French Montana Doesn’t Care

11.3.21

French Montana

The argument over French Montana’s legacy, or lack there have, has been brewing for quite some time. Over the pandemic there was a whole Breakfast Club interview over who had more hits, French Montana or Kendrick Lamar. Then a variety of artists came to the forefront, saying they could go hit for hit, and win, against the club anthem king. French is ready to bite back. He doesn’t care what you think, because he knows all the trends he’s started, or played in. In this new track and music video, he’ll remind you, one last time.

Both lyrically and visually, this track and video is genius. I was clapping it up for French the entire time. Was I one of those people who chose French over Kendrick during the interview? I honestly think I scored them pretty close, but I was definitely in it, because of what the discussion was about. Not about lyrics or storytelling, just about who had the most bangers you’d want to listen to in the club. That for me, is more of a French vibe than Kendrick. But, maybe you ask about someone else who makes music for that scenario, like, maybe Fat Joe. Or, the guy whose right beside him the entire time, Diddy.

One of French Montana’s standout bars in the track, though many, is him saying he’s “The Biggest Bad Boy since Wallace.” He says it while cruising down the freeway in a convertible with Diddy. Of course, Bad Boy Record’s is Diddy’s label, and Wallace refers to Biggie Smalls, Diddy’s old best friend. When you think about - he could be right. Back in Biggie’s time, Bad Boy Records was unstoppable. Biggie, The Lox, Faith Evans, plenty more. But since then, Machine Gun Kelly was obviously a bit of a flop, looking at him from a hip-hop angel. So does French have much competition? Not really, but the bar was tight.

But, lack of competition clearly is not what French is going after. He said his only competition from his city is a chick. I’m going to guess he is speaking on Nicki Minaj who would have endless hits, and in a way may be going through similar things right now where the females in hip-hop are popping off, and it’s been a while since we got a hit from Nicki that really stuck. Granted, she has been spending a lot of time with her family, but I’d like to see some new business adventures on her end, if not popping new music, but I digress.

French Montana even went on to say that JACKBOYS came from Coke Boys. JACKBOYS is Travis Scott’s collective of artists, similar to how Coke Boys were a group of their own artists, whom all worked together quite well and put out dope music together. He did pay his respects to Travis Scott, but wants his respect and his flowers for what he’s done as an artist.

Listening to the track, it all seems fair to me. He makes good points. He has been around a lot longer than many that get radio play today. When you have been through it all, but then you also adapt and make music with the younger generation, people may not know your history, it may not hit the same, or they may just be catching on because they were a fan of another artist. We know that French, at least, knows his history, because of the visual play on this music video.

Premiering on October 29th, the I Don’t Really Care music video has 4.5 Million streams. The music video is genius, as French Montana puts himself into other music videos which we’ve seen before, and know quite well. It’s almost as if to say, remember who did this first? Well, remember all the things that I’ve done first.

In the beginning of the track, French makes a bar about “word to Gambino I’m acting childish” meanwhile in the music video he is reenacting the Coming to America music video, which was a viral moment in Gambion’s career. He jumps off a giant tower and lands crashing on a Bugatti, which does remind me of Eminem’s The Way I Am music video. He goes on to do a clear reenactment of Eminem’s 8 Mile scene in the bathroom as he prepares for his upcoming rap battle. He channels Drake, through having dinner with a bunch of ladies wearing a peacoat at a table and setting that looks all too familiar. Then, captures the shootout similar to in the video for Hold On, We’re Going Home. Of course, there is that tower he stands on throughout, that seems to be one from Canada.

As the track continues, we see French Montana dress up like The Weeknd with his red jacket and bandages, stating he was snubbed from the Grammy’s, but he’ll find us there eventually. There are also scenes where he is answering a phone in jail, which could come from numerous occasions. My mind instantly dates back to Akon and G-Unit, which may be a bit before French’s time, but the number of artist whom could have played on this, is plentiful. There is also a scene with a limo pulling away from a Jet, which could be a lot of things. Perhaps the Migos when Quavo picked up Bobby Shmurda from jail in a jet, or when he and Saweetie went vacationing after she purchased her own PJ. Or, since I think there may be some Kodak beef, the viral scene from when Kodak and Pooh Shiesty got into an argument over adlibs.

Last but not least, we then find French standing at a podium drinking bleach. While this is obviously a nod at our former President, please also don’t forget that Lil Durk stood at a podium with the same background in his track, Kanye Krazy. This, my friends is what the real nod is to.

This track and music video has a lot that can be broken down. But in the end, it’s never been a question to me, but hopefully is apparent now, that French deserves the respect he is asking of.