Album Review- French Montana- Excuse My French

For the past three years you could not have missed French Montana even though he didn't have an album out. The Moroccan product has been all over with worldstar videos and his own Coke Boyz DVD's and who can forget the Mac n Cheese mixtape series. Then he linked up with Akon, connected with rick Ross and MMG and eventually signed a label deal with Puffy and Bad Boy. This album has been long awaited as a chance to bring NY some mainstream success, though French doesn't rap like any New Yorker, save his friend Max B who is currently incarcerated. After some delays, French Montana is finally here with his debut album "Excuse My French".







Speaking of Max B., he does a short intro and has a little portion on the hook for the first song on the album,  "Once in Awhile". The song is more about French showing off his "swag" more than the 'cold blooded murder' he sings about on the hook. Now I'll put it to you like this, French rarely holds down a song on his own just like most rappers these days, opting to handle the hooks and bring on features such as "Trap House" with Birdman and Rick Ross and the theme is balling and describing what he owns which is quickly established as the theme of the album. "Ain't Worried About Nothing" is French in all of his solo glory as he tells you why he doesn't worry about anything, which is mostly because he carries impressive weaponry.



"Paranoid" featuring Young Cash on the hook starts with French talking about the shooting a while back in Philly that took out some bystanders after one of his shows. The song however, sounds like Future showed up instead of Frenchie as he talks about letting off shots. The Weekend  continues to make his rounds on "Gifted" and his part of the song actually sucks as he tries to do too much and whines ridiculously while French raps about finding a special woman at first then going into murder. "I Told Em " is just another generic song.



"Pop That", the first single that popped off makes the album which means that Luke has settled things with Puff and French. This is followed by the new single, another radio smash, "Freaks" which is a remake of the old Lil' Viscious song and features Nicki Minaj. There is also "Fuck What Happens Tonight" with DJ Khaled, Mavado, Snoop, and Scarface. The song is decent but the hook is played too often for its length. "Ballin Out" has features from Jeremih and Diddy himself. In one of the odder sets of features, Ne-Yo teams up with French and Raekwon on "We Go Wherever We want" which is a lot better than you might guess.

The album also includes another attempt at a stripper anthem with "Bust It Open" which is just ridiculous enough to work on some levels. "Drink Freely" with Rico Love is the requisite 'it ain't tricking if you got it" song that appears on every rap album now. Then there is more balling from French and Chinx Drugs on "Throw it in The Bag". "Marble Floors" with Rick Ross, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz is about having sex with someone else's girl (they say yours all the the time) and Chainz manages to try to rhyme counter with county somehow. The album ends with street single, "Ocho Cinco" with Los, MGK, Red Cafe, and Puff.

This album is long which is a throwback of sorts since most records these days are about 12 tracks deep. This is a problem because French's voice and the beats all run together almost as soon as you really start getting into the album. The other problem is that it sounds like a bunch of shots in the dark at single status. The album is totally uncohesive unless you're looking at the fact all of French's verses are the same, I have money and guns and he isn't as nice as Ross to make it even sound varied. You can't help but get the same thing every song and even French's ad-libs get irritating after a while. This is just like a mixtape but it isn't all that good. You might like it if you really feel French but it reminds me of the disappointment that was 2Chainz. French should stick to features.

Rating: 2/5

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