French Montana paid Evan Nabavian for this post in bottles of Tej.
Sometimes the most effective singers aren’t singers. Outside of Biz Markie, ODB, Ja Rule, and Lil Wayne, I’ll cite “Stay Schemin” where French Montana goon-croons a hook that logically should have been sung by Drake or any given R&B princeling. But maybe the rap oligarchs didn’t want a dainty Omarion hook on their gangster’s lament. Then there’s Future, whose music sounds better croaked through Auto-Tune than it would have if it were sung by someone who can properly hit the notes.
“Down & Out” is the rare collaboration that aligns two rappers at their most creative and interesting. Future and French Montana tread in familiar subject matter: relationships that turned sour at the first glimpse of fame. Again, French tramples expectations and sings the hook without feigning any kind of musicality. He just belts it like he’s singing in the shower. Copious amounts of drugs give his and Future’s voices a muted sadness, numb to their problems and the trap symphony behind them. They clearly lack what any sane person would call vocal talent, but they recognize the power in not outsourcing singing duties. Can they harmonize through an entire mixtape? Not sure, but I’m definitely trademarking “goon croon”.
Track below the jump.
Download:
MP3: French Montana & Future – “Down N’ Out” (Left-Click)
