French Montana Says He Lived The "American Nightmare"

French Montana says that they lived “the American nightmare” as an immigrant having lived in New York City. The rapper discussed his experience with Page Six on the red carpet for the premiere of his new biographical documentary, For Khadija. Montana immigrated to the United States from Morocco with his family when he was just 13.

“When they showed us the Empire State building — and all the buildings downtown — I thought we were going to live there. But when we came to the states we had to go to [the] Mott Haven projects,” he recalled, referencing the projects in The Bronx.

French Montana At The "For Khadija" Premiere

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 16:French Montana attends the "For Khadija" Premiere during the 2023 Tribeca Festival at Beacon Theatre on June 16, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)

“It was a whole different thing. It was a culture shock, it was jungle rules," Montana said of the time. He added: “I went through every level of struggle, every level of disrespect, every level of not understanding — and every step that was there I was there to take. Whether it was work or school, I just had to go through it.”

Montana also discussed his experiences with bullying. “Yeah of course I was made fun of," he admitted. "People would just stare at me, but man, I feel like the best teacher in life is failure. And I feel like when you come from the mud, and you have to learn everything from experience, I feel like there is no better teacher than that… I am one of those that learned from experiences.”

French Montana's Biographical Documentary Is Here

For Khadija premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival at Beacon Theatre, earlier this month. Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, Busta Rhymes, Vin Diesel, Eric Adams, and more attended the star-studded event. Diddy and Drake serve as executive producers of the film. Be on the lookout for more details regarding the film's wider release on HotNewHipHop.

[Via]