Story by Stereo Williams
Images by Keith Major for Steed Media Service
Styling by Darryl Brown
Hip-hop superstars have sprouted up from some of the roughest regions and neighborhoods across the United States. Many rhymers share tales of rough-and-tumble upbringings in now-infamous locales such as Compton, Calif., New Orleans’ notorious 3rd Ward and the Queensbridge Projects in New York City. All have been absorbed into the hip-hop lexicon due to the gripping stories emcees have shared about their mean streets. But rap superstar French Montana experienced his formative years on a much meaner type of street — namely, the streets of Rabat, Morocco. Born Karim Kharbouch, the future rhymer spent his childhood and early adolescence playing soccer and fighting to flourish.
“Coming from a third-world country and living there for like 13 years, it just made me live different,” Montana says. He and his family emigrated to the Bronx, N.Y., when he was 13, but he never lost the drive that living in Rabat gave him. “In the third world, you gotta work hard. Like there’s no hope. So you take full advantage. You outwork, out-hustle, out-rap, do whatever. You just go hard.”
That drive manifested itself in the States, when Montana decided to pursue his hip-hop dreams. In the early 2000s, the then-teenaged rapper, going by the name of “Young French,” created his own DVD series called “Cocaine City,” which helped him build a name. By 2009, he was being offered deals with major players in the industry, fielding offers from numerous imprints before eventually signing with Akon’s Konvict Muzik. That deal didn’t pan out, and the two parties went their separate ways in 2011. Through all of his career’s ups and downs, the one constant was the ambitious would-be star’s hustler spirit. He asserts now that, no matter what stage he’s been at in his career, his method didn’t waver.
