French Montana Becomes First African-Born Artist To Earn A Diamond Single

French Montana

The Swae Lee collaboration racked up streams and views from around the world.

The Recording Industry Association of America awarded French Montana’s “Unforgettable” featuring Swae Lee with Diamond certification. The 2017 single has officially crossed the 10 million-sold mark in the United States.

This RIAA milestone makes French Montana the first African-born recording artist to earn a Diamond Award. Montana spent his teenage years in The Bronx, New York after being born in Casablanca, Morocco.

Additionally, Montana is the first male rap artist from Hip Hop’s birthplace to have a Diamond single. Bronx-bred female rap star Cardi B has three Diamond-certified records, including “I Like It” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin.

“Unforgettable” appears on French Montana’s Jungle Rules album. The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also hit #1 on the Hot Rap Songs and Rap Streaming Songs rankings.

Plus, the “Unforgettable” music video has amassed more than 1.4 billion views on YouTube. It also racked up over 3 billion global streams. The #UnforgettableDanceChallenge helped the track go viral on social media.

In 2017, French Montana pledged $100,000 as part of the #UnforgettableDanceChallenge campaign to help fund ambulances, premature incubators, cribs, and a blood bank for Uganda’s Suubi Health Center.

“I want to be like the perfect example for these kids that come from Africa, that come from third-world countries, that come from places where there’s no hope,” said French Montana. “All you gotta have is faith. And I want to be the face of that.”