French Montana

 French Montana began his career as a battle rapper during his teens, under the moniker Young French. In 2002, French and close friend Cams made a set of street DVDs called Cocaine City, drawing inspiration from the Smack DVD series that was popular in the time.The series featured interviews with upcoming and major stars, celebrities, and rappers with a focus on hip hop beefs. He started out in the role of Young French and used the DVDs to showcase his talents as an underground musician. Pee Wee Kirkland, Remy Ma and others were featured in the very first volume in the series. The series began to build an audience. It grew into a cult street-film. The series was in existence for eight years with 14 volumes and many spinoff movies. French Montana, a Bronx native, was the director of the series with the assistance of his childhood friends Brock, DroopPop, and Cheeze. The incident culminated with French being shot to the head by two gunmen while he was leaving an Bronx recording studio. The theory was that the shooting was the result of a "friendly fire" between the attacker and another. French was admitted to hospital for several weeks.Upon his discharge, he realized that he was manipulated by someone close to him as well as his circle.In 2007, French Montana came out with his debut mixtape French Revolution Vol. 1, which included collaborations with Uncle Murda, Jae Millz, Mazaradi Fox, and Tony Yayo. Rick Ross collaborated on the track "Quarter to Eight" It was only one of the many. The J.Cardim-produced "Straight Cash" was French's first underground smash. He released Live From Africa the second mixtape of his in 2008. The track "Waavvy" was his first collaboration with rapper Max