French Montana

Hip-hop artist Karim Kharbouch—born on November 9, 1984, in Rabat, Morocco—is better known by his stage name French Montana. Growing up in New York, he started out as a battle rapper and sold a series of DVDs on the streets under the umbrella title of Cocaine City until 2003 when he suffered a gunshot wound that required lengthy treatment. Collaborating with various artists, he released several mixtapes before issuing the album Coke Boys 2. He followed the release of that album with Excuse My French, which went to Number 1 on Billboard's Top Rap Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Charts, and Number 4 on the Billboard 200. A mixtape titled Coke Wave, with rapper Max B, was released in 2014. Three years later, he released the album Jungle Rules (2017), which reached Number 3 on the Rap and R&B/Hip-Hop Charts and the Billboard 200. In 2019, French Montana released his fourth album Montana, which hit the Top 30 on the Top 200 Albums chart as well as the Rap and R&B/Hip-Hop charts. His fifth album, They Got Amnesia, was released in November 2021. French Montana has had nearly two dozen tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 including two in the Top 10: “Loyal” (2014) and “Unforgettable” (2017), which topped Billboard's Hot Rap Songs Chart and went to Number 2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Chart in the UK. Other UK hit singles were “Feelin' Myself” (2014) which reached Number 2, “Hurtin' Me” (2017), which went to Number 7, and “Tip Toe” (2018) which peaked at Number 5. He was nominated for the Best Rap Performance in 2017 for “All the Way Up”, which also was nominated for Best Rap Song, as was “All Day” (2016). French Montana returned with his fifth studio album They Got Amnesia in 2021 and a collaborative album with Harry Fraud, Montega, followed in June 2022. 2023 saw the release of a string of further collaborative singles including "Wish U Well" with Swae Lee featuring Lojay and Jess Glynne and "Another One of Me" with Diddy and the Weeknd featuring 21 Savage. After adding to an already rich stash of mixtapes augmented by 2020's CB5 and 2023's Coke Boys 6 with DJ Drama, 2024 saw the release of Mac & Cheese 5, which featured an impressive lineup of guest contributors including Meek Mill and Rick Ross. The tape finished in fifth place on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.