French Montana is a Moroccan-born American hip hop artist who is best known for songs like “Pop That” and “Unforgettable,” which peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 list and sold over five million records. copies in the United States only.
French Montana was born Karim KharbouchKhadija Guled and Abdela Kharbouch in Rabat, Morocco on November 9, 1984. For the first thirteen years of his life, Montana lived at his family’s property just outside the city of Casablanca where he says he played a lot of football and listened to music most of the time.
In 1996, his family emigrated to the United States and settled in the South Bronx, New York. He attended Lehman and Roosevelt High School where he learned to speak English, in school and on the streets, as he only knew how to speak Arabic and French.
After two years of struggling to succeed in the means of living, Montana’s father chose to return to Morocco. However, her mother insisted on staying in the United States with the children to give them a better chance. At the time, she was pregnant with a third child. After her husband left, young Montana became the breadwinner, as she also depended on welfare for financial support.
French Montana, who was a teenager at the time, began creating and selling a series of street DVDs titled Cocaine City which included interviews with established and up-and-coming rappers as well as a detailed breakdown of street music and bullocks in hip-hop. He also started rapping in the streets under the nickname Young French and used DVDs as a way to show off his talent to the public.
Cocaine City exceeded expectations to become one of the best-selling street DVDs of the 2000s. Montana and his friends then made the transition to form Coke Boys Records. He then released his first mixtape titled French Revolution Vol. 1 in 2007 with collaborations with artists like Rick Ross, Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda.
He released a second mixtape titled ‘Live FromAfrica’ in 2008 before doing two collaborative mixtapes with rapper Max B. than a joint venture agreement between P. Diddy’s Bad Boy Records and Rick Ross’ Maybach music group.
French Montana was then featured on the hook of Ross’ “Stay Schemin” before dropping “Pop That”, his lead single from his debut album; ‘Excuse my French’. The song which featured Drake, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross became a summertime anthem, peaking at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot R&B and Rap charts. Her second single; Freaks featuring Nicki Minaj and the third single ‘Ain’t Worried About Nothin’ was well received by fans, leading to the commercial success of the debut album.
Throughout this time, Montana has continued to release mixtapes, with his seventeenth mixtape being released in January 2014. He has released a total of twenty mixtapes and two studio albums so far. The second album titled Jungle Rules was released in July 2017, with its lead single being the hit track “Unforgettable” which features Swae Lee.
The French Montana is a naturalized US citizen but an ethnic Moroccan with possible ties to Somalia through his mother who reportedly has a relative from there. In the general sense, Montana can also be considered a black man as he is ultimately from Africa.
As stated above, French Montana’s parents are Khadija Guled and Abdela Kharbouch. From his late teens, Montana only had the pleasure of his mother’s company as his father chose to return to Morocco after failing to find his feet in the United States. The couple reunited, however, in 2012 when Montana returned home for the first time in 14 years.
French Montana has two brothers; Zack and Ayoub Kharbouch. Ayoub is currently finishing high school while Zack is president of Coke Boys Records.
French Montana was previously married to DeenKharbouch. The couple married in 2007 but did not separate until five years later in 2012 following accusations that they had been abandoned by their Montana family because of their work. They finalized their divorce in 2014.
Together, the couple share a son named Kruz Kharbouch who was born in 2010.
Birth name: Karim Kharbouch
Stage Name: French Montana
Date of birth: November 9, 1984
Place of birth: Rabat, Morocco
Occupation: Rapper
Height: 6 feet 3 inches
Weight: 89kg
Zodiac sign: Scorpio
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