Excuse Deen’s reserved praise.
I pay French Montana way too much attention. I insist that I don’t fancy the bulk of his music, but somehow, someway, I write some shit about every other single he drops. Then again, it’s not my fault that the man is so active lately. He’s going to drop his debut solo (and I use the word “solo” very loosely) album later this month, so the single/promo blitz is in full effect. I pay attention to these things, ergo I pay attention to French. Logical, no?
I’m not entirely sure why French figured that dropping an actual solo song as a street single, “Ain’t Worried About Nothing” was a good idea. Even by his gutter scraping standards that shit was and remains dumb weak. It’s basically a drunker and even less technically proficient take on Lil’ Wayne’s ‘”No Worries.” So much for doing some shit by himself.
On the other hand, this new shit featuring everyone and their mothers is the typical shit we’ve come to expect from a French Montana single: he does almost none of the work and delegates to a series of guests in bulk. Essentially one step above the fuckshit DJ Khaled churns out – and that guy happens to hand French an assist on this one – he’s calling it “orchestration” this time.
Shockingly enough, I kinda dig this shit – even though my default setting when it comes to Islandy sounding shit is “nah.” Blame my years in Jamaican clubs for that. You can’t really respect a group of people who think mesh shirts and daggering are good ideas. I’m only on my 2nd listen, but surely the credit belongs to Beat Bully for re-purposing a sample we’ve long associated with what might be the most EPIC Diplomats song ever, “I Really Mean It.” Those horns are fucking irresistible – even when combined with silly beat drops and 40-esque underwater effects. The beat is really something to behold. Even Snoop kinda came with it and Ace Hood continues breathing.
Also, it never hurts to put Uncle Face at the end of a song. You’re guaranteed a least one solid listen – Island wailing on the hook or not. As always, Facemob doesn’t disappoint but he’s almost too gully for this shit. There’s a sternness I associate with his voice/delivery that kinda teeters into “ominous/shit-my-pants” territory when he opens his verse up with “The smell of the blood in the bathroom, body laid out stiff full of stab wounds…” Fuck maaaaaaane! Worth sitting through any amount of Island gibberish, French warbling, Ace hooding and Snoop Lioning.
French Montana is going to need a lotta dope verses from a lotta dope rappers in order to even come close to dropping a dope album. That’s just my opinion. He catches a dope song every once in a while, but I can’t imagine listening to a retail project will be any less irritating that any of those shitty Cokeboys tapes. “Freaks” seems to have stalled a bit, despite the prodigious amount of YouTube views and “Pop That” still gets the crowds moving but it’s been out for almost a year at this point. Our boy French is kinda tepid outchea. He might wanna reach in his feature bag for one last Hail Mary and fanute that shit into another respectable hit before May 21st. This shit might be kinda dope, but I don’t think it’s THE one.
But I could be wrong. If French ain’t worried about nothing, then I wonder I’m bothering with this at all. I got my own damn problems I should be paying all this attention to.
Download:
MP3: French Montana ft. Mavado, Scarface Snoop Lion, Ace Hood & DJ Khaled,
