French Montana is just now preparing his sophomore album, but he's by no means a new artist. The rapper has been putting in work on the mixtape circuit for years, working with the legendary Max B, and kickstarting his Mac & Cheese mixtape series before seeing any label money. The Bronx rapper is now taking that approach widescreen, naming his new album after those mixtapes, and recording as much as he possibly can.
In a recent interview with XXL, French shared some insight on what to expect from his Mac & Cheese LP, the new approach to coming up in hip hop, and some unexpected collaborations he'd like to make happen. Read some excerpts below, and check out the full interview here.
On recording Mac & Cheese:
I mean, Mac & Cheese is like my baby. It’s the first [mixtape] I put out right after we did Coke Wave, me and Max B. Mac & Cheese really stands for soulful music. So if you see the title and you’re already a fan of my work, you know I’m coming with epic music... I recorded about 90-100 songs... I mean, I go through 90 different things in 90 days, so every day it’s some new shit. You learn something new every day. I just love recording.
On who he'd like to work with:
I would love to work with Coldplay, Taylor Swift. I’m tryna see who else. You know, Max B again... [Max] called me earlier today when I was sleep. I was gonna have him call me back now. That’s like my brother. We came from the same cracks, so definitely him.
On changes in the industry over time:
I feel like now compared to back then, you had to have a decent body of work. Me and Max B had to have at least nine mixtapes and shit like that. I think the new artists are really dope, but it’s hard when you get in the game and you don’t know the business and then you start making your mistakes while you’re at your peak. See we made our mistakes on the come up. When we got to our peak, we already knew the hurdles and obstacles coming our way... I mean all it really takes is one song. If you have a body of work and you been through a lot of shit and you didn’t have to go through 10 labels, and not getting signed, then you know how hard it is. It’s a lot of pressure for the new artists.
