
Speaker 1: same way Hydrick has made it damn album. I want
22:01
Speaker 1: to make a full rap album. And what I'm saying,
22:02
Speaker 1: I came in with Harry Fraud and it's our first
22:04
Speaker 1: project together that's fully produced by Harry fardds. It's something
22:07
Speaker 1: you just felt like, this is what I want to do.
22:09
Speaker 1: It don't matter. I accomplished so many things and this
22:11
Speaker 1: is the music I feel like I want to do. Yeah, definitely,
22:14
Speaker 1: because because at the end of the day, when you
22:16
Speaker 1: talk about rest in peace for the Guard's side, you
22:19
Speaker 1: know he said it. He's like, you know, when you
22:21
Speaker 1: talk about top five mcs, it don't matter what you do,
22:26
Speaker 1: where you at, what's going on. When you talk about
22:28
Speaker 1: the top five, the number one thing is gonna be
22:31
Speaker 1: his bars, you know what I'm saying. So you know
22:34
Speaker 1: we're going back to the essence. I'm here to make
22:36
Speaker 1: history and leaving my mark. I did everything, you know
22:38
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Like, there's artists have been in the
22:40
Speaker 1: game three you know, three times the lymp I've been
22:44
Speaker 1: in the game and still haven't won diamond. Jay Z
22:45
Speaker 1: haven't won diamond Snoop haven't won diamond what I'm saying,
22:48
Speaker 1: But they have way more other things, you know what
22:50
Speaker 1: I'm saying. That's that's more than what I got. As
22:53
Speaker 1: far as me leaving the legacy, I want to get
22:55
Speaker 1: back to this now. You feel like because you name
22:57
Speaker 1: all your accolades, some of your accolades, and I think
23:00
Speaker 1: people forget about a lot of the stuff that you do.
23:02
Speaker 1: Do you feel like they don't respect French as a
23:06
Speaker 1: rapper or as a lyricist because of some of the
23:08
Speaker 1: other things, because of the relationship with the Kardashian and
23:12
Speaker 1: Trina and some of the other ones. You step down,
23:15
Speaker 1: it's more about French is personal life and less about
23:18
Speaker 1: the lyrics um because the fact that you went diamond,
23:22
Speaker 1: and that's that's huge, Like, yeah, you've got a lot
23:25
Speaker 1: of artists have never gone diamond. Yeah, but you know,
23:27
Speaker 1: we don't talk about French going diamond, which is crazy. Yeah,
23:30
Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying. I feel like it's the same
23:31
Speaker 1: thing with Drake. Drake kar rap better than other artists,
23:34
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, But they don't want to
23:35
Speaker 1: get it to him because he's still smelling as flowers.
23:38
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. That's a nice way to
23:41
Speaker 1: say it. Yeah, you're still smelling your flowers. People ain't
23:43
Speaker 1: gonna put the light on you while you're still smelling
23:45
Speaker 1: your flowers. It's like, you know, they you know they
23:49
Speaker 1: got Drake is different though, Yeah, And I think what
23:51
Speaker 1: Drake is because Drake is busy. He could, he put
23:54
Speaker 1: together songs, he's lyrically, he could. He will body a
23:56
Speaker 1: lot of most rappers out. Yeah. But I think which
23:59
Speaker 1: gives Drake the little asterix is when he went back
24:01
Speaker 1: in that beef and it was like, Drake, they'll write
24:03
Speaker 1: his own rhymes. Yeah, that gave him a little astric
24:04
Speaker 1: and he never discussed it. He never spoke about he
24:06
Speaker 1: never came out. I was like, nah, that's you know
24:08
Speaker 1: what it is. And I think that gave him the asterix.
24:10
Speaker 1: But if that astric wasn't there for hip hop, he's
24:14
Speaker 1: by far one of the best ever. But after this album,
24:18
Speaker 1: we're gonna get back to that topic, you know what
24:20
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Yeah, after this album, I'm gonna get back
24:22
Speaker 1: to that topic. I just think, you know, and that's
24:25
Speaker 1: and that's that's the lane I'm going down, you know
24:27
Speaker 1: what I mean? Because that's bro Like I came from them,
24:29
Speaker 1: like I came from, like if Chicago Bulls or nine,
24:34
Speaker 1: like ninety six Michael Jones was playing, That's where I
24:36
Speaker 1: was at in the Bronx. That's the mecca of hip hop,
24:39
Speaker 1: like Big Pun down the street, you know, the Carrots
24:42
Speaker 1: one down here, like you know, you know, um, everybody
24:46
Speaker 1: was right there. Yeah, everybody slicked the rule of everybody.
24:51
Speaker 1: So to make it out of there. The time that
24:54
Speaker 1: I was there, it was like, you know, it was
24:56
Speaker 1: mission impossible, and and we had to battle, like like
25:01
Speaker 1: literally like you would take five bands, you take your
25:04
Speaker 1: re up money fifteen grand, you will go here, you
25:06
Speaker 1: will go ahead, go to every projects the battle. So
25:08
Speaker 1: we come from hip hop rapping. I had to wrap
25:11
Speaker 1: the get on. All my music is wrapped, you know
25:13
Speaker 1: what I'm saying when when I got on. But you
25:16
Speaker 1: know I had to try to, you know, accomplish. You
25:18
Speaker 1: can't accomplish too much. Was just too much rap. Like
25:21
Speaker 1: you've seen jay Z always had dem my bars down.
25:23
Speaker 1: What was that line that he's at. I had to
25:25
Speaker 1: dem my bars down in the money came Yeah, So
25:28
Speaker 1: that's the same thing. Jay Z switch his whole style
25:30
Speaker 1: up when got to the back, then came back to
25:32
Speaker 1: the rap. How much time you spend in New York nowadays?
25:34
Speaker 1: Would you say I live here? You do? Yeah? Okay,
25:38
Speaker 1: I always look at you like friends live in La. No, no, no,
25:41
Speaker 1: I live here. No, I live in here. But I
25:42
Speaker 1: got a spot in La and the spot in Vegas.
25:45
Speaker 1: You know, we we branched out. Do you record differently
25:48
Speaker 1: when you're in New York? Like? Is it a different
25:49
Speaker 1: type of vibe for you? Um in New York? Here?
25:52
Speaker 1: Definitely in New York it's more. It's more, it's more
25:57
Speaker 1: of the hip hop vibe. You know what I'm saying.
25:58
Speaker 1: I think you just it's just something about that breeze
26:00
Speaker 1: when it hits you, that winner, you know what I'm saying.
26:03
Speaker 1: It's just, you know, you just gotta get it off
26:04
Speaker 1: your chest. You're getting chance to enjoy New York with
26:07
Speaker 1: everything so crazy out of here, seemed like New York
26:09
Speaker 1: is just so wild right now? Do you get a
26:10
Speaker 1: chance to enjoy it all? New York been wild for
26:13
Speaker 1: me the whole time I've been in the yard. Might
26:16
Speaker 1: have been wilder before. Yeah, New York definitely was wilder before.
26:20
Speaker 1: Remember I went through all that, you know, so it's
26:22
Speaker 1: like New York always been wild for me. What about acting?
26:26
Speaker 1: So now you've been doing your acting thing, and so
26:29
Speaker 1: is that something that you feel like you want to pursue,
26:31
Speaker 1: Like I want to be in some more feature films.
26:35
Speaker 1: What's what's with that? Um? Well, well, um, we're dropping
26:40
Speaker 1: the My documentary is coming out this year, as you know,
26:45
Speaker 1: about about the whole story with me coming from Africa
26:47
Speaker 1: and you know, starting to wrap and you know and
26:50
Speaker 1: like you know and being immigrated here and my pop
26:54
Speaker 1: sleeping and my mother getting a welfare and Max b
26:57
Speaker 1: and Chinks dying and me having to get through all
26:59
Speaker 1: that and um, you know, I showed it to jay Z,
27:02
Speaker 1: I showed it to Drake, so me and Drake is
27:05
Speaker 1: executive producing it together and it's it's it's gonna be
27:08
Speaker 1: real dope as far as in film and in theaters.
27:12
Speaker 1: This year we're doing a Larry Davis series from the Bronx.
27:17
Speaker 1: We're doing that, So that's but definitely films. I mean
27:20
Speaker 1: I started with Cocaine City DVD. So the film was
27:23
Speaker 1: always a way for me to you know, it was
27:26
Speaker 1: it was it was a platform that I always you know,
27:28
Speaker 1: it was in love with before music. I feel like
27:30
Speaker 1: you don't tell those stories about yourself that often either
27:33
Speaker 1: what made you decide now was the time to do it?
27:36
Speaker 1: Um because people because people just know the music, and
27:41
Speaker 1: people never really got a chance to see how hard
27:43
Speaker 1: it was to make it, you know, because we make
27:45
Speaker 1: it look easy every day, so people be like, Okay, cool,
27:48
Speaker 1: he's just rapping. He getting lucky with all right, he
27:51
Speaker 1: lucky again, he lucky again. But luck don't. I mean,
27:54
Speaker 1: what's what's an artist's career span? Anything to sleep three
28:00
Speaker 1: to five? Three to five, but lucky. Yeah, but now
28:03
Speaker 1: like a microwave right now, it could be a couple
28:05
Speaker 1: of months, it could be a year. Yeah, that's what
28:07
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So for somebody at last fifteen years, you
28:10
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta give them the blueprint. That's how you
28:13
Speaker 1: do it. Everybody think it is luck. That's what I
28:15
Speaker 1: had to go through. Now, I tell you also reference
28:18
Speaker 1: your your baby mama tripping and my son. How it
28:21
Speaker 1: is called parenting going for you? Is it getting better? No, No,
28:24
Speaker 1: it's better. It's better. Definitely, it's better. You know, they're
28:26
Speaker 1: always going on some money, but it's better. Man. Yeah,
28:30
Speaker 1: shot that she's doing a great job. We've never been
28:32
Speaker 1: in the media and I respect everything should do for
28:35
Speaker 1: my son, you know, and you know it's it's it's
28:38
Speaker 1: it's hard out here, you know, you know, raise kids
28:41
Speaker 1: what we do it well. French's albums out today. What
28:44
Speaker 1: do you want? You want to play off the album
28:45
Speaker 1: right now? Monegger um you could play the one with
28:49
Speaker 1: me Jada kiss Benny the Butcher and you can play
28:52
Speaker 1: one with me estga problem And I gotta think for
28:58
Speaker 1: every time you. First of all of French has never
29:00
Speaker 1: changed his number from I don't even know how long
29:02
Speaker 1: there's number is still the same since he was swear
29:05
Speaker 1: And anytime I ever called him, no matter what it is,
29:08
Speaker 1: he never says no. So first I was doing my
29:11
Speaker 1: car show and French had a Bugatti and I was like,
29:14
Speaker 1: you know, now, Bugatti is about one point five to me,
29:16
Speaker 1: not the cass you call him. You ask somebody for
29:18
Speaker 1: a Bugatti nine times and they're gonna be like, ah,
29:21
Speaker 1: well big to my people. French didn't say that at all.
29:25
Speaker 1: He was like, yo, just put on the trailer and
29:26
Speaker 1: bring it and it was not a problem. Then I'm
29:28
Speaker 1: in Africa year and the DJ before me, so I
29:32
Speaker 1: was supposed to play the hip hop set and the
29:34
Speaker 1: DJ before me played the hip hop set and we're
29:36
Speaker 1: in Africa, so it's like vibes and I'm supposed to
29:38
Speaker 1: play the hip hop SI. I was like, I gotta
29:40
Speaker 1: think of something to do to outdo the kid that
29:42
Speaker 1: played the hip hop set. So I called French and
29:44
Speaker 1: I'm like, Yo, French, when I perform. True story, I said, Yo,
29:48
Speaker 1: when I perform, I'm gonna have the camera on the
29:50
Speaker 1: FaceTime and I'm gonna call my people from New York
29:53
Speaker 1: and bring New York to Africa. And French was one
29:55
Speaker 1: of the ones that picked up. It was French, Fat, Joe,
29:57
Speaker 1: Buster Rams, Jim Jones, and Fat, but y'all all picked
30:00
Speaker 1: up for me. So I was all, just you know,
30:02
Speaker 1: always appreciated. Always, Yeah, definitely, bro. Always. Is it weird
30:05
Speaker 1: for you being in the club now that you don't drink? No,
30:08
Speaker 1: I got used to it. I'm feeling because it was
30:13
Speaker 1: the party animal. His whole intention when you're in the
30:16
Speaker 1: club with him is to get you drunk. I remember
30:19
Speaker 1: one night we were in Vegas. It was my birthday.
30:21
Speaker 1: It was me, you and Kevin Hart and he would
30:24
Speaker 1: not I don't even know how I walked back to
30:26
Speaker 1: my room. He just kept going and then he had
30:29
Speaker 1: me performing with him on It was the weirdest thing,
30:31
Speaker 1: but you were performing, he was performing with virtual stage.
30:34
Speaker 1: Oh my god, ken, I hope no. Probably goodness probably,
30:41
Speaker 1: but but but back to what you're saying. You know,
30:45
Speaker 1: people don't go to your funeral for what you did
30:47
Speaker 1: for yourself. They always go to your funeral for what
30:49
Speaker 1: you did for them. I live by that coach, so
30:51
Speaker 1: I'll be trying to whenever my peoples or whatever it is,
30:53
Speaker 1: somebody can help, I always do that, you know what
30:55
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So when you hit me from Africa, it
30:58
Speaker 1: was like five in the morning. In the morning. Yeah,
31:00
Speaker 1: you've had no problem where you at here like Africa?
31:05
Speaker 1: He said, you good? You all right, new FaceTime crops
31:13
Speaker 1: here all right. Well there you have it, French Montagu
31:19
Speaker 1: and it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.