Review: 3/5
Best Songs: Aint Worried About Nuthin, Pop That, We Go Where Ever We Want
1. Once in a While (Produced by Reefa, Rick Steel)
The Kanye sample surprised me. Other than that this is classic mixtape French Montana slurring his way through the streets of New York.
2. Trap House feat. Rick Ross & Birdman (Produced by Jahlil Beats)
I laughed when Ross says, “You know my wardrobe foreign nigga. You know my watch foreign nigga”. I wish he followed it up with, “What I just ate was foreign nigga”. Ross definitely takes this track, but it’s not that hard when it also has Birdman on it. I do love when the 808’s kick in though.
3. Ain’t Worried About Nothin'(Produced by (Produced by Rico Love, Earl & E)
I hated this song when I first heard it a while back but it was the morning and I was sober. I thought it was French doing his best Future impression, but it’s actually amazingly ignorant and fun to sing to. Oh you mad? This is not a song you want to listen to before 10pm. You also preferably need to be on something and at the club or just driving around after you caught a lick.
4. Paranoid feat. Young Cash (Produced by Young Chop)
Another Future-esque song but with that mean Young Chop bass you can’t really hate on this especially if you’re still faded from the last song. Also Young Cash’s appearance isn’t as bad as you would think for being French Montana’s weed carrier.
5. When I Want (Produced by Danny Boy Styles)
French Montana’s problem isn’t that he is a bad rapper. His problem is he hasn’t found the right audio engineer. The mixing on this song is horrendous. It’s okay for a mixtape, but for an album on a major label. I’m blaming Diddy for this one.
6. Fuck What Happens feat. Dj Khaled, Mavado, Ace Hood, Snoop Dogg, Scarface (Produced by The Beat Bully)
You know how when something bad happens and people make a joke about it and everyone’s like “Too soon bro”. Well it’s too soon to re-sample Cam’ron’s classic I Really Mean It. Having said that, this song is produced well enough and French does seem to have a battery in his back here which I can appreciate. Khaled, Mavado and Ace Hood’s appearance here may indicate this was originally for Khaled’s album. Snoop and Scarface’s appearance is a nice surprise, reminds of early 2000 New York records that would have a ton of guest appearances.
7. Gifted feat. The Weeknd (Produced by Danny Boy Styles)
Somewhere along the line, an unlikely friendship between Frech Montana and The Weeknd came to be and this is the end product of a drug-induced night in the studio. If you are curious, The Weeknd’s manager Cash is friends with French Montana (both are rich Arabic dudes). Also Diddy has a weird relationship with The Weeknd, namely he’s been trying to court him for a while. Anyway, this song is actually decent but I’m not sure if French has the lyrical firepower to execute this the way he wants to. I would have to be driving home at like 4 in the morning, really depressed to listen this again.
8. Ballin’ Out feat. Jeremih & Diddy (Produced by Cardiak)
French should have let Jeremih catch a contact high because dude is singing totally off beat, not to mention jacking R. Kelly harder than Trey Songz. Surprisingly, Diddy’s verse is the most hardest as he’s actually rapping about being a hundred millionaire.
9. I Told Em (Produced by J Oliver)
At first you’ll be like, “Oh no not another Drake sounding beat” and promptly switch to the next song (I know I did) but French does come across surprisingly candid and does manage to mask his signature slur for a little before he starts singing off key (another signature move).
10. Pop That featuring Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross (Produced by Lee On The Beats)
You know this video is amazing. Too bad this was Song of Last Summer.
11. Freaks feat. Nicki Minaj (Produced by Rico Love, Earl & E)
What happens when you sample two classic reggae songs, French Montana and mix it in with the hottest pop rap chick in the game? You get this monstrosity. I can only stand reggae for about 42 minutes in the club and if the deejay started playing this I wouldn’t be too happy as it would be signaling the end of the rap set.
12. We Go Where Ever We Want feat. Ne-Yo & Raekwon (Produced by Vinylz, Allen Ritter, Reefa)
This really should have been the intro. You’re sampling Ice Cream for godsakes, you don’t get more New York than that! Plus you have Diddy talking some extra shit on the intro. Only thing that through me off is Ne-Yo. Was he really necessary? Frenchie’s post-hook would carry this song just fine. I guess French was going for the element of surprise: Ne-Yo over a Wu-Tang beat featuring Raekwon. Speaking of The Chef, I’m not sure how I’d feel re-rapping over my hit song from 20 years later. But then again that Diddy money will make people do anything.
13. Bust It Open (Produced by The Arsenals)
French ends the album with a rather amateur record, it’s something you’d hear on some half-ass thug rapper’s myspace in 2007. But I suppose under all that Bad Boy polish that’s what French Montana really is.
LAST WORD
Many internet haters, read rap blog commenters, speculate this will be the end of French Montana as after his album sales fall flat, Diddy will cut the chord and let Frenchie get back to making mixtapes. I’m not sure about that if there’s one thing about Frenchie you can count on is that he is a hustler and will either figure out how to get better or convince someone else to fund his rap career (though at this point he’s likely rich enough). Best bet for French is to continue what he’s doing as his work ethic and networking skills are better than his rapping skills.
