Akon recognizes the real and he recognized the talents of one French Montana by signing him to his Konvict Music imprint. Why?In 2002 at the age of 18, Morocco-born emcee French Montana created the “Cocaine City” DVD imprint as a means to showcase his talent as an underground artist and a new voice from the New York streets. To gain a broader fan base, French incorporated interviews with major artists, as well as some up and comers. What started out as simply a medium for developing an audience quickly grew into one of the top selling “street DVD’s”, having sold nearly a million copies to date with national and international distribution.The international success of the DVD series helped to launch French’s rap career to an entirely new level. By creating and producing “Cocaine City,” French Montana evolved from an aspiring rapper in the streets of the Bronx, to the newest signee on platinum selling recording artist Akon’s record label, Konvict Music. By early 2009, French had flooded the streets with various mixtapes, including “Live from Africa,” “In Demand” with DJ Lazy K and “Laundry Man” with DJ Big Mike. His frequent collaborations with Harlem-bred rapper Max B have also helped keep a steady buzz, and helped fuel the success of the duo’s latest project, the mixtape/DVD combo “Coke Wave.”AllHipHop checked in with French to see who inspired him to do what he does. Now, French Montana presents his Top 5 Dead or Alive.Biggie Smalls“Biggie is definitely my number one pick. His stories was vivid. He just had this crazy persona about him. He was a fly cat. Somehow he made being fat look fly. He just had that swag about him. And when you listen to his music, you just hear that in his voice man.”Tupac
“Tupac was emotional. He made you feel like he going through what you going through and vice versa. His music was like…it was like you could see it when he told it. You could just picture it so clear. And you know what’s another thing I loved about Tupac? He made it seem like a fight, rather than music. He was like a little cat going against everybody. If you doing something he don’t like, he gonna f*ck with you. I like that about him. He was a real n***a.” Scarface
“Scarface, I think for the fact that watching him “I like Scarface. Scarface been doing it for a minute. He a down south cat, and a lot of times with rappers from the south, it’s not really about being lyrical…but with Scarface, I’m from the east coast and I still relate to him. He make good music at the end of the day. Scarface like a O.G. He been doing it for so long, and he still goes as hard as when he first came out. He got that vengeance like he new to the game. He been through mad sh*t…about to commit suicide and all types of problems, and my n*gga made it through all that. I like Scarface…he just a O.G.”50 Cent“Fifty, man. He did more than any rapper ever in such a short period of time. And all his success, he made it all from good music. You can get a little buzz if you a wack rapper with some gimmick or something, but you can’t get 50 type of success without making good music. The boy make hits. Period. He getting money.”French Montana“Number 5 is me…you motherf***ing right! I’m that n***ga. My wordplay is crazy, I got that swag, I’m wavy. I’m the macaroni with the cheese! I came from the DVD lane…I took a DVD and got my buzz in the street. Then I took that buzz and was the only one to get a deal in 2008-2009. Shout out to Akon! And now I’m getting ready to take it to the top. “THE SIDEBARFrrench Montana’s debut single, “New York Minute” features Jadakiss is set to drop soon on Konvict Music.