1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:06,413 --> 00:00:10,931 [entrancing musical flourish] 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:18,931 --> 00:00:21,620 [soft, dramatic music plays] 5 00:00:38,344 --> 00:00:42,103 Yeah. So, this is the quiet before the storm comes. 6 00:00:43,137 --> 00:00:44,793 This is my people, man. 7 00:00:45,172 --> 00:00:47,586 [man speaking] 8 00:00:47,689 --> 00:00:48,965 The comeback. 9 00:00:50,448 --> 00:00:51,655 A young Moroccan boy. 10 00:00:51,793 --> 00:00:53,758 - [camera flashes] - [crowd cheering] 11 00:00:55,551 --> 00:00:57,068 That started from the mud. 12 00:00:59,137 --> 00:01:01,689 [crowd shouting] 13 00:01:01,793 --> 00:01:03,275 These are my people. 14 00:01:03,379 --> 00:01:05,517 [crowd cheering] 15 00:01:06,275 --> 00:01:08,655 I put on for my country. 16 00:01:09,172 --> 00:01:12,000 And, you know, I was the chosen one. 17 00:01:13,413 --> 00:01:15,137 What I do with that power is... 18 00:01:16,517 --> 00:01:18,517 what's-what's really gonna... 19 00:01:21,172 --> 00:01:23,310 put the name on what I became, you know. 20 00:01:38,862 --> 00:01:40,862 ♪ Oh, this is a story ♪ 21 00:01:42,448 --> 00:01:43,931 ♪ About a young man ♪ 22 00:01:44,517 --> 00:01:46,931 ♪ That's getting ready to go off to war ♪ 23 00:01:47,689 --> 00:01:49,000 ♪ But he leavin' ♪ 24 00:01:50,034 --> 00:01:51,310 ♪ Said he leavin' ♪ 25 00:01:51,413 --> 00:01:53,275 ♪ Said he leavin' ♪ 26 00:01:54,172 --> 00:01:56,000 ♪ Oh, the only woman ♪ 27 00:01:56,103 --> 00:01:58,241 ♪ That he never had ♪ 28 00:01:58,689 --> 00:02:00,137 ♪ And this is what he said... ♪ 29 00:02:00,241 --> 00:02:02,068 [Karim] Before I hit that stage, 30 00:02:02,206 --> 00:02:03,965 when I talk to my conscience, it's like, 31 00:02:04,413 --> 00:02:07,033 I did everything the best way I could do it. 32 00:02:07,034 --> 00:02:08,241 Started this rap thing, 33 00:02:08,344 --> 00:02:09,723 and from there, I'm running with it, 34 00:02:09,724 --> 00:02:11,758 and I'm gonna take it to the top. This is history. 35 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,103 ♪ I don't wanna be the one ♪ 36 00:02:21,310 --> 00:02:23,103 ♪ I wanna love you ♪ 37 00:02:23,206 --> 00:02:25,724 [Karim] I can't sit here and tell you I'm a superhero. 38 00:02:26,379 --> 00:02:27,482 ♪ No, no ♪ 39 00:02:27,586 --> 00:02:29,379 I just run with this passion that I have 40 00:02:29,482 --> 00:02:31,275 when I got a rush or something. 41 00:02:31,758 --> 00:02:35,517 To make it in music, it's not about the notes you can hit 42 00:02:36,068 --> 00:02:37,413 or the raps that you can write. 43 00:02:37,551 --> 00:02:40,586 It's just people have to believe something about you. 44 00:02:41,172 --> 00:02:43,827 [Karim] Everybody's great at something. 45 00:02:43,931 --> 00:02:45,688 I'm great at when I get that sign from God, 46 00:02:45,689 --> 00:02:48,448 I just accomplish things that I can't explain to you. 47 00:02:48,551 --> 00:02:52,068 You know what I'm saying? It just happens like that. 48 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,172 I promise you. 49 00:03:04,965 --> 00:03:07,689 [smooth jazz music plays] 50 00:03:11,827 --> 00:03:13,103 [Fat Joe] The Bronx? 51 00:03:14,482 --> 00:03:16,931 One giant ghetto. 52 00:03:17,482 --> 00:03:20,827 Shit just one giant ghetto. 53 00:03:22,482 --> 00:03:25,620 There's no mansions. There's no upscale nothing. 54 00:03:25,758 --> 00:03:27,310 It's just the hood, B. 55 00:03:30,103 --> 00:03:34,448 That land is, like, ordained by God 56 00:03:34,965 --> 00:03:37,965 for immigrants to migrate to 57 00:03:38,551 --> 00:03:40,034 and get they feet wet. 58 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,000 It was Italians, Irish, Jews. 59 00:03:44,586 --> 00:03:46,689 They moved out the Bronx, then the Puerto Ricans, 60 00:03:46,793 --> 00:03:49,000 the Blacks, and the Dominicans came in. 61 00:03:49,620 --> 00:03:51,034 Now they moving out. 62 00:03:51,137 --> 00:03:54,378 And now you got the Mexicans and the real Africans 63 00:03:54,379 --> 00:03:56,172 and the Muslims. 64 00:03:57,793 --> 00:03:59,448 What we got is a bunch of people 65 00:03:59,551 --> 00:04:01,241 trying to get their way. 66 00:04:02,896 --> 00:04:05,275 This shit is like gladiator school. 67 00:04:07,241 --> 00:04:08,862 You either prey, or you're a predator. 68 00:04:08,965 --> 00:04:11,034 There's just no way around that. 69 00:04:12,172 --> 00:04:16,413 So if you see a motherfucker come up from the Bronx, 70 00:04:16,517 --> 00:04:18,413 he's a ill nigga. 71 00:04:19,551 --> 00:04:20,896 'Cause there were so many people 72 00:04:21,034 --> 00:04:23,896 trying for him not to come up. 73 00:04:25,241 --> 00:04:26,620 You get what I'm saying? 74 00:04:26,724 --> 00:04:28,034 [camera shutter clicks] 75 00:04:39,034 --> 00:04:41,793 [indistinct chatter] 76 00:04:45,034 --> 00:04:47,793 [speaking Spanish] 77 00:04:54,724 --> 00:04:57,034 [siren wailing] 78 00:04:57,137 --> 00:04:59,862 [hip-hop instrumental music playing] 79 00:05:03,931 --> 00:05:05,344 [Odell] We met right here. 80 00:05:05,448 --> 00:05:07,723 This is where I was raised up, on this floor, 3A. 81 00:05:07,724 --> 00:05:09,000 He's from 3D. 82 00:05:13,793 --> 00:05:15,137 He came to the block. 83 00:05:15,275 --> 00:05:16,550 From there, we grew a friendship 84 00:05:16,551 --> 00:05:18,068 into a brotherhood. 85 00:05:19,793 --> 00:05:21,413 He was a hell of a basketball player. 86 00:05:21,517 --> 00:05:24,724 You know, I thought we was going to the NBA before all of this. 87 00:05:25,275 --> 00:05:28,275 I was looking forward for us to be on a side court at NBA, 88 00:05:28,413 --> 00:05:30,689 us playing for the Knicks or something. 89 00:05:36,448 --> 00:05:38,413 [man speaking] 90 00:05:40,965 --> 00:05:42,793 [Karim] The place to come play ball at. 91 00:05:42,896 --> 00:05:45,378 This is the only place if you ain't hustling, 92 00:05:45,379 --> 00:05:46,482 right here. 93 00:05:46,620 --> 00:05:47,965 Keep you out of the streets. 94 00:05:48,103 --> 00:05:49,620 Slinging crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot. 95 00:05:49,758 --> 00:05:51,620 This was the courts right here. 96 00:05:52,448 --> 00:05:54,000 We used to leave out our apartment, 97 00:05:54,103 --> 00:05:55,586 bump heads together. 98 00:05:56,896 --> 00:05:59,965 And be like, "Yo, like, what are we gonna do 99 00:06:01,448 --> 00:06:03,172 to get out of here?" 100 00:06:03,862 --> 00:06:06,172 [Karim] From the start, it was like, 101 00:06:06,310 --> 00:06:10,724 "How do I escape poverty without becoming a number?" 102 00:06:11,310 --> 00:06:13,136 There's so much temptation that you have. 103 00:06:13,137 --> 00:06:14,757 You got to be just as strong, 104 00:06:14,758 --> 00:06:16,793 so my escape route and my therapy 105 00:06:16,896 --> 00:06:18,379 was playing basketball. 106 00:06:24,482 --> 00:06:26,655 [Zack] I really started to understand, like, 107 00:06:26,793 --> 00:06:28,689 when I start going outside, 108 00:06:28,793 --> 00:06:30,689 and I'm seeing dudes on the corner, 109 00:06:31,206 --> 00:06:33,551 and I'm seeing the gritty, the grimy. 110 00:06:34,344 --> 00:06:37,379 You're hearing gunshots, people arguing, gambling, 111 00:06:37,482 --> 00:06:39,930 people getting drunk, people selling drugs. 112 00:06:39,931 --> 00:06:42,310 [Karim] What's up, bro? What's up? 113 00:06:43,103 --> 00:06:45,379 I'm chill, bro. How y'all doing out here? 114 00:06:53,655 --> 00:06:54,724 See that? 115 00:06:59,551 --> 00:07:02,241 Think you can fuck with me, huh? 116 00:07:02,379 --> 00:07:03,482 Hold up. 117 00:07:04,137 --> 00:07:05,310 Are you ready for me? 118 00:07:05,413 --> 00:07:06,931 Don't be talking, 'cause I'm ready. 119 00:07:07,034 --> 00:07:10,068 [heavy bass hip-hop instrumental music plays] 120 00:07:20,448 --> 00:07:22,931 [indistinct chatter] 121 00:07:24,068 --> 00:07:26,172 Next time I catch you, I'mma bust your ass. 122 00:07:26,275 --> 00:07:27,585 - Thank you. - Thank you. 123 00:07:27,586 --> 00:07:29,275 [Zack] The crazy thing about French is, 124 00:07:29,379 --> 00:07:33,551 he would sit in the crib and make highlights of himself, 125 00:07:33,965 --> 00:07:35,965 like, all his best highlights, like ESPN. 126 00:07:36,482 --> 00:07:38,620 So I would see him with three cameras on the floor, 127 00:07:38,758 --> 00:07:40,344 all his best basketball highlights, 128 00:07:40,448 --> 00:07:43,034 and he was sending it to colleges and shit. 129 00:07:43,413 --> 00:07:45,448 But I guess after he found about his status, 130 00:07:45,586 --> 00:07:46,689 that shit just killed him. 131 00:07:46,793 --> 00:07:48,034 [Karim] That shit broke my heart. 132 00:07:48,137 --> 00:07:49,724 Like, "You can't go to college and play," 133 00:07:49,827 --> 00:07:52,379 even though I was getting recruited by D2, D3 colleges. 134 00:07:52,931 --> 00:07:54,620 I was an immigrant with no papers, 135 00:07:54,724 --> 00:07:57,586 like, living under the radar for like ten years. 136 00:07:58,275 --> 00:08:00,000 There's nothing. I can't go to college 137 00:08:00,103 --> 00:08:01,517 'cause I don't have my papers. 138 00:08:01,620 --> 00:08:04,034 I can't get a job. I don't have no Social Security. 139 00:08:04,137 --> 00:08:05,655 I have no access to nothing 140 00:08:05,758 --> 00:08:08,103 to become this dream that I always dreamed about. 141 00:08:28,551 --> 00:08:33,517 [man speaking] 142 00:08:48,310 --> 00:08:50,172 [Karim] I used to look at my father when I was young 143 00:08:50,275 --> 00:08:52,206 like, "This nigga look like a star." 144 00:08:54,896 --> 00:08:57,000 If I look like him, I'mma be a star. 145 00:09:10,413 --> 00:09:14,241 [Khadija speaking] 146 00:09:27,034 --> 00:09:29,379 - [birds chirping] - [indistinct conversation] 147 00:10:02,724 --> 00:10:05,586 [Khadija speaking] 148 00:10:36,241 --> 00:10:38,758 This is the first thing that got me out of Africa, 149 00:10:39,379 --> 00:10:41,448 was playing soccer. I got my first visa. 150 00:10:41,586 --> 00:10:45,172 I went to Spain, to Barcelona. I played soccer. 151 00:10:47,758 --> 00:10:50,103 That's what opened my eyes to the rest of the world. 152 00:10:50,551 --> 00:10:53,965 [heavy bass hip-hop instrumental music playing] 153 00:11:02,275 --> 00:11:07,000 [Khadija speaking] 154 00:11:13,793 --> 00:11:17,896 [indistinct chatter] 155 00:11:24,103 --> 00:11:28,689 [Abdela speaking] 156 00:11:38,310 --> 00:11:40,620 America's land of the dreams. 157 00:11:40,758 --> 00:11:42,137 Land of the free. 158 00:11:43,275 --> 00:11:44,413 I mean, Morocco too, 159 00:11:44,517 --> 00:11:46,068 but the opportunities are not the same. 160 00:11:46,862 --> 00:11:49,448 You could literally become the president, United States. 161 00:11:50,517 --> 00:11:52,344 We have a beautiful king. We love him. 162 00:11:52,482 --> 00:11:54,551 But you cannot be a king here. 163 00:11:57,172 --> 00:11:59,344 When I was 13, my father was just like, 164 00:11:59,482 --> 00:12:01,344 "Yo, pack your clothes up. We out." 165 00:12:01,758 --> 00:12:04,034 He just came home one day, said he had visas to leave. 166 00:12:04,137 --> 00:12:05,344 So we just left. 167 00:12:05,482 --> 00:12:07,344 [sighs] 168 00:12:47,103 --> 00:12:48,413 Honestly... 169 00:12:49,413 --> 00:12:51,861 it was the best thing that could've happened 170 00:12:51,862 --> 00:12:54,309 was for me to be born and be in that atmosphere. 171 00:12:54,310 --> 00:12:56,517 I feel it made me the person I am. 172 00:12:57,689 --> 00:12:59,379 I feel like it made my hustle relentless. 173 00:12:59,482 --> 00:13:01,758 It just made me not take no for an answer. 174 00:13:02,241 --> 00:13:04,517 How my father got them visas, I don't know. 175 00:13:07,896 --> 00:13:11,034 Us watching America, you know, as kids, 176 00:13:11,137 --> 00:13:14,034 all we see, you know, are the buildings downtown, 177 00:13:14,137 --> 00:13:16,448 you know, the sky view of New York. 178 00:13:17,448 --> 00:13:19,344 So they sell you the dream. 179 00:13:19,896 --> 00:13:22,172 They don't show you that behind those buildings, 180 00:13:22,275 --> 00:13:23,965 there's the nightmare part, too. 181 00:13:24,724 --> 00:13:28,068 Everything was different, like, people, the streets, 182 00:13:28,172 --> 00:13:29,896 the culture. 183 00:13:31,172 --> 00:13:33,517 Having to adapt to that, 184 00:13:33,620 --> 00:13:35,551 you know, was like the biggest... 185 00:13:36,275 --> 00:13:37,896 the biggest, like, accomplishment 186 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,206 as, like, a Moroccan little kid and having to learn English. 187 00:13:42,724 --> 00:13:43,965 You know what I mean? 188 00:13:44,068 --> 00:13:46,586 So it was a total transformation. 189 00:13:49,137 --> 00:13:50,793 [Karim] When you're snatched out of everything 190 00:13:50,896 --> 00:13:52,137 you know as a kid, 191 00:13:52,275 --> 00:13:54,620 it's almost like, you know, a culture shock. 192 00:13:56,827 --> 00:13:58,723 They used to call me "Bonjour" because all I did 193 00:13:58,724 --> 00:14:00,412 was speak French, and I didn't know English. 194 00:14:00,413 --> 00:14:02,689 After, they were like, "We're not gonna name you Bonjour. 195 00:14:02,827 --> 00:14:05,517 Your name is 'French.'" That's how my life started at 13 196 00:14:05,620 --> 00:14:08,689 just right there in the Bronx, the worst part of the Bronx. 197 00:14:08,793 --> 00:14:10,724 I woke up in a new house. 198 00:14:10,862 --> 00:14:12,724 We moved in with my father's friend, 199 00:14:12,827 --> 00:14:15,034 and all four of us had one room. 200 00:14:15,172 --> 00:14:17,136 Me and my brother would sleep on the floor. 201 00:14:17,137 --> 00:14:19,172 My mother and my father would sleep in the bed. 202 00:14:19,793 --> 00:14:24,137 It was the grind of all grinds, welfare, this, that. 203 00:14:24,862 --> 00:14:28,034 My father's out working every day ten, 12 hours. 204 00:14:28,172 --> 00:14:30,862 Once one business after the other started collapsing, 205 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,862 it became a nightmare for him. 206 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:34,448 I remember going with my father 207 00:14:34,551 --> 00:14:37,344 to Harlem to 115th Street to pick up his money, 208 00:14:37,448 --> 00:14:39,447 because whoever he opened the store with 209 00:14:39,448 --> 00:14:40,758 is trying to finesse him. 210 00:14:41,482 --> 00:14:43,517 After his businesses started going down, 211 00:14:43,620 --> 00:14:46,137 guess he went and applied to get a green card. 212 00:14:46,241 --> 00:14:47,655 And they denied that. 213 00:14:49,620 --> 00:14:54,999 So him facing reality, "How do I get back on my feet? 214 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,758 Let me go back to Morocco, where I live like a king." 215 00:14:58,517 --> 00:15:00,931 [Zack] I remember when my father wanted to leave. 216 00:15:01,068 --> 00:15:02,689 My little brother was just born. 217 00:15:04,275 --> 00:15:07,033 My pop, he didn't like the way French was going, 218 00:15:07,034 --> 00:15:09,068 and he wanted to leave French. 219 00:15:10,034 --> 00:15:12,241 [Karim] Emotions are the enemies of facts. 220 00:15:12,724 --> 00:15:15,310 My father, he didn't have nobody to take the anger out on, 221 00:15:15,413 --> 00:15:17,931 so he just started taking the anger out on us. 222 00:15:19,448 --> 00:15:21,827 This is a real situation now. 223 00:15:21,931 --> 00:15:24,103 My mother, she was tired of the abuse. 224 00:15:24,206 --> 00:15:26,103 She was tired of a drunk man coming home 225 00:15:26,206 --> 00:15:27,448 because he lost his money. 226 00:15:27,551 --> 00:15:29,413 I guess she probably saw a side 227 00:15:29,896 --> 00:15:31,448 that she wasn't used to. 228 00:15:40,931 --> 00:15:43,034 [birds chirping] 229 00:15:46,448 --> 00:15:48,517 [water bubbling] 230 00:16:04,482 --> 00:16:06,965 [liquid pouring] 231 00:16:08,620 --> 00:16:14,379 [Khadija speaking] 232 00:16:30,827 --> 00:16:33,586 [dramatic music plays] 233 00:16:59,517 --> 00:17:01,689 [Karim] I would love to understand 234 00:17:01,827 --> 00:17:04,206 his intentions, you know? 235 00:17:05,137 --> 00:17:09,206 But when my father left, a part of me died. 236 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,034 And I never looked back for that part. 237 00:17:12,517 --> 00:17:14,551 [Karim speaks in Arabic] 238 00:18:44,206 --> 00:18:47,103 [Zack] I just remember my mother working two, three jobs. 239 00:18:50,758 --> 00:18:52,620 Under the table, cash only. 240 00:18:52,724 --> 00:18:54,931 My mother was working in one of them halal places 241 00:18:55,034 --> 00:18:56,413 where they cut chickens. 242 00:18:57,344 --> 00:18:59,965 And you go there, you pick what animal you want, 243 00:19:00,068 --> 00:19:01,482 and they slaughter it in front of you, 244 00:19:01,586 --> 00:19:02,826 and you take it home with you. 245 00:19:02,827 --> 00:19:04,896 That's where my mother was working at. 246 00:19:06,103 --> 00:19:11,724 [Khadija speaking] 247 00:19:34,965 --> 00:19:37,757 I walked in on my mother one time crying, praying 248 00:19:37,758 --> 00:19:38,965 in the chicken spot. 249 00:19:39,862 --> 00:19:41,689 You don't want to see your mother like that. 250 00:19:42,275 --> 00:19:43,862 [Zack] To see what she was going through, 251 00:19:43,965 --> 00:19:46,586 I was like, "I got to help. I got to do something." 252 00:19:46,689 --> 00:19:49,068 But French was already ten steps ahead of me. 253 00:19:50,103 --> 00:19:53,862 [Karim] I became my father when he left at an early age. 254 00:19:54,724 --> 00:19:57,000 We're not doing that. It's gonna stop here. 255 00:19:59,137 --> 00:20:00,930 I'm trying to go to college 'cause I played ball, 256 00:20:00,931 --> 00:20:02,827 and it was like, "We can't give you scholarship. 257 00:20:02,931 --> 00:20:04,447 You have no papers." I can't get a job. 258 00:20:04,448 --> 00:20:06,206 I don't got no Social Security. 259 00:20:06,310 --> 00:20:08,724 I'm a real immigrant, fresh off the boat. 260 00:20:08,827 --> 00:20:10,379 You know what I'm saying? 261 00:20:10,517 --> 00:20:11,689 So it was just like, 262 00:20:12,172 --> 00:20:13,689 what other options you got? 263 00:20:14,551 --> 00:20:16,034 Hit the streets. 264 00:20:18,482 --> 00:20:19,896 [Zack] Once they kill your dreams, 265 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,862 you start leaning towards 266 00:20:22,793 --> 00:20:26,000 the things that you know is gonna get you the fast money. 267 00:20:26,724 --> 00:20:28,655 The difficult part, knowing that my mother 268 00:20:28,758 --> 00:20:30,172 just sacrificed everything for us. 269 00:20:30,275 --> 00:20:33,689 And if I get locked up, I just smacked her in the face. 270 00:20:34,689 --> 00:20:36,654 But knowing if I don't take these chances, 271 00:20:36,655 --> 00:20:39,689 she gonna be working at this chicken place 12 hours, 272 00:20:39,793 --> 00:20:41,379 for a hundred dollars a day. 273 00:20:44,172 --> 00:20:46,517 The only thing you can do is take those chances. 274 00:20:48,517 --> 00:20:50,792 [gentle music playing] 275 00:20:50,793 --> 00:20:53,793 [conversation in Arabic] 276 00:21:33,724 --> 00:21:37,240 [hip-hop instrumental music plays] 277 00:21:37,241 --> 00:21:39,688 [Karim] So, Lafontaine High School. 278 00:21:39,689 --> 00:21:41,205 So, I used to go to school. 279 00:21:41,206 --> 00:21:43,688 Every day, there was somebody out there pumping, 280 00:21:43,689 --> 00:21:45,413 crack, whatever, anything you want. 281 00:21:46,068 --> 00:21:48,724 There was a barbershop right downstairs. 282 00:21:48,827 --> 00:21:51,068 Everything that goes on get talked about there. 283 00:21:51,172 --> 00:21:53,413 He a legend out here, man, for real. 284 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,344 For real, one of the last few standing. 285 00:21:56,448 --> 00:21:57,965 You're a legend in my book. 286 00:21:58,103 --> 00:21:59,310 - Feel me? - My man. 287 00:21:59,758 --> 00:22:02,344 Let them know, you used to be cutting my hair, I had a vest. 288 00:22:02,448 --> 00:22:04,379 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all that. 289 00:22:04,517 --> 00:22:06,482 Yeah, you sure you want to go into that? 290 00:22:07,344 --> 00:22:09,274 Yeah. That was the bad times, 291 00:22:09,275 --> 00:22:10,689 - wasn't it? - Yeah, yeah. 292 00:22:10,827 --> 00:22:12,689 [Doug] You ain't want to go through that, did you? 293 00:22:12,827 --> 00:22:14,379 I tried to tell you 'bout that. 294 00:22:15,137 --> 00:22:16,206 But like I said, 295 00:22:16,344 --> 00:22:18,344 y'all little kids was hardheaded, 296 00:22:18,482 --> 00:22:19,620 you know? 297 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,000 - You don't listen to nothing. - Doug was cutting my hair. 298 00:22:23,827 --> 00:22:25,862 So he cutting my hair from the back. 299 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,000 He go like this to the joint. 300 00:22:27,137 --> 00:22:28,517 He like, "What is this, a vest on?" 301 00:22:28,655 --> 00:22:30,585 Yeah. "What is this, a vest on? 302 00:22:30,586 --> 00:22:32,447 What you bringing in my store?" 303 00:22:32,448 --> 00:22:34,310 Yeah, things like that. 304 00:22:34,413 --> 00:22:36,689 I was getting a cut, and I had to have a hoodie on, 305 00:22:36,793 --> 00:22:40,965 the vest under, and a 40 right in my pocket. 306 00:22:41,620 --> 00:22:45,379 And I'd be like, "Yo, Doug, cut me facing the door." 307 00:22:46,310 --> 00:22:48,172 - You know? - Yeah, facing the door. 308 00:22:48,310 --> 00:22:49,964 So nothing happens to you. 309 00:22:49,965 --> 00:22:52,068 [Karim laughs] 310 00:22:53,241 --> 00:22:56,689 - Yo, Doug, you can talk on here. - Yeah. You kept me sharp, too, 311 00:22:56,793 --> 00:22:58,931 'cause when you came around, what I got to carry? 312 00:22:59,034 --> 00:23:01,275 - [Karim laughs] - [Doug] Right? 313 00:23:02,896 --> 00:23:05,033 Nah, Doug, man, you still over there, same spot? 314 00:23:05,034 --> 00:23:07,205 Yeah, yeah, I'm still at the same spot. 315 00:23:07,206 --> 00:23:08,551 When y'all go in and out of jail, 316 00:23:08,689 --> 00:23:10,205 I'm still in the same spot. 317 00:23:10,206 --> 00:23:12,723 - Nah, I've been doing good. - I ain't going nowhere. 318 00:23:12,724 --> 00:23:15,517 - I've been doing good, you know? - Yeah, I hope so. 319 00:23:18,172 --> 00:23:20,827 I was like 18 years old when I started selling drugs. 320 00:23:20,931 --> 00:23:22,758 I wasn't really thinking about the drugs. 321 00:23:22,862 --> 00:23:24,516 I was thinking about getting deported. 322 00:23:24,517 --> 00:23:25,758 There wasn't no social media 323 00:23:25,862 --> 00:23:27,241 where you could become an influencer. 324 00:23:27,344 --> 00:23:29,172 The influencers was the drug dealers. 325 00:23:29,275 --> 00:23:31,862 That's all you see when you walk outside. 326 00:23:34,379 --> 00:23:37,965 So, people got the Montana from Scarface, Tony Montana. 327 00:23:38,103 --> 00:23:39,689 It was just an immigrant story, 328 00:23:39,793 --> 00:23:42,689 him just making his way from a dishwasher 329 00:23:42,793 --> 00:23:44,620 all the way to being the boss. 330 00:23:44,724 --> 00:23:46,585 You know? That was the only time. 331 00:23:46,586 --> 00:23:49,068 Escaping poverty was the only time my spirits was up. 332 00:23:49,172 --> 00:23:50,827 So we would all come together. 333 00:23:50,965 --> 00:23:53,067 We would all sling whatever the fuck we got to sling, 334 00:23:53,068 --> 00:23:57,000 whether it's guns, it's coke, weed, this, that. 335 00:23:57,793 --> 00:24:00,137 At first I did it to get my mother out of there, 336 00:24:00,241 --> 00:24:02,517 and it became something that it was just like, 337 00:24:02,655 --> 00:24:05,034 "Oh, I can make this type of money?" 338 00:24:05,137 --> 00:24:06,310 Got a Range Rover. 339 00:24:06,413 --> 00:24:08,379 Living in a one-bedroom with my mother, 340 00:24:08,517 --> 00:24:09,896 parking it outside. 341 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,551 I was feeling myself. I was feeling myself 342 00:24:11,689 --> 00:24:13,724 to the point I was buying shit I can't afford. 343 00:24:13,862 --> 00:24:15,965 Start doing shit that's not in my character. 344 00:24:16,758 --> 00:24:18,481 But we was just living so reckless. 345 00:24:18,482 --> 00:24:21,172 Like, I had a gun and a vest on me for years. 346 00:24:21,310 --> 00:24:24,517 I hid it from my mother by putting it in sneaker boxes, 347 00:24:24,620 --> 00:24:25,757 wherever I could hide it. 348 00:24:25,758 --> 00:24:27,206 There was a risk of deportation 349 00:24:27,344 --> 00:24:28,689 every time I got locked up. 350 00:24:28,827 --> 00:24:31,137 I had to think about how the police gonna catch me 351 00:24:31,241 --> 00:24:32,964 before it even crossed their mind. 352 00:24:32,965 --> 00:24:35,274 French was one of the first niggas I seen 353 00:24:35,275 --> 00:24:37,724 that put a pistol in the roof of the car, the hood, 354 00:24:37,862 --> 00:24:40,309 tying a shoelace to a gun, putting it in a plastic bag, 355 00:24:40,310 --> 00:24:42,862 tying a plastic bag, and tying it to the battery. 356 00:24:42,965 --> 00:24:44,206 You know when cops pull you over, 357 00:24:44,310 --> 00:24:45,551 they're gonna search the trunk. 358 00:24:45,689 --> 00:24:47,793 They're not searching the hood of the car 359 00:24:47,896 --> 00:24:49,172 where the engine is. 360 00:25:01,620 --> 00:25:04,586 It's not something that you're proud of. 361 00:25:04,689 --> 00:25:05,758 You know? 362 00:25:05,862 --> 00:25:08,827 I think that God put our back to the wall. 363 00:25:08,931 --> 00:25:10,344 Your mother's getting tortured 364 00:25:10,448 --> 00:25:12,999 'cause she made that decision to stay with you? 365 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,896 That's something psychologically 366 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,517 that could break you. 367 00:25:16,620 --> 00:25:18,793 Just like how he backed me into a corner to make music, 368 00:25:18,931 --> 00:25:21,654 'cause my life was gonna end if I kept on doing that. 369 00:25:21,655 --> 00:25:23,999 Now let's go. DFL over there. 370 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,827 Hellbound over here. What the fuck? Let's go. 371 00:25:26,931 --> 00:25:29,827 Let's go, baby. Come on, Gunna, let's go. 372 00:25:29,931 --> 00:25:31,931 [man] Go, nigga. It's now or never, nigga. 373 00:25:32,068 --> 00:25:33,275 Listen, man. 374 00:25:33,379 --> 00:25:35,586 ♪ I banged early, came pearly ♪ 375 00:25:35,689 --> 00:25:38,068 ♪ Holdin' toast with both hands, surely ♪ 376 00:25:38,206 --> 00:25:39,413 ♪ It's the dope, man, dirty ♪ 377 00:25:39,551 --> 00:25:41,931 ♪ Coke grams 30, and hope, fam ♪ 378 00:25:42,034 --> 00:25:43,517 ♪ Know my whole clan dirty ♪ 379 00:25:43,620 --> 00:25:45,931 ♪ Whoa, there, shorty, see that chrome 40 ♪ 380 00:25:46,517 --> 00:25:49,793 Keep it all the way 100, when I first heard French rap, 381 00:25:49,931 --> 00:25:52,379 I was like, "Aw, he trash. He ain't goin' nowhere." 382 00:25:52,482 --> 00:25:53,861 He kept at it. 383 00:25:53,862 --> 00:25:57,068 The battle rap era was it. That shit was everything. 384 00:25:57,758 --> 00:25:58,861 Niggas talking shit. 385 00:25:58,862 --> 00:26:00,448 "Yo, you want to put up some?" 386 00:26:00,586 --> 00:26:02,620 Like, "Yeah, I would put up some." 387 00:26:02,724 --> 00:26:03,793 "You want to put up some?" 388 00:26:03,896 --> 00:26:04,965 Before you know it, shit, 389 00:26:05,103 --> 00:26:06,413 $4,000 or $5,000, 390 00:26:06,517 --> 00:26:08,034 and you go meet up on a corner 391 00:26:08,137 --> 00:26:09,447 and y'all battle, 392 00:26:09,448 --> 00:26:11,931 and it's no real judges or none of that shit. 393 00:26:12,034 --> 00:26:15,172 In the beginning, it was crowd and you got to keep it real. 394 00:26:15,310 --> 00:26:19,344 You had to get molded around, you know, real life 395 00:26:19,448 --> 00:26:22,310 to rap in front of a bunch of killers and drug dealers 396 00:26:22,413 --> 00:26:23,655 and niggas from the block, 397 00:26:23,758 --> 00:26:25,310 and everybody got to be looking at you 398 00:26:25,448 --> 00:26:27,240 - and feeling you. - If you lost, you lost. 399 00:26:27,241 --> 00:26:29,068 Look at the nigga, give him a pound. 400 00:26:29,172 --> 00:26:33,310 It was an agreement, a mutual agreement, a consensus. 401 00:26:33,413 --> 00:26:35,517 Just rapping outside, like, going to Fight Club, 402 00:26:35,620 --> 00:26:39,137 battling, like, putting up my own money, $20,000 at a time. 403 00:26:39,241 --> 00:26:42,689 You had to have the battle raps. You had to have the song raps. 404 00:26:42,793 --> 00:26:44,482 You had to have your whole swag together. 405 00:26:44,620 --> 00:26:46,274 [Zack] He took losses 406 00:26:46,275 --> 00:26:48,517 and knew how to come back and never lose again, 407 00:26:49,482 --> 00:26:51,103 'cause when you coming on the street, 408 00:26:51,206 --> 00:26:53,517 $5,000 was like 100 bands back then. 409 00:26:53,655 --> 00:26:55,000 After you lose that first five, 410 00:26:55,137 --> 00:26:57,792 you gonna go straight home and practice your bars. 411 00:26:57,793 --> 00:27:01,965 [Karim] The hip-hop lifestyle was a form of expression, 412 00:27:02,068 --> 00:27:03,793 therapy for the soul. 413 00:27:04,310 --> 00:27:05,482 I was going through things 414 00:27:05,586 --> 00:27:07,448 that I could only explain in my music. 415 00:27:27,517 --> 00:27:28,964 Coming from Morocco 416 00:27:28,965 --> 00:27:31,413 and landing in the mecca of hip-hop, 417 00:27:31,551 --> 00:27:32,965 you're gonna hear a thousand noes 418 00:27:33,068 --> 00:27:34,343 before you hear one yes 419 00:27:34,344 --> 00:27:36,068 about anything you're trying to do with rap. 420 00:27:36,206 --> 00:27:38,343 They don't want to let nobody into this hip-hop thing 421 00:27:38,344 --> 00:27:41,034 that they created, especially a kid from Africa. 422 00:27:41,137 --> 00:27:42,827 So I had to prove myself. 423 00:27:42,931 --> 00:27:44,310 ♪ Leave a hole in your chest ♪ 424 00:27:44,413 --> 00:27:46,896 ♪ Size of Reggie Miller head, motherfucker ♪ 425 00:27:48,413 --> 00:27:52,379 It was either making music, selling drugs, or kidnapping. 426 00:27:52,482 --> 00:27:54,758 Like, what would you choose? 427 00:27:56,448 --> 00:27:57,862 [car horn honks] 428 00:28:07,827 --> 00:28:10,034 I don't know what y'all want. Get whatever y'all want, man. 429 00:28:10,137 --> 00:28:12,517 I don't know what y'all want. This bodega life. 430 00:28:12,620 --> 00:28:15,206 [upbeat music plays over radio] 431 00:28:15,310 --> 00:28:17,551 - Thank you, brother. - Thank you so much. 432 00:28:25,172 --> 00:28:28,965 Damn, we, like, in-- This what you call a red zone. 433 00:28:29,379 --> 00:28:30,862 See that box right there? 434 00:28:31,241 --> 00:28:33,551 That's, like, a shot-detection box. 435 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,413 You're automatically gonna get riots. Type shit. 436 00:28:36,896 --> 00:28:38,103 Back in those days, 437 00:28:38,206 --> 00:28:42,000 it was way harder to be respected 438 00:28:42,103 --> 00:28:43,965 as a gangster rapper or something 439 00:28:44,068 --> 00:28:46,275 unless you looked and felt a certain way. 440 00:28:46,379 --> 00:28:48,931 You had to be a certain type of individual 441 00:28:49,034 --> 00:28:51,517 to get that credit as a gangster rapper. 442 00:28:51,620 --> 00:28:53,103 You know what I'm saying? 443 00:28:53,206 --> 00:28:55,137 French, he's a street dude. You know what I'm saying? 444 00:28:55,241 --> 00:28:58,137 Like, and people wasn't-- they wasn't really seeing that 445 00:28:58,275 --> 00:29:00,827 or really respecting that initially. 446 00:29:00,965 --> 00:29:03,551 Everything is word of mouth. Who got shot is word of mouth. 447 00:29:03,689 --> 00:29:05,724 Who went to jail is word of mouth. 448 00:29:05,827 --> 00:29:09,896 After a couple of episodes and incidents, the streets seen. 449 00:29:11,689 --> 00:29:13,379 [Zack] When he first started doing music, 450 00:29:13,482 --> 00:29:15,103 he was part of this little crew. 451 00:29:16,103 --> 00:29:19,481 And, you know, French was ahead of his time, 452 00:29:19,482 --> 00:29:22,000 and he probably felt like it was slowing him down. 453 00:29:22,517 --> 00:29:24,379 He started doing his own thing. 454 00:29:25,344 --> 00:29:28,172 And then he started blowing past them. 455 00:29:28,310 --> 00:29:31,344 ♪ Settin' the six fees, lettin' my wrist freeze ♪ 456 00:29:52,103 --> 00:29:55,551 [Zack] It was wintertime, 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. 457 00:29:56,448 --> 00:29:59,344 I remember my mother waking me up scared to death. 458 00:29:59,448 --> 00:30:01,689 Like, "Yo, there's some people in the hallway 459 00:30:01,793 --> 00:30:04,551 asking for your brother, and they want to come in." 460 00:30:05,965 --> 00:30:07,172 We had one of them lights 461 00:30:07,275 --> 00:30:08,965 that be flickering in the hallway. 462 00:30:09,068 --> 00:30:12,517 So it's dark, and that shit come on when it want. 463 00:30:13,206 --> 00:30:14,379 When they came to my door, 464 00:30:14,482 --> 00:30:16,517 it was like four people in the hallways. 465 00:30:16,655 --> 00:30:19,931 But everybody had big-ass North Faces on with hoodies. 466 00:30:20,344 --> 00:30:21,586 And it was somebody that I knew 467 00:30:21,689 --> 00:30:23,689 that I would usually see with my brother. 468 00:30:28,517 --> 00:30:30,102 He's, like, knocking on the door. 469 00:30:30,103 --> 00:30:31,758 He's like, "Bro, I got to come in 470 00:30:31,862 --> 00:30:33,102 and tell you something crazy. 471 00:30:33,103 --> 00:30:34,517 They just shot your brother. 472 00:30:34,655 --> 00:30:36,000 I want to come inside the crib 473 00:30:36,137 --> 00:30:38,517 and talk to you and make sure y'all good." 474 00:30:40,724 --> 00:30:42,689 I still be having nightmares about this. 475 00:30:42,793 --> 00:30:45,862 It was one little lock that never even really closed. 476 00:30:46,620 --> 00:30:49,103 So it's just me and my moms and my little brother. 477 00:30:49,206 --> 00:30:50,931 He's still a baby at the time. 478 00:30:51,482 --> 00:30:54,551 But I already adjusted to all this-- 479 00:30:54,655 --> 00:30:56,482 all the fuckery and everything. 480 00:30:57,689 --> 00:30:59,517 Roaming through the house and finding things 481 00:30:59,620 --> 00:31:01,862 and knowing what my brother was dealing with... 482 00:31:03,068 --> 00:31:04,413 I ain't let them in. 483 00:31:06,448 --> 00:31:08,551 And they was getting frustrated in the hallway. 484 00:31:08,655 --> 00:31:09,931 They started getting loud. 485 00:31:10,413 --> 00:31:13,275 And then I remember having this neighbor next to me. 486 00:31:13,379 --> 00:31:16,758 He woke up and then he came to the hallway and was like, 487 00:31:16,862 --> 00:31:18,275 "What's going on out there?" 488 00:31:19,206 --> 00:31:21,793 And I think that's what just shook them off. 489 00:31:24,379 --> 00:31:28,033 I went to the studio and just had this deejay, 490 00:31:28,034 --> 00:31:30,724 one guy deejay with me, not thinking nothing of it, 491 00:31:30,827 --> 00:31:32,895 make music, getting drunk, this and that. 492 00:31:32,896 --> 00:31:35,655 Now we're leaving. I say peace to everybody. 493 00:31:35,758 --> 00:31:36,931 Nobody know I'm there. 494 00:31:37,034 --> 00:31:38,275 This is, like, under the bridge 495 00:31:38,379 --> 00:31:40,033 and right by Mott Haven project. 496 00:31:40,034 --> 00:31:42,413 So, you can see, like, there's like, they call it 497 00:31:42,551 --> 00:31:44,620 the black hole back here. Nobody come here. 498 00:31:45,724 --> 00:31:46,758 So, go downstairs. 499 00:31:46,896 --> 00:31:48,448 I just see two dudes on the corner, 500 00:31:48,586 --> 00:31:49,896 so I'm not thinking nothing of it. 501 00:31:50,034 --> 00:31:51,206 So we go towards the car. 502 00:31:51,310 --> 00:31:52,620 As soon as we went in, 503 00:31:52,758 --> 00:31:54,275 they was acting like they was chilling. 504 00:31:54,379 --> 00:31:55,516 They turned around, 505 00:31:55,517 --> 00:31:57,241 pulled two hammers out, and came towards us. 506 00:31:57,344 --> 00:31:59,448 The deejay scattered. 507 00:31:59,551 --> 00:32:01,482 So I knew they wasn't after him. 508 00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:03,310 So I'm like, "Oh, shit, I got set up." 509 00:32:03,413 --> 00:32:05,379 I slipped and fell trying to get out of there. 510 00:32:05,482 --> 00:32:06,655 One of them fell. 511 00:32:06,793 --> 00:32:08,585 While he on top of me trying to grab the gun, 512 00:32:08,586 --> 00:32:10,620 he just yelling out, "Shoot him. Shoot him." 513 00:32:10,724 --> 00:32:12,585 Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. 514 00:32:12,586 --> 00:32:15,655 You know? And the shots stopped. 515 00:32:15,758 --> 00:32:18,275 And when homeboy took off, I just-- 516 00:32:18,965 --> 00:32:22,827 You know, I threw homeboy that was on top of me off of me. 517 00:32:23,655 --> 00:32:26,447 You know, and he was shot, you know. 518 00:32:26,448 --> 00:32:28,000 I mean, we was both shot. 519 00:32:28,137 --> 00:32:29,827 Probably still got some holes. 520 00:32:31,689 --> 00:32:35,793 So I go to try to shoot him in the face. 521 00:32:36,275 --> 00:32:38,793 When I go to try to shoot him, the gun jammed. 522 00:32:39,655 --> 00:32:42,412 - That was God again. - [siren wailing] 523 00:32:42,413 --> 00:32:45,413 [Zack] An hour later, French girl at the time call me 524 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,586 and was like, "Your brother just got shot in the head. 525 00:32:48,689 --> 00:32:50,620 He's in-he's in ICU." 526 00:32:52,172 --> 00:32:53,965 I end up going to Lincoln Hospital 527 00:32:54,068 --> 00:32:55,068 in the Bronx. 528 00:32:56,689 --> 00:32:58,757 [Karim] The girl I used to mess with at the time, 529 00:32:58,758 --> 00:33:00,067 her mother came in. 530 00:33:00,068 --> 00:33:02,793 I'm still in a daze. I'm still, like, confused. 531 00:33:02,896 --> 00:33:06,517 So she's like, "Yo, homeboy that drove you here 532 00:33:06,655 --> 00:33:08,344 is the one that set you up." 533 00:33:08,793 --> 00:33:09,862 [monitor beeping] 534 00:33:09,965 --> 00:33:11,172 [Zack] I go in his room. 535 00:33:11,275 --> 00:33:13,551 He's literally just sitting on his bed, 536 00:33:13,689 --> 00:33:16,758 head wrapped, like, you know what I mean? 537 00:33:16,896 --> 00:33:19,482 And that's the first time I really seen my brother cry, 538 00:33:19,586 --> 00:33:21,551 like, as a man. 539 00:33:23,689 --> 00:33:25,310 When baggy clothes was in... 540 00:33:27,034 --> 00:33:29,862 I seen bullet holes all over his clothes. 541 00:33:31,379 --> 00:33:32,551 He put my jacket on, 542 00:33:32,689 --> 00:33:35,379 took all, like, the IVs 543 00:33:35,482 --> 00:33:37,206 and everything off him, and he walked out. 544 00:33:37,344 --> 00:33:39,206 Me and him walked out, out the hospital. 545 00:33:39,310 --> 00:33:41,206 He put the hoodie on, and we left. 546 00:33:43,379 --> 00:33:45,448 [ominous music plays] 547 00:33:45,551 --> 00:33:47,517 I was conflicted from every direction. 548 00:33:47,620 --> 00:33:49,034 The person that shot me up came to my house 549 00:33:49,137 --> 00:33:50,826 and broke fast with me and my mother. 550 00:33:50,827 --> 00:33:52,482 It was somebody that I grew up with. 551 00:33:52,586 --> 00:33:54,688 They came in there and said, "Salam alaykum," sat down, 552 00:33:54,689 --> 00:33:56,931 ate with me on Ramadan, came to see my mother. 553 00:33:57,965 --> 00:33:59,862 That's how real it was in the hood. 554 00:34:00,379 --> 00:34:04,103 My environment was cutthroat, as cutthroat as it gets. 555 00:34:04,206 --> 00:34:05,895 [Zack] From that point on, 556 00:34:05,896 --> 00:34:07,931 I just seen his whole life shift. 557 00:34:10,103 --> 00:34:11,931 He didn't want to tell me everything, but he knew, 558 00:34:12,034 --> 00:34:14,758 like, deep down inside, he had to do something. 559 00:34:17,310 --> 00:34:19,310 I remember French hustling on the street. 560 00:34:19,448 --> 00:34:22,102 I remember French doing crazy shit, 561 00:34:22,103 --> 00:34:25,103 you know, just to help out with the bills and everything. 562 00:34:25,551 --> 00:34:29,137 The first time, you know, I found, like, 563 00:34:29,241 --> 00:34:30,793 some drugs in my crib or... 564 00:34:31,655 --> 00:34:34,067 anything I seen that was out of the ordinary, 565 00:34:34,068 --> 00:34:35,068 I would ask him, 566 00:34:35,551 --> 00:34:39,103 and he would always tell me, "Look, we gonna be good. 567 00:34:39,241 --> 00:34:42,275 Let me figure it out. I don't want you to do nothing." 568 00:34:42,379 --> 00:34:45,275 He always tried to be like that father figure for me. 569 00:34:45,724 --> 00:34:47,655 That was the breaking point. 570 00:34:48,724 --> 00:34:50,137 That's when I was like, "I got to stop 571 00:34:50,241 --> 00:34:51,758 and I got to start building my empire 572 00:34:51,862 --> 00:34:53,172 and leave something for my family 573 00:34:53,310 --> 00:34:54,827 in case something happened to me." 574 00:34:54,965 --> 00:34:57,724 It was something that broke my heart but fixed my vision. 575 00:34:58,275 --> 00:34:59,965 You can't keep smacking your luck in the face, 576 00:35:00,103 --> 00:35:01,551 is what I'm trying to say. 577 00:35:01,655 --> 00:35:03,758 [chimes tinkling] 578 00:35:35,448 --> 00:35:39,655 Shout-out to Frenchy. Hey. Hey, Frenchy. 579 00:35:39,758 --> 00:35:41,688 Don't feel like niggas is stalking you. 580 00:35:41,689 --> 00:35:44,551 You feel like you got some stalkers on your back? 581 00:35:45,448 --> 00:35:46,931 I heard niggas bombing on you, 582 00:35:47,034 --> 00:35:48,620 stealing on you, all type of dumb shit. 583 00:35:48,724 --> 00:35:49,896 You gotta be cool, be easy 584 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:51,862 when you're making DVDs, man. 585 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,517 Understand some people take that shit personal. 586 00:35:54,620 --> 00:35:56,448 [laughs] 587 00:36:04,620 --> 00:36:06,033 [Smack] Trying to tell you, 588 00:36:06,034 --> 00:36:08,655 I used to do the DVD shit. You know what I mean? 589 00:36:14,758 --> 00:36:16,310 I'm just a product of the culture 590 00:36:16,448 --> 00:36:18,103 of hip-hop, period. 591 00:36:18,206 --> 00:36:19,861 I got into, like, you know what I'm saying, 592 00:36:19,862 --> 00:36:22,275 the battle rap culture in high school. 593 00:36:22,413 --> 00:36:24,240 You know what I mean? In the lunchroom. 594 00:36:24,241 --> 00:36:26,517 People, like, going back and forth, 595 00:36:26,620 --> 00:36:28,517 seeing who had the dopest rhymes. 596 00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:32,379 Then, you know, as we grew up, it started getting personal, 597 00:36:32,482 --> 00:36:34,620 you throwing dirt on their name in the rhymes. 598 00:36:34,724 --> 00:36:37,586 And that's what basically hip-hop is all about, 599 00:36:37,724 --> 00:36:39,241 this competition. 600 00:36:39,344 --> 00:36:41,103 ♪ And he's an act, he don't rap ♪ 601 00:36:41,241 --> 00:36:43,137 [Smack] I'm listening to Jada freestyle. 602 00:36:43,241 --> 00:36:45,412 I'm listening to Beanie Sigel freestyle, 603 00:36:45,413 --> 00:36:48,241 all these Fabolous freestyles, and I'm like, "Damn. 604 00:36:48,344 --> 00:36:50,793 Shit would be dope if I could actually see 605 00:36:50,896 --> 00:36:54,793 these dudes in the studio laying down these tracks 606 00:36:54,896 --> 00:36:58,517 or see them in their natural environment in the hood, 607 00:36:58,620 --> 00:37:01,862 the shit that I don't see on BET or MTV." 608 00:37:01,965 --> 00:37:03,275 Technology caught up with times 609 00:37:03,379 --> 00:37:06,310 when you could actually buy a handheld camera, 610 00:37:06,413 --> 00:37:09,517 go home, and import that footage and content 611 00:37:09,620 --> 00:37:11,827 into your computer, make your own edit. 612 00:37:12,344 --> 00:37:13,792 That shit fascinated me. 613 00:37:13,793 --> 00:37:15,689 That shit was dope. I was like, "Oh, shit." 614 00:37:15,827 --> 00:37:19,619 Got a computer, got a camera, FireWire. 615 00:37:19,620 --> 00:37:22,379 You know what I mean? And import my shit. 616 00:37:22,482 --> 00:37:25,517 And I just started running outside doing videos 617 00:37:25,620 --> 00:37:26,862 for everybody in the hood, 618 00:37:26,965 --> 00:37:28,517 running up on dudes like, "Yo, what's up? 619 00:37:28,620 --> 00:37:31,172 Let's do a video. You rap?" 'Cause everybody raps. 620 00:37:31,275 --> 00:37:34,275 Mind you, this was all prior YouTube. 621 00:37:34,379 --> 00:37:35,586 Back on Smack. 622 00:37:35,689 --> 00:37:37,172 You getting some first live footage. 623 00:37:37,275 --> 00:37:38,413 You got me first. 624 00:37:38,517 --> 00:37:40,034 [Smack] Everybody started giving it up. 625 00:37:40,137 --> 00:37:41,930 It was a snowball effect. 626 00:37:41,931 --> 00:37:45,448 I was dropping DVDs like once every quarter. 627 00:37:46,103 --> 00:37:48,931 It's so easy to get a glimpse into everybody's life, 628 00:37:49,034 --> 00:37:52,862 but I preferred a time where it was curated, you know? 629 00:37:52,965 --> 00:37:55,309 And the DVD era was a curated look 630 00:37:55,310 --> 00:37:57,379 into American rap life, 631 00:37:57,482 --> 00:37:58,827 which, at the time, we all felt was 632 00:37:58,965 --> 00:38:01,103 the most, like, wide-eyed, 633 00:38:01,206 --> 00:38:03,620 surreal, unattainable lifestyle. 634 00:38:03,758 --> 00:38:06,275 We would just sit there, mesmerized. 635 00:38:06,379 --> 00:38:08,241 Bang, bang. We in the building, man. 636 00:38:08,344 --> 00:38:10,827 Anybody still can get it. You know what it is, man. 637 00:38:10,931 --> 00:38:12,171 - I'm out here. - Smack! 638 00:38:12,172 --> 00:38:14,689 Those DVDs were, like, my tutorial 639 00:38:14,793 --> 00:38:16,379 for what I wanted to be. 640 00:38:16,482 --> 00:38:19,344 And French was, like, such a pioneer in that. 641 00:38:19,448 --> 00:38:21,516 Let me tell y'all something. I'mma drop a jewel, man. 642 00:38:21,517 --> 00:38:25,205 Like, anything that's successful in any business, 643 00:38:25,206 --> 00:38:27,516 if it's successful and have an impact, 644 00:38:27,517 --> 00:38:31,103 within the first 15 months from your creation, 645 00:38:31,206 --> 00:38:33,655 you're gonna have a competitor in your marketplace. 646 00:38:33,758 --> 00:38:35,172 Everybody's going through the door. 647 00:38:35,275 --> 00:38:36,586 I'mma try to slide through the window. 648 00:38:36,724 --> 00:38:38,551 Play some shit for you. 649 00:38:43,206 --> 00:38:45,068 [Karim] Smack DVD was out. 650 00:38:46,241 --> 00:38:47,758 Me and my bro Cams was watching it. 651 00:38:47,896 --> 00:38:50,378 We was drinking, watching it, 652 00:38:50,379 --> 00:38:52,241 like, "Let's come out with our own DVD." 653 00:38:52,379 --> 00:38:53,896 When I met him, he's like, 654 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,448 "Cams, I got to get this money. Cams, I got to get this money." 655 00:38:57,551 --> 00:38:59,724 You know what I mean? At the time, 656 00:38:59,827 --> 00:39:01,344 I was into getting money. 657 00:39:10,827 --> 00:39:12,102 [Cams] At the time, everybody was, 658 00:39:12,103 --> 00:39:13,827 "My shit is crack." So we was like, 659 00:39:13,965 --> 00:39:17,619 "Our shit is cocaine. It's raw. It's rawer than crack." 660 00:39:17,620 --> 00:39:22,206 Cocaine City, then that's how the epidemic of that started. 661 00:39:22,310 --> 00:39:26,000 [old school hip-hop music plays] 662 00:39:31,551 --> 00:39:33,620 He would bring everything to the crib. 663 00:39:34,344 --> 00:39:35,723 He'll be like, "Box all these up. 664 00:39:35,724 --> 00:39:37,102 Put the paper in the plastic, 665 00:39:37,103 --> 00:39:39,310 put the co-- put the CD in it, then put--" 666 00:39:39,965 --> 00:39:43,447 In my head, I'm like, "Alright, 5,000 DVDs." 667 00:39:43,448 --> 00:39:44,930 He in there slaving me. 668 00:39:44,931 --> 00:39:48,137 As a young kid, I'm like, "Man, that's dope. Do it." 669 00:39:48,620 --> 00:39:49,931 That's why I'm here 670 00:39:50,034 --> 00:39:51,724 putting all these DVDs together for you. 671 00:39:51,827 --> 00:39:54,827 Back in the day, we used to watch Smack. 672 00:39:54,931 --> 00:39:57,172 We used to watch it for... All the shit was poppin'. 673 00:39:57,275 --> 00:39:59,931 It had everybody on there. Shea Davis and all that shit. 674 00:40:00,034 --> 00:40:02,102 You remember that shit? It had everybody on there. 675 00:40:02,103 --> 00:40:03,172 [overlapping chatter] 676 00:40:03,310 --> 00:40:04,724 Cocaine City, that was our shit. 677 00:40:04,827 --> 00:40:06,896 I remember the clip of you pulling out all the money. 678 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:08,586 [Karim] And it fell on the floor? 679 00:40:08,689 --> 00:40:11,447 And they used to... After that, they started calling me French 680 00:40:11,448 --> 00:40:12,827 'cause we look the same. 681 00:40:12,965 --> 00:40:16,482 He just had this attitude where he was kinda like... 682 00:40:16,620 --> 00:40:19,103 He was kinda this New York villain. 683 00:40:19,655 --> 00:40:22,793 It was, like, him and his people against whoever. 684 00:40:22,896 --> 00:40:25,068 I had this idea of French in my head 685 00:40:25,172 --> 00:40:31,310 as this young, untouchable mob boss from New York. 686 00:40:31,413 --> 00:40:34,310 It just was wild, man. It was a wild time. 687 00:40:34,448 --> 00:40:37,482 [man] Our shit was booming every which way. 688 00:40:37,586 --> 00:40:40,724 And our whole marketing plan was different from Smack 689 00:40:40,827 --> 00:40:43,723 'cause we didn't want to be Smack DVD. 690 00:40:43,724 --> 00:40:45,793 You feel me? We was Cocaine City. 691 00:40:45,896 --> 00:40:47,723 If you had kind of like a pop song 692 00:40:47,724 --> 00:40:49,310 or something at that time, 693 00:40:50,137 --> 00:40:51,965 you probably wouldn't be on Cocaine City. 694 00:40:52,655 --> 00:40:54,827 You know, that was not-- that was not the vision. 695 00:40:54,965 --> 00:40:56,379 Cocaine City! 696 00:40:56,482 --> 00:40:58,103 Cocaine City! 697 00:40:58,620 --> 00:41:00,517 Everything was built off controversy. 698 00:41:00,620 --> 00:41:01,862 Going back in there, talkin' 'bout 699 00:41:01,965 --> 00:41:04,068 - call the police. You get that? - [man] Nah. 700 00:41:04,172 --> 00:41:05,413 You ain't get that? 701 00:41:05,551 --> 00:41:07,999 You ain't fucking get that? You ain't get that? 702 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,758 That's the studio right there. That's that nigga's car. 703 00:41:13,034 --> 00:41:15,413 Get the police. Get how many police is out here. 704 00:41:15,551 --> 00:41:17,136 [man] Oh, you want to get even with me? 705 00:41:17,137 --> 00:41:18,862 Literally had war with people 706 00:41:18,965 --> 00:41:21,137 over certain shit we put on a DVD. 707 00:41:21,241 --> 00:41:22,724 Niggas go get that DVD, 708 00:41:22,827 --> 00:41:24,482 see who getting they chain snatched, 709 00:41:25,172 --> 00:41:27,343 who getting robbed, who getting beat up, 710 00:41:27,344 --> 00:41:28,792 shit like that. 711 00:41:28,793 --> 00:41:30,964 Niggas can't front on French, though. 712 00:41:30,965 --> 00:41:33,034 You know? At the end of the day, 713 00:41:33,172 --> 00:41:34,241 he made it happen. 714 00:41:38,034 --> 00:41:40,034 [Zack] His plan was, "I'mma put myself on each DVD. 715 00:41:40,137 --> 00:41:42,551 Then after that, I'mma just let the music grow." 716 00:41:42,655 --> 00:41:45,379 Wanting to be a rapper was always the goal. 717 00:41:46,344 --> 00:41:48,724 People was paying to promote themselves. 718 00:41:49,172 --> 00:41:51,137 I was promoting myself and getting paid. 719 00:41:51,586 --> 00:41:54,136 So we'll press up 50,000 DVDs, sell them $5 apiece. 720 00:41:54,137 --> 00:41:57,000 How much is that? $250,000. 721 00:41:57,103 --> 00:41:58,551 I made the $250,000, 722 00:41:58,655 --> 00:42:00,758 and everybody just finished watching me. 723 00:42:01,344 --> 00:42:02,620 By the time they realized it, 724 00:42:02,724 --> 00:42:05,482 I was already making crazy cake off of it. 725 00:42:10,310 --> 00:42:11,585 [Zack] As I got older, 726 00:42:11,586 --> 00:42:13,206 our conversations only became realer. 727 00:42:13,655 --> 00:42:15,206 You know what I mean? 728 00:42:15,896 --> 00:42:19,689 Our biggest conversation is when, like, my father left 729 00:42:20,103 --> 00:42:21,965 and when he got shot in the head. 730 00:42:23,517 --> 00:42:25,241 That was probably, like, 731 00:42:25,344 --> 00:42:27,689 the game-changers for me 732 00:42:27,793 --> 00:42:32,275 as a teenager, 'cause in my mind, I was like, 733 00:42:32,758 --> 00:42:35,550 "If-if this man is outside hustling, 734 00:42:35,551 --> 00:42:37,827 trying to provide for my family, 735 00:42:37,931 --> 00:42:39,586 who gonna be there to watch out for him?" 736 00:42:39,689 --> 00:42:41,551 [Karim] He learning things. He hearing things. 737 00:42:41,655 --> 00:42:44,482 He see me in cars, see me in this. He see me in that. 738 00:42:44,620 --> 00:42:47,241 The little change you give him is not enough. 739 00:42:47,344 --> 00:42:49,103 He want his own piece of cake now. 740 00:42:49,241 --> 00:42:51,034 So he want to make a name for himself. 741 00:42:51,620 --> 00:42:53,689 [Zack] From there on out, I was just, like, 742 00:42:53,793 --> 00:42:56,895 doing everything that was just, like, negative, 743 00:42:56,896 --> 00:42:58,620 carrying pistols on me. 744 00:42:58,758 --> 00:43:02,586 I started doing illegal shit, like, me and all my friends, 745 00:43:02,689 --> 00:43:05,241 and I stopped even seeing French. 746 00:43:06,517 --> 00:43:08,206 I stopped seeing him for like-- 747 00:43:09,310 --> 00:43:12,000 It would be months we wouldn't see each other. 748 00:43:13,034 --> 00:43:16,448 And that's what really made me a different kind of man. 749 00:43:16,551 --> 00:43:19,344 I start moving on my own. I built my own little circle. 750 00:43:19,448 --> 00:43:23,068 His friends at the time would be calling him like, 751 00:43:23,172 --> 00:43:25,793 "Yo, your little brother's moving around like this." 752 00:43:26,206 --> 00:43:27,862 You can fight with somebody all you want 753 00:43:27,965 --> 00:43:29,309 about what you want for them. 754 00:43:29,310 --> 00:43:32,482 But he had his own-- you know, his own vision. 755 00:43:33,068 --> 00:43:35,344 [Zack] He would come pull up on me. 756 00:43:36,344 --> 00:43:41,136 Everybody around me in, you know, expensive-ass shit, 757 00:43:41,137 --> 00:43:43,655 like new cars, new jewelry, new everything. 758 00:43:43,758 --> 00:43:45,793 We was 18, 19 at the time. 759 00:43:46,241 --> 00:43:48,862 And at that point, he was just looking at me like, 760 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:52,034 "Man, you got no idea." 761 00:43:53,862 --> 00:43:56,068 [Karim] I think my lifestyle was a negative influence, 762 00:43:56,206 --> 00:43:58,965 but there was nothing else that was positive around us. 763 00:43:59,068 --> 00:44:00,896 And it was to the point where I remember 764 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,758 he got a bunch of money for something. 765 00:44:02,896 --> 00:44:05,000 I grabbed it from him to hold it for him 766 00:44:05,103 --> 00:44:07,655 and to help him, you know, flip it towards something 767 00:44:07,758 --> 00:44:09,275 that I was doing, this and that. 768 00:44:09,413 --> 00:44:12,241 I held it too long, and he came to grab it. 769 00:44:12,344 --> 00:44:13,448 We ended up fighting, 770 00:44:13,551 --> 00:44:15,655 broke the table, this and that. 771 00:44:15,758 --> 00:44:17,172 I'm like, "He's getting older." 772 00:44:17,758 --> 00:44:19,655 So he ain't even let me, you know, 773 00:44:19,758 --> 00:44:21,103 teach him how to do his money. 774 00:44:21,241 --> 00:44:22,793 Once I had that fight with him, I was like, 775 00:44:22,896 --> 00:44:25,793 "Nah, he grown now. Let him go figure out how life is." 776 00:44:27,034 --> 00:44:29,689 She wanted us to have a safe life. 777 00:44:29,793 --> 00:44:31,517 She didn't want to bury none of her kids. 778 00:44:33,724 --> 00:44:37,482 My moms is quiet. 779 00:44:37,586 --> 00:44:40,206 She-she got her own beliefs. 780 00:44:40,310 --> 00:44:41,724 She don't never deal with people. 781 00:44:41,827 --> 00:44:43,827 She don't never befriend nobody. 782 00:44:44,896 --> 00:44:47,206 Like, you know, after my pops left, 783 00:44:47,310 --> 00:44:49,517 I never seen that woman with another man. 784 00:44:50,206 --> 00:44:51,206 Not once. 785 00:44:53,241 --> 00:44:55,275 Imagine her being in the States alone. 786 00:44:55,413 --> 00:44:57,931 All her sisters and brothers is in Morocco. 787 00:44:58,724 --> 00:45:00,000 Imagine not seeing your brothers 788 00:45:00,103 --> 00:45:01,827 and sisters for 20-something years. 789 00:45:03,310 --> 00:45:04,551 You there alone. 790 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:18,413 [upbeat hip-hop music playing] 791 00:47:04,448 --> 00:47:06,620 [indistinct conversations] 792 00:47:12,103 --> 00:47:14,000 [speaking in Arabic] 793 00:47:14,103 --> 00:47:16,137 [laughing] 794 00:47:23,896 --> 00:47:25,241 She really praying. 795 00:47:38,517 --> 00:47:42,275 [Zack speaking] 796 00:47:50,896 --> 00:47:52,240 I asked if she was nervous. 797 00:47:52,241 --> 00:47:55,275 She said, "What you mean, I'm nervous? I'm happy." 798 00:47:58,413 --> 00:48:00,862 "Why do you think I'm nervous? I'm going to court?" 799 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:07,000 25 years. 800 00:48:07,482 --> 00:48:11,068 [gentle music plays] 801 00:48:36,379 --> 00:48:39,826 We did the DVDs for like five, six years. 802 00:48:39,827 --> 00:48:43,068 Six, seven years French was unsigned until he met-- 803 00:48:43,655 --> 00:48:44,654 until he met Max. 804 00:48:44,655 --> 00:48:46,896 ♪ Y'all can hate all you want ♪ 805 00:48:47,517 --> 00:48:48,827 ♪ It gotta be the life 806 00:48:48,931 --> 00:48:51,103 I look like a boss. I feel like a boss. 807 00:48:51,206 --> 00:48:52,827 I taste like a boss, nigga. 808 00:48:52,931 --> 00:48:54,068 Max Biggavel. 809 00:48:54,206 --> 00:48:56,586 ♪ Yeah, it gotta be the life ♪ 810 00:48:56,689 --> 00:48:58,068 ♪ The life ♪ 811 00:48:58,206 --> 00:49:01,068 ♪ We for real, dawg we will kill y'all ♪ 812 00:49:01,172 --> 00:49:04,172 ♪ Shoot you up and cut you, fucking with us ♪ 813 00:49:04,275 --> 00:49:06,378 [indistinct chatter] 814 00:49:06,379 --> 00:49:08,517 [song fades] 815 00:49:09,965 --> 00:49:11,965 [birds chirping] 816 00:49:12,551 --> 00:49:14,758 [indistinct chatter] 817 00:49:21,758 --> 00:49:24,655 [Max B] I be doing crazy shit, cheating on my women 818 00:49:24,758 --> 00:49:26,344 and just dramatic bullshit. 819 00:49:26,448 --> 00:49:28,448 You hear all that shit in my music. 820 00:49:28,931 --> 00:49:31,448 "He's a fucking degenerate, that Max B. 821 00:49:31,551 --> 00:49:34,413 But, boy, do he motherfucking write them songs." 822 00:49:34,517 --> 00:49:36,000 When they say shit like that about you, 823 00:49:36,103 --> 00:49:37,931 I don't give a fuck, I don't care. 824 00:49:38,068 --> 00:49:39,862 "Oh, boy, oh, boy, 825 00:49:39,965 --> 00:49:44,275 that motherfucker Max drunk, drunk, degenerate, horny. 826 00:49:44,379 --> 00:49:46,861 Damn, that motherfucker rich as hell. 827 00:49:46,862 --> 00:49:49,103 He's a rich, talented motherfucker, though." 828 00:49:49,206 --> 00:49:51,757 And when they finish with lines like that, who cares? 829 00:49:51,758 --> 00:49:54,448 Who gives a fuck what they say? I don't give a fuck. 830 00:49:56,413 --> 00:49:58,689 I think I met French in like '07. 831 00:49:59,344 --> 00:50:01,965 I was doing my thing. He was doing his thing. 832 00:50:02,482 --> 00:50:04,688 That was it. Once we started fucking with each other, 833 00:50:04,689 --> 00:50:06,793 that was it. Like, that's my man. 834 00:50:06,931 --> 00:50:08,482 When I first seen him, 835 00:50:08,620 --> 00:50:10,586 he had somebody play the video for me. 836 00:50:10,689 --> 00:50:13,241 It was, like, a little Internet joint. 837 00:50:13,344 --> 00:50:14,965 They was like, "Look at his sample. 838 00:50:15,103 --> 00:50:16,655 He wanted to holler at you." 839 00:50:16,758 --> 00:50:18,275 We ain't even know each other. 840 00:50:18,413 --> 00:50:20,585 I was seeing little videos he was doing. 841 00:50:20,586 --> 00:50:22,757 I'm like, "Alright, son on his shit." 842 00:50:22,758 --> 00:50:25,689 So next thing, we hooked up, we got to the studio, 843 00:50:26,137 --> 00:50:27,412 and then that was it. 844 00:50:27,413 --> 00:50:28,965 We worked on a couple little underground cuts. 845 00:50:29,103 --> 00:50:30,448 We started fucking with each other. 846 00:50:30,551 --> 00:50:32,896 Then we got cool and we was like brothers. 847 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:36,586 Our relationship based on more of, you know, friendship. 848 00:50:36,689 --> 00:50:37,758 That's my dude. 849 00:50:37,862 --> 00:50:39,896 Hey, Frenchy, baby, let's get them. 850 00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:42,965 [hip-hop music playing] 851 00:50:44,655 --> 00:50:48,586 So you would grind. If you had a nice DVD, back then Smack, 852 00:50:49,103 --> 00:50:51,275 if your camera shit was up, your WorldStar shit, 853 00:50:51,413 --> 00:50:52,930 that's how you was popping. 854 00:50:52,931 --> 00:50:55,689 Max was the hottest thing in the city, smoking hot. 855 00:50:55,793 --> 00:50:57,448 The only person that was going more viral 856 00:50:57,551 --> 00:51:00,310 than Max and me was Tupac when he was beefing with Biggie. 857 00:51:00,413 --> 00:51:02,758 At this time, me and Max be running the city. 858 00:51:02,862 --> 00:51:06,206 We dropped "Coke Wave 1," "Coke Wave 2," Coke Wave 3." 859 00:51:06,344 --> 00:51:07,792 There's nobody fucking with us. 860 00:51:07,793 --> 00:51:09,206 [Max B] You know how many times 861 00:51:09,344 --> 00:51:11,000 we ran up on motherfuckers and gave that out? 862 00:51:11,103 --> 00:51:12,447 Niggas was like, "This shit look official," 863 00:51:12,448 --> 00:51:14,000 and grabbed it 'cause it looked good? 864 00:51:14,103 --> 00:51:16,757 Just 'cause the way French would package the shit. 865 00:51:16,758 --> 00:51:19,482 [up-tempo hip-hop music plays] 866 00:51:24,206 --> 00:51:25,930 Them niggas would come to my crib every day. 867 00:51:25,931 --> 00:51:27,655 I got a studio in my crib. 868 00:51:27,758 --> 00:51:29,482 Everybody was at my house every day. 869 00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:32,482 Yonkers every day. Cookouts I did every day. 870 00:51:32,620 --> 00:51:34,000 We spent time together. 871 00:51:35,482 --> 00:51:37,724 [Karim] I was from the Bronx. He was from Harlem. 872 00:51:37,827 --> 00:51:39,517 It was one of those friendships, man, 873 00:51:39,620 --> 00:51:41,655 that was like we grew a bond like brothers, 874 00:51:41,793 --> 00:51:43,275 like, outside of the music. 875 00:51:43,793 --> 00:51:45,827 French such a good-hearted person 876 00:51:46,517 --> 00:51:49,931 that, you know, Max had problems that became our problems. 877 00:51:50,517 --> 00:51:52,172 Anybody that's affiliated with that whole shit, 878 00:51:52,310 --> 00:51:54,517 you help that whole shit out, we taking you down, too. 879 00:51:54,620 --> 00:51:56,310 [Zack] You couldn't separate them two. 880 00:51:56,758 --> 00:52:00,206 French beef became Max beef. Max beef became French beef. 881 00:52:00,896 --> 00:52:02,103 At the time, Jim Jones 882 00:52:02,241 --> 00:52:03,758 was one of the biggest artists in New York. 883 00:52:04,172 --> 00:52:07,517 Him and Max B, he had Byrd Gang and they had just broke up. 884 00:52:07,620 --> 00:52:08,793 Max wanted to feed his family, 885 00:52:08,896 --> 00:52:10,379 wanted to get out of his contract. 886 00:52:10,482 --> 00:52:11,793 I felt where he was coming from. 887 00:52:11,896 --> 00:52:13,551 I wasn't trying to get to the technicals of it, 888 00:52:13,655 --> 00:52:16,068 like, "Oh, yo, Max, he's right, or he's right." 889 00:52:16,206 --> 00:52:18,551 It was like, "That's my nigga. Let's ride." 890 00:52:22,620 --> 00:52:26,931 French's affiliation with Max B was... 891 00:52:29,172 --> 00:52:31,034 It was a problem out here. 892 00:52:31,137 --> 00:52:33,103 - A big one. - It was a problem. 893 00:52:33,206 --> 00:52:34,275 Niggas lip-synching 894 00:52:34,413 --> 00:52:36,448 and swagger jacking over there, baby. 895 00:52:36,551 --> 00:52:38,724 Them niggas over there stealing songs, 896 00:52:38,827 --> 00:52:40,551 swagger jacking and lip-synching. 897 00:52:40,655 --> 00:52:42,275 Milli Vanilli-ass niggas. 898 00:52:42,379 --> 00:52:46,965 Max B was having a situation with Jim Jones... 899 00:52:47,068 --> 00:52:48,965 Jim, all them niggas is enemies. 900 00:52:49,068 --> 00:52:52,826 ...about money, about, like, credits, 901 00:52:52,827 --> 00:52:54,688 and publishing, and everything else. 902 00:52:54,689 --> 00:52:56,205 Y'all made incredible music together. 903 00:52:56,206 --> 00:52:59,171 I made incredible music. All he did was rhyme 16s. 904 00:52:59,172 --> 00:53:02,655 You a bum-ass nigga. You just a bum-ass nigga. 905 00:53:02,793 --> 00:53:06,827 You don't know no better, man. You're a bottom-feeder. 906 00:53:06,931 --> 00:53:13,344 Now, French may not have directly been at Jim Jones, 907 00:53:13,482 --> 00:53:15,517 but he was standing next to Max. 908 00:53:16,586 --> 00:53:17,758 So it was an issue. 909 00:53:18,379 --> 00:53:21,310 Where I stand in the DVD game is if you gonna make a DVD, 910 00:53:21,413 --> 00:53:24,034 have some integrity, like you should have in life. 911 00:53:24,137 --> 00:53:25,206 So when you DVD'ing 912 00:53:25,310 --> 00:53:26,655 and you recording all these artists 913 00:53:26,793 --> 00:53:27,655 and shit like that, 914 00:53:27,793 --> 00:53:29,000 some niggas don't give a fuck 915 00:53:29,137 --> 00:53:30,344 too much about life. 916 00:53:40,965 --> 00:53:42,344 Yeah. I'mma dust this shit off, 917 00:53:42,448 --> 00:53:44,550 get this shit out the way, get this verdict, 918 00:53:44,551 --> 00:53:46,344 and we gonna make history. 919 00:53:46,482 --> 00:53:48,241 When shit is all said and done, 920 00:53:48,896 --> 00:53:49,930 y'all gon' see 921 00:53:49,931 --> 00:53:52,412 who the victorious vainglorious is. 922 00:53:52,413 --> 00:53:54,000 [somber music plays] 923 00:53:54,137 --> 00:53:58,965 [no audible dialogue] 924 00:54:02,379 --> 00:54:03,379 Can't get too close 925 00:54:03,517 --> 00:54:05,275 to this building with them cameras. 926 00:54:05,793 --> 00:54:08,379 I'mma let y'all know when to put them shits down. 927 00:54:09,137 --> 00:54:11,103 I don't need that extra attention over here 928 00:54:11,206 --> 00:54:12,931 fucking with this Bergen County. 929 00:54:13,586 --> 00:54:15,241 Max trial start. 930 00:54:15,344 --> 00:54:16,551 You know, we was living wild. 931 00:54:16,655 --> 00:54:19,862 Like, we was just, like, you know, 932 00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:21,448 rock stars at its fullest. 933 00:54:21,551 --> 00:54:23,862 You know what I'm saying? And it kind of backfired. 934 00:54:23,965 --> 00:54:25,689 He would shoot a video outside the courthouse, 935 00:54:25,827 --> 00:54:27,103 and I'd be like, "You're bugging." 936 00:54:27,206 --> 00:54:28,620 His lawyers doing interviews. 937 00:54:28,724 --> 00:54:31,000 I see y'all niggas when we come out. 938 00:54:31,379 --> 00:54:32,517 Yeah. 939 00:54:32,620 --> 00:54:33,827 Come on. 940 00:54:35,551 --> 00:54:38,379 [dramatic music plays] 941 00:54:51,620 --> 00:54:53,206 [Karim] You take away my other half 942 00:54:53,310 --> 00:54:55,826 and you put me in the middle of all these beefs. 943 00:54:55,827 --> 00:54:59,000 Max went in, it was just like the stocks just dropped. 944 00:54:59,689 --> 00:55:02,241 [Cams] Max, at that time, it looked like everything 945 00:55:02,344 --> 00:55:04,412 was about to work, then Max goes to jail, 946 00:55:04,413 --> 00:55:06,827 and now everybody's kind of counting French out. 947 00:55:06,931 --> 00:55:09,895 I had to lock in like I never locked in before. 948 00:55:09,896 --> 00:55:11,758 [hip-hop music playing] 949 00:55:22,965 --> 00:55:25,310 You know, motherfuckers used to clown me 950 00:55:25,448 --> 00:55:29,206 'cause, you know, I was just skinny, 951 00:55:29,310 --> 00:55:30,724 goofy fucking white kid, 952 00:55:30,827 --> 00:55:32,793 you know what I'm saying, like, running around. 953 00:55:32,896 --> 00:55:34,620 And one guy-- my man was like, 954 00:55:34,758 --> 00:55:37,516 "You like the Harrison Ford of this shit." 955 00:55:37,517 --> 00:55:39,344 And I was like, "Nah, man. 956 00:55:39,448 --> 00:55:41,620 I'm the Harrison Fraud of this shit, 957 00:55:41,724 --> 00:55:44,448 'cause I ain't like all these other motherfuckers." 958 00:55:55,379 --> 00:55:57,723 I was working, doing beats for different rappers, 959 00:55:57,724 --> 00:56:01,034 and, you know, just playing my shit for people, 960 00:56:01,137 --> 00:56:03,103 trying to get on, you know, so to speak. 961 00:56:03,206 --> 00:56:06,068 And I had did a beat for this guy. 962 00:56:06,172 --> 00:56:09,034 French heard it and was like, "Who did these beats?" 963 00:56:10,862 --> 00:56:13,206 I definitely always wanted to go left. 964 00:56:13,310 --> 00:56:14,827 And I think with me and French, 965 00:56:14,931 --> 00:56:16,896 that's kind of what drew him to me. 966 00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:19,551 He comes to my studio. I have no idea what to expect. 967 00:56:19,655 --> 00:56:23,931 The only-- I knew French from Cocaine City DVD. 968 00:56:24,034 --> 00:56:27,000 I was excited, but I also was like... 969 00:56:28,448 --> 00:56:29,689 Didn't know what to expect. 970 00:56:30,620 --> 00:56:31,896 The first couple times, 971 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:33,344 we were feeling each other out, 972 00:56:33,482 --> 00:56:35,689 you know what I'm saying, and figuring it out. 973 00:56:35,827 --> 00:56:39,964 When we first met up, he made me play him a million beats. 974 00:56:39,965 --> 00:56:42,379 He would key in on stuff that he liked, 975 00:56:42,482 --> 00:56:44,482 and I would take notice of that, 976 00:56:44,586 --> 00:56:47,447 and then I would go farther down those roads. 977 00:56:47,448 --> 00:56:48,655 We were both sloppy, 978 00:56:48,758 --> 00:56:49,757 meaning, like, 979 00:56:49,758 --> 00:56:52,482 the vocals that he was recording, 980 00:56:52,586 --> 00:56:57,241 he was layering, you know, a hundred takes on them 981 00:56:57,344 --> 00:56:59,896 and a million doubles and all that. 982 00:57:00,034 --> 00:57:03,758 And I started to be like, "Yo, don't double that. 983 00:57:03,862 --> 00:57:05,999 You know, like, don't lay so many layers. 984 00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:08,068 Your voice is dope. Let it just cut through. 985 00:57:08,172 --> 00:57:09,241 Let them hear it." 986 00:57:09,344 --> 00:57:11,517 So we were giving each other that feedback 987 00:57:11,620 --> 00:57:16,482 at that perfect moldable time where, like, we were both really 988 00:57:17,068 --> 00:57:19,310 figuring it out together, you know? 989 00:57:19,413 --> 00:57:21,550 [Karim] His sound was different. It was epic. 990 00:57:21,551 --> 00:57:25,413 It was more, like, dark and soul at the same time. 991 00:57:25,551 --> 00:57:27,000 And it's just that sound. 992 00:57:27,103 --> 00:57:30,758 Some things you can't explain when it comes to music. 993 00:57:30,862 --> 00:57:34,379 It's like you just got to have music grab the ears of people 994 00:57:34,931 --> 00:57:37,482 when it comes from your soul, when it comes from you. 995 00:57:37,586 --> 00:57:39,275 You know what I'm saying? The same way how 996 00:57:39,379 --> 00:57:41,655 it grabs you, it's gonna grab somebody else. 997 00:57:44,379 --> 00:57:46,724 Max B, the day he got sentenced, 998 00:57:46,862 --> 00:57:49,206 I was the most blackballed artist, 999 00:57:50,344 --> 00:57:51,551 you know, in New York City. 1000 00:57:51,689 --> 00:57:54,033 So when he goes, Jim Jones 1001 00:57:54,034 --> 00:57:55,758 is the number-one rapper in New York. 1002 00:57:55,896 --> 00:57:58,172 So you can't play me in the club. 1003 00:57:58,275 --> 00:58:00,482 Certain deejays got to pick a side. 1004 00:58:00,965 --> 00:58:03,517 People is never loyal for friendship. 1005 00:58:03,620 --> 00:58:04,931 They're loyal for opportunity. 1006 00:58:05,034 --> 00:58:07,931 It goes back to music controls the streets. 1007 00:58:08,310 --> 00:58:11,655 But still, I was a people champ. 1008 00:58:11,793 --> 00:58:13,067 I was the underdog. 1009 00:58:13,068 --> 00:58:15,034 There's no car in New York City 1010 00:58:15,137 --> 00:58:17,172 that was driving by that listened to hip-hop 1011 00:58:17,275 --> 00:58:19,137 that didn't have me and Max B in their car. 1012 00:58:19,241 --> 00:58:21,103 [horn honking] 1013 00:58:27,689 --> 00:58:29,757 [Percy] Jim was on a whole nother level. 1014 00:58:29,758 --> 00:58:32,758 Like, he was through the roof with the music and everything. 1015 00:58:32,862 --> 00:58:36,034 He basically had New York in a choke hold at that time. 1016 00:58:36,931 --> 00:58:38,448 French is not even on that level. 1017 00:58:38,586 --> 00:58:39,619 You know what I'm saying? 1018 00:58:39,620 --> 00:58:41,034 What you beefing with French for? 1019 00:58:41,137 --> 00:58:44,068 And it dawned on me, French is up and coming. 1020 00:58:45,965 --> 00:58:49,413 I've seen a few artists experience it. 1021 00:58:49,517 --> 00:58:51,724 I ain't seen a ton of them get through it. 1022 00:58:52,241 --> 00:58:55,137 You know, he had a hard time. He had a real hard time. 1023 00:58:59,034 --> 00:59:01,068 With that, French reached out to me. 1024 00:59:01,724 --> 00:59:05,034 He was like, "Yo, P, yo, I need you to do me a favor." 1025 00:59:05,137 --> 00:59:06,689 And I'm like, "What's up?" 1026 00:59:06,793 --> 00:59:09,034 He's like, "Yo, I need you to talk to Joe for me." 1027 00:59:09,137 --> 00:59:10,482 [horn honking] 1028 00:59:10,586 --> 00:59:11,965 [hip-hop music playing] 1029 00:59:12,068 --> 00:59:13,482 [Fat Joe] I grew up in the projects 1030 00:59:13,586 --> 00:59:14,827 called Forest Projects. 1031 00:59:15,206 --> 00:59:17,896 And we was getting a lot of money in the streets. 1032 00:59:20,137 --> 00:59:22,068 And I wanted to rap, too. 1033 00:59:22,206 --> 00:59:24,379 So I went to the Apollo Amateur Night 1034 00:59:24,517 --> 00:59:29,413 and I came in first place like four weeks in a row. 1035 00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:33,413 I knew that I had to get out the game... 1036 00:59:34,689 --> 00:59:37,551 'cause I was either gonna die or go to jail. 1037 00:59:38,172 --> 00:59:40,000 So thank God I made the change. 1038 00:59:40,103 --> 00:59:44,068 And I went and I rapped, and the people embraced me. 1039 00:59:44,586 --> 00:59:46,517 I used to coach at the Rucker, 1040 00:59:46,620 --> 00:59:49,310 and the first time I remember meeting French 1041 00:59:49,413 --> 00:59:51,827 is every game I was coaching, 1042 00:59:51,931 --> 00:59:54,619 he would be sitting in the back of the Rucker 1043 00:59:54,620 --> 00:59:56,068 waiting for me to come up. 1044 00:59:56,586 --> 00:59:59,033 He would always try to have these conversations with me, 1045 00:59:59,034 --> 01:00:01,931 but he was a little nigga, and I'd be like, "Yo, alright." 1046 01:00:02,034 --> 01:00:04,068 I'd keep it moving on him, go inside, 1047 01:00:04,172 --> 01:00:06,586 and I'd go coach 'cause I'm focused on the game. 1048 01:00:06,689 --> 01:00:08,792 And he would always hand me a DVD. 1049 01:00:08,793 --> 01:00:10,793 He would always hand me a DVD. 1050 01:00:10,896 --> 01:00:14,551 I thought he was the DVD guy. You know what I'm saying? 1051 01:00:14,655 --> 01:00:16,862 Like, you know, putting it together, 1052 01:00:16,965 --> 01:00:19,000 and then he turned into an artist. 1053 01:00:19,103 --> 01:00:22,517 So as he was getting more and more hotter in the streets, 1054 01:00:22,620 --> 01:00:24,689 he kept telling me, you know what I'm saying, 1055 01:00:24,793 --> 01:00:26,724 "My name's getting up. I'm getting hot. 1056 01:00:26,827 --> 01:00:29,310 You see me, nigga." This and this and that. 1057 01:00:29,413 --> 01:00:32,206 So my son was a little kid, 13, 14, 1058 01:00:32,310 --> 01:00:33,379 like, "You got to listen." 1059 01:00:33,482 --> 01:00:35,413 I'm like, "Him? I know this nigga. 1060 01:00:35,517 --> 01:00:36,999 What are you talking about?" 1061 01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:39,724 "Oh, he's the best. He's the nicest." 1062 01:00:39,827 --> 01:00:41,551 He's the this. He kept hyping me up. 1063 01:00:41,655 --> 01:00:43,034 I'm like, "Fuck out of here." 1064 01:00:43,137 --> 01:00:47,481 He kept playing the shit over and over and over again, 1065 01:00:47,482 --> 01:00:48,964 and I'd be like, "Yo." 1066 01:00:48,965 --> 01:00:50,206 Him and Joe met up. 1067 01:00:50,344 --> 01:00:52,379 Joe said, "Let me hear what you got." 1068 01:00:53,344 --> 01:00:55,068 He played him "Shot Caller." 1069 01:00:55,206 --> 01:00:56,896 And Joe was like... 1070 01:00:57,000 --> 01:00:59,620 So Joe, when he's excited about something, 1071 01:00:59,724 --> 01:01:01,965 you don't really see a reaction out of him. 1072 01:01:02,068 --> 01:01:03,241 He just was like... 1073 01:01:03,620 --> 01:01:07,034 But in his mind, he was like, "Wow, this is crazy." 1074 01:01:07,137 --> 01:01:09,517 I was really trying to front a little, 1075 01:01:09,620 --> 01:01:12,275 like, "Joe, don't get hype, don't get hype." 1076 01:01:12,379 --> 01:01:13,965 This shit is ridiculous. 1077 01:01:14,103 --> 01:01:16,965 Wanted you to come and hear it 'cause, like, from you, 1078 01:01:17,103 --> 01:01:18,413 like, it means a lot. 1079 01:01:19,172 --> 01:01:22,034 Trust me, man, this remind me of some back-in-the-day shit, 1080 01:01:22,137 --> 01:01:24,137 man, when Biggie used to play me his album. 1081 01:01:24,241 --> 01:01:26,275 Ain't nobody fucking with this. 1082 01:01:27,206 --> 01:01:29,448 ["Shot Caller" plays] 1083 01:01:33,275 --> 01:01:35,862 ♪ Wanna be with a baller, shot caller ♪ 1084 01:01:35,965 --> 01:01:38,448 ♪ Could tell by her aura, she want a shot caller ♪ 1085 01:01:38,586 --> 01:01:41,550 ♪ Wanna be with a baller, shot caller ♪ 1086 01:01:41,551 --> 01:01:44,103 ♪ Could tell by her aura, she want a shot caller ♪ 1087 01:01:44,793 --> 01:01:47,620 ♪ D-D-Dippin' in the 'lac, three in the back ♪ 1088 01:01:47,758 --> 01:01:50,067 ♪ Two if ya fat, pimpin' is a fact ♪ 1089 01:01:50,068 --> 01:01:52,793 ♪ Fresh up out the street, hot, jump to the top ♪ 1090 01:01:52,896 --> 01:01:55,448 ♪ I be French Montana from the, the, the block ♪ 1091 01:01:55,551 --> 01:01:59,655 "Shot Caller" started as a freestyle for Flex. 1092 01:02:01,172 --> 01:02:03,862 [Karim] I did a record for Funkmaster Flex. 1093 01:02:04,379 --> 01:02:05,448 Crickets. 1094 01:02:05,931 --> 01:02:07,964 Didn't take it. The mixtape dropped. 1095 01:02:07,965 --> 01:02:10,206 I go inside one of the strip clubs, 1096 01:02:10,344 --> 01:02:11,689 and the deejay pressed play. 1097 01:02:11,827 --> 01:02:14,172 They was like, "Hold on, French Montana, that's you?" 1098 01:02:14,310 --> 01:02:16,586 They was like, "I don't care what you doing. 1099 01:02:16,689 --> 01:02:19,206 This is the record of the summer." 1100 01:02:20,172 --> 01:02:22,309 So it was him always having that vision 1101 01:02:22,310 --> 01:02:25,619 and being able to be like, "Fuck who don't believe. 1102 01:02:25,620 --> 01:02:26,655 We believe, and, like, 1103 01:02:26,793 --> 01:02:28,482 that's the most important thing." 1104 01:02:28,586 --> 01:02:30,241 [Karim] Fat Joe will tell you, 1105 01:02:30,344 --> 01:02:33,034 he had to go to Funkmaster Flex personally 1106 01:02:33,172 --> 01:02:36,068 and tell him, "You have to play this kid." 1107 01:02:36,206 --> 01:02:37,379 Yeah, he stepped up for me, 1108 01:02:37,482 --> 01:02:39,827 when I was the most blackballed dude ever. 1109 01:02:39,931 --> 01:02:42,758 Love y'all. French Montana, the future. Terror! 1110 01:02:42,896 --> 01:02:44,724 [Karim] There's special moments in an artist's career 1111 01:02:44,862 --> 01:02:46,172 when somebody step up for you, 1112 01:02:46,275 --> 01:02:47,551 'cause it don't happen a lot. 1113 01:02:47,689 --> 01:02:49,310 What I respected the most is, 1114 01:02:49,896 --> 01:02:51,034 French didn't talk to me 1115 01:02:51,172 --> 01:02:53,275 about the situation he was having. 1116 01:02:53,931 --> 01:02:56,206 He was really just talking about his music. 1117 01:02:56,689 --> 01:02:58,171 "Shot Caller" came out. 1118 01:02:58,172 --> 01:02:59,655 Then it was just like... 1119 01:02:59,758 --> 01:03:02,862 [hip-hop music plays] 1120 01:03:03,689 --> 01:03:06,482 [Flex on the radio] I'm telling you what it is, New York. 1121 01:03:08,689 --> 01:03:10,033 Don't shoot the messenger. 1122 01:03:10,034 --> 01:03:12,379 I'm telling you what the streets are saying. 1123 01:03:14,965 --> 01:03:17,862 I'm telling you what the streets are saying. 1124 01:03:18,482 --> 01:03:20,758 [distorted voice] Lot of heat on this. 1125 01:03:20,862 --> 01:03:22,275 Ha! 1126 01:03:27,275 --> 01:03:29,965 And after this, we gonna go into that "Ocho Cinco." 1127 01:03:31,689 --> 01:03:34,240 French Montana is currently wearing the crown 1128 01:03:34,241 --> 01:03:35,758 in this town. 1129 01:03:37,413 --> 01:03:40,896 Number-one song in New York City right now, BX! 1130 01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:43,620 ♪ Shorty got potential, I could be her sponsor ♪ 1131 01:03:43,758 --> 01:03:46,240 ♪ Met her backstage at a Summer Jam concert ♪ 1132 01:03:46,241 --> 01:03:48,862 ♪ Hair like Rihanna, shoe game was awesome ♪ 1133 01:03:48,965 --> 01:03:51,586 ♪ Could tell by her aura, she want a shot caller ♪ 1134 01:03:52,034 --> 01:03:55,551 There's a gene, there's a DNA in any person, 1135 01:03:55,655 --> 01:03:58,275 whether they become a successful barbershop owner, 1136 01:03:58,379 --> 01:04:01,448 or they become the number-one teacher in the world, 1137 01:04:01,551 --> 01:04:04,689 or the real estate or the rapper or the wrestler, 1138 01:04:04,793 --> 01:04:06,517 or whatever the fuck you want to call. 1139 01:04:06,620 --> 01:04:09,068 These people have a thing that they will not quit 1140 01:04:09,172 --> 01:04:10,689 till they make it. 1141 01:04:11,689 --> 01:04:13,826 [crowd cheering] 1142 01:04:13,827 --> 01:04:17,724 [Karim] I had my-my career in full control in my hand. 1143 01:04:17,827 --> 01:04:19,309 You could've signed me anywhere. 1144 01:04:19,310 --> 01:04:22,275 I wanted to meet up with Kanye. Next day, I flew to Vegas. 1145 01:04:22,379 --> 01:04:23,551 It was the right moment. 1146 01:04:23,655 --> 01:04:25,000 [soft music playing] 1147 01:04:25,137 --> 01:04:26,517 When I realized I made it 1148 01:04:26,620 --> 01:04:28,827 is when I cashed my first check. 1149 01:04:30,172 --> 01:04:31,517 This was my dream, 1150 01:04:31,620 --> 01:04:33,448 to get paid off something that I loved doing. 1151 01:04:33,551 --> 01:04:35,965 Long way from the chicken spot with my mother. 1152 01:04:36,862 --> 01:04:39,102 Got my mother a house, and French Montana 1153 01:04:39,103 --> 01:04:42,517 became a household name, which cracked that ceiling 1154 01:04:42,655 --> 01:04:45,862 that no other rapper from Africa cracked. 1155 01:04:46,344 --> 01:04:48,206 From here on out, ain't no limit. 1156 01:04:50,620 --> 01:04:52,896 - ["Pop That" playing] - [crowd cheering] 1157 01:04:55,137 --> 01:04:56,517 [man] ...Montana. 1158 01:05:01,689 --> 01:05:04,343 [crowd cheering] 1159 01:05:04,344 --> 01:05:07,448 [Fat Joe] When I say "French," you all say "Montana." 1160 01:05:07,586 --> 01:05:08,965 - French! - [crowd] Montana! 1161 01:05:09,068 --> 01:05:10,550 - French! - [crowd] Montana! 1162 01:05:10,551 --> 01:05:13,241 [Fat Joe] When I say "Coke," y'all say "Boys." 1163 01:05:13,344 --> 01:05:14,482 - Coke! - [crowd] Boys! 1164 01:05:14,586 --> 01:05:15,896 - Coke! - [crowd] Boys! 1165 01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:17,275 - Coke! - [crowd] Boys! 1166 01:05:18,758 --> 01:05:20,241 [crowd cheering] 1167 01:05:27,344 --> 01:05:31,034 [crowd continues cheering] 1168 01:05:33,931 --> 01:05:36,413 - [Drake] ...French Montana! - [crowd cheering] 1169 01:05:36,551 --> 01:05:39,758 Miami, look, this is my brother in real life. 1170 01:05:39,862 --> 01:05:41,758 And the funny part is that we look alike, 1171 01:05:41,862 --> 01:05:45,343 but we think alike. It's all love. It's family shit. 1172 01:05:45,344 --> 01:05:48,206 [Angie] HOT 97. That's #2 today on the countdown, HOT 97. 1173 01:05:48,310 --> 01:05:49,688 French Montana's in the building. 1174 01:05:49,689 --> 01:05:50,896 [man] In the building! 1175 01:05:51,000 --> 01:05:53,103 You're the hottest rapper from New York... 1176 01:05:53,241 --> 01:05:54,344 Thank you. 1177 01:05:54,448 --> 01:05:56,620 ...clearly, in the country doing something. 1178 01:05:59,379 --> 01:06:01,655 [indistinct chatter] 1179 01:06:02,827 --> 01:06:04,034 Here we go! 1180 01:06:04,137 --> 01:06:05,585 ♪ My whole hood love me ♪ 1181 01:06:05,586 --> 01:06:08,067 ♪ But now a nigga wanna touch me, haan ♪ 1182 01:06:08,068 --> 01:06:09,586 ♪ I ain't worried about nothin' ♪ 1183 01:06:09,689 --> 01:06:11,586 ♪ Nigga, I ain't worried about nothin' ♪ 1184 01:06:12,137 --> 01:06:14,034 Everything he got, man, he earned it. 1185 01:06:14,137 --> 01:06:15,965 Everything he get he deserve. 1186 01:06:16,103 --> 01:06:17,344 We're in the 2% 1187 01:06:17,448 --> 01:06:19,827 when it comes to writers and creators. 1188 01:06:19,931 --> 01:06:22,344 I can't say I've done that with many artists, 1189 01:06:22,448 --> 01:06:24,275 it's not even five artists. 1190 01:06:24,379 --> 01:06:26,965 - Wayne can do that. - Wayne does that. 1191 01:06:27,068 --> 01:06:29,620 Drake does that. Who else? 1192 01:06:29,724 --> 01:06:31,586 - Jay-Z. - Jay-Z. 1193 01:06:31,689 --> 01:06:33,067 But when I say somebody 1194 01:06:33,068 --> 01:06:34,862 that could come right there and... 1195 01:06:34,965 --> 01:06:37,379 French Montana, he one of those motherfucker, 1196 01:06:37,482 --> 01:06:38,965 he a party-motherfucker with me. 1197 01:06:39,068 --> 01:06:42,137 He is somebody that would create records all night 1198 01:06:42,275 --> 01:06:43,620 if you in there with him. 1199 01:06:43,724 --> 01:06:46,034 Listen. French became very successful as a rapper. 1200 01:06:46,137 --> 01:06:47,757 - Definitely. - He transitioned 1201 01:06:47,758 --> 01:06:48,965 and did a lot of shit. 1202 01:06:49,103 --> 01:06:50,827 French to me was always a marketing genius. 1203 01:06:50,931 --> 01:06:53,034 He was kind of ahead of his time. 1204 01:06:53,137 --> 01:06:56,137 [upbeat hip-hop music playing] 1205 01:06:59,448 --> 01:07:02,413 [indistinct chatter] 1206 01:07:02,551 --> 01:07:04,517 [Zack] It was our time and it was his time, 1207 01:07:04,620 --> 01:07:05,965 his first album. 1208 01:07:06,068 --> 01:07:07,931 Had the biggest records on the streets in New York. 1209 01:07:08,034 --> 01:07:10,586 He was moving. French was just blowing up. 1210 01:07:21,241 --> 01:07:23,172 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 1211 01:07:32,379 --> 01:07:34,034 [music fades] 1212 01:07:34,137 --> 01:07:36,034 Yo, what's up, fool? It's your nigga Chinx. 1213 01:07:36,413 --> 01:07:38,379 Coke Boys in your motherfucking area. 1214 01:07:38,517 --> 01:07:39,931 Come here. 1215 01:07:40,724 --> 01:07:41,862 This is my brother Chinx. 1216 01:07:41,965 --> 01:07:43,689 [man] Wants to dip it, baby. 1217 01:07:45,379 --> 01:07:46,862 [laughs] Don't reach. 1218 01:07:50,034 --> 01:07:51,241 You ready? 1219 01:07:51,344 --> 01:07:52,931 All the way down like this. 1220 01:07:54,310 --> 01:07:56,896 [laughter] 1221 01:07:59,241 --> 01:08:01,620 ["Coke Boy Money" plays] 1222 01:08:01,724 --> 01:08:04,448 ♪ Oh, shit, Jughead just bought a 5, g-head ♪ 1223 01:08:04,586 --> 01:08:05,758 ♪ A King Tut piece ♪ 1224 01:08:05,862 --> 01:08:07,378 ♪ 'Bout the size of Little Maurice ♪ 1225 01:08:07,379 --> 01:08:10,137 ♪ 'Fore I step out the crib, put the 40 on me ♪ 1226 01:08:10,275 --> 01:08:13,068 ♪ When you greet a nigga, do it how you would an OG ♪ 1227 01:08:13,172 --> 01:08:15,793 ♪ Shots rained, bum dropped his 40-ounce OE ♪ 1228 01:08:15,931 --> 01:08:17,931 ♪ It's kinda hard tryin' to survive ♪ 1229 01:08:18,034 --> 01:08:19,585 ♪ In New York streets ♪ 1230 01:08:19,586 --> 01:08:21,620 Chinx always just used to want to work. 1231 01:08:21,724 --> 01:08:23,551 That's all he-- "Oh, what's up, bro? 1232 01:08:23,655 --> 01:08:24,896 I want to work." 1233 01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:26,241 You know, at that time, 1234 01:08:26,344 --> 01:08:28,103 him and French was also 1235 01:08:28,206 --> 01:08:29,758 building a bond, as well. 1236 01:08:29,862 --> 01:08:31,931 ♪ China silk, diamond rings ♪ 1237 01:08:32,862 --> 01:08:34,896 [Karim] Chinx used to always come around Max B. 1238 01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:37,757 Used to be this kid rapping. I used to see him, 1239 01:08:37,758 --> 01:08:41,137 but once Max got locked up, I just took Chinx with me. 1240 01:08:42,655 --> 01:08:45,482 He came with me on every tour I went to. 1241 01:08:45,586 --> 01:08:47,344 When I went down south to learn how they move 1242 01:08:47,448 --> 01:08:48,793 down south, he was with me. 1243 01:08:48,931 --> 01:08:50,310 I never made a dollar off Chinx. 1244 01:08:50,448 --> 01:08:52,241 That shows you how much love I had for him. 1245 01:08:52,793 --> 01:08:54,620 [Zack] It was really experiencing everything 1246 01:08:54,724 --> 01:08:56,310 for the first time together. 1247 01:08:57,758 --> 01:09:00,827 Jets, vacations, shows, tours. 1248 01:09:00,931 --> 01:09:02,344 [Karim] Just a hungry kid. 1249 01:09:02,448 --> 01:09:05,000 Like, I see so much ambition like I had in my eyes. 1250 01:09:05,103 --> 01:09:07,274 He was like a student in the classroom 1251 01:09:07,275 --> 01:09:09,447 'cause he was learning, he was soaking everything up, 1252 01:09:09,448 --> 01:09:10,619 he was absorbing the game. 1253 01:09:10,620 --> 01:09:12,481 And I knew he was gonna go and be, like, 1254 01:09:12,482 --> 01:09:13,931 one of the best artists. 1255 01:09:14,517 --> 01:09:16,136 [Harry Fraud] I remember watching him record 1256 01:09:16,137 --> 01:09:19,241 and, like, him just pacing around the studio 1257 01:09:19,344 --> 01:09:21,447 and for like 20 minutes, and then he's like, 1258 01:09:21,448 --> 01:09:23,551 "Alright, I'm ready," and I'm thinking, 1259 01:09:23,655 --> 01:09:25,931 "He's gonna write it in the booth, line for line." 1260 01:09:26,034 --> 01:09:29,931 He went in and spit the whole shit clean like a technician. 1261 01:09:30,034 --> 01:09:31,724 And I was like-- I remember being like, 1262 01:09:31,827 --> 01:09:33,379 "Oh, this kid is different." 1263 01:09:33,482 --> 01:09:36,000 He caught the "I'm a Coke Boy" single. 1264 01:09:36,103 --> 01:09:39,275 So he was doing the same thing that I was doing 1265 01:09:39,379 --> 01:09:41,448 and he was catching one after another. 1266 01:09:41,551 --> 01:09:42,862 Then the moment-- 1267 01:09:42,965 --> 01:09:45,862 my proudest moment of him about to blow up 1268 01:09:45,965 --> 01:09:48,931 turned into the most miserable time of our lives. 1269 01:09:49,034 --> 01:09:51,758 Motherfucking coke boy! 1270 01:09:52,275 --> 01:09:53,792 [ominous musical flourish] 1271 01:09:53,793 --> 01:09:56,413 [Karim] One morning I woke up crying and told my mother-- 1272 01:09:56,517 --> 01:09:58,379 I was like, "I don't know why I'm crying." 1273 01:09:58,896 --> 01:10:01,000 I get a phone call, "Your brother locked up." 1274 01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:06,517 When you have things that you can't afford, 1275 01:10:06,620 --> 01:10:08,826 and you have to maintain that lifestyle, 1276 01:10:08,827 --> 01:10:11,000 you end up doing things out of your character. 1277 01:10:11,551 --> 01:10:15,206 So he ended up going with his homeboys, you know, 1278 01:10:15,896 --> 01:10:17,654 and they got locked up 1279 01:10:17,655 --> 01:10:19,724 for running up in somebody's house. 1280 01:10:20,413 --> 01:10:23,517 While he's blowing up, I'm in a cell. Like, wow. 1281 01:10:24,172 --> 01:10:26,241 Why wasn't-why wasn't I patient? 1282 01:10:26,827 --> 01:10:28,827 Why wasn't I-- You know what I mean? 1283 01:10:28,965 --> 01:10:32,482 Why didn't I, you know, remind myself to chill? 1284 01:10:33,000 --> 01:10:35,000 Everything was moving too fast for me. 1285 01:11:06,862 --> 01:11:09,448 [news anchor] A rising star in the rap world dies 1286 01:11:09,551 --> 01:11:11,758 just hours after performing a show, 1287 01:11:11,896 --> 01:11:13,724 murdered in an ambush in Queens. 1288 01:11:13,827 --> 01:11:16,413 CBS 2's Steve Langford reports... 1289 01:11:16,517 --> 01:11:19,689 I just remember waking up... 1290 01:11:20,620 --> 01:11:24,551 and just looking at my phone, and I had so many text messages, 1291 01:11:24,655 --> 01:11:26,758 and I just fell on the floor 1292 01:11:27,103 --> 01:11:31,103 and just laid on the floor, bro, for a long time. 1293 01:11:31,620 --> 01:11:33,620 You know what I'm saying? And just cried. 1294 01:11:34,206 --> 01:11:36,137 Cried and cried and cried and cried 1295 01:11:36,241 --> 01:11:39,758 and then called French a couple hours later. 1296 01:11:40,379 --> 01:11:42,068 You know, we didn't really say much. 1297 01:11:42,172 --> 01:11:44,068 You know, French broke down on the phone, 1298 01:11:44,206 --> 01:11:46,172 'cause them niggas had the best relationship. 1299 01:11:46,275 --> 01:11:47,758 They did everything together. 1300 01:11:48,241 --> 01:11:49,965 That was like his right hand. 1301 01:11:50,586 --> 01:11:52,413 Went everywhere together, tours and shit. 1302 01:11:52,517 --> 01:11:54,724 While I was in prison, they was doing everything. 1303 01:11:56,413 --> 01:11:58,034 And for French, man, that shit just-- 1304 01:11:58,137 --> 01:11:59,827 it killed his spirit. 1305 01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:04,310 You just wake up, and people tell you Chinx died. 1306 01:12:04,413 --> 01:12:05,862 Dropped the phone. Just... 1307 01:12:06,655 --> 01:12:07,793 cried, like... 1308 01:12:08,586 --> 01:12:11,137 Feel like somebody ripped your fucking heart out. 1309 01:12:13,000 --> 01:12:15,275 [Zack] French, he look at hisself like, damn. 1310 01:12:15,379 --> 01:12:16,862 "Everything that you love is getting taken away. 1311 01:12:16,965 --> 01:12:18,137 I'm the last man standing." 1312 01:12:18,275 --> 01:12:19,827 How can you even handle that stress 1313 01:12:19,931 --> 01:12:21,413 and still be happy? 1314 01:12:23,137 --> 01:12:28,034 Not everything is so basic and black and white, 1315 01:12:28,137 --> 01:12:30,793 especially when you see terrible things happen 1316 01:12:30,896 --> 01:12:32,482 to good people around you. 1317 01:12:32,586 --> 01:12:33,655 You know what I'm saying? 1318 01:12:33,758 --> 01:12:35,965 I think French realized that, too. 1319 01:12:37,448 --> 01:12:39,447 [Karim] My brother locked up first. 1320 01:12:39,448 --> 01:12:41,379 Chinx had just died. 1321 01:12:42,344 --> 01:12:44,827 Max B got 75 years. 1322 01:12:46,137 --> 01:12:49,103 I was in the worst place you could be at. 1323 01:12:50,172 --> 01:12:52,068 And you just there, 1324 01:12:52,172 --> 01:12:54,172 and people want you to make music. 1325 01:12:55,137 --> 01:12:57,000 You just sunk into this sand 1326 01:12:57,103 --> 01:12:59,551 that just keeps sinking you in even more and more. 1327 01:12:59,655 --> 01:13:01,516 Like, it's up to your neck now. 1328 01:13:01,517 --> 01:13:03,551 At any moment, you're ready to explode. 1329 01:13:03,655 --> 01:13:05,620 I was at the moment when I realized, 1330 01:13:05,724 --> 01:13:08,034 "Oh, this is how people kill theyself. 1331 01:13:08,137 --> 01:13:10,000 This is how people lose it." 1332 01:13:10,482 --> 01:13:12,034 Then I just went to Uganda. 1333 01:13:12,172 --> 01:13:14,136 ["Unforgettable" instrumental plays] 1334 01:13:14,137 --> 01:13:15,724 I met these kids. 1335 01:13:18,000 --> 01:13:19,758 The Triplets Ghetto Kids. 1336 01:13:19,862 --> 01:13:21,862 I watch a lot of African music. 1337 01:13:22,379 --> 01:13:25,482 And these kids, their moves is not the same moves 1338 01:13:25,586 --> 01:13:27,034 I see on the Internet and the Gram every day. 1339 01:13:27,172 --> 01:13:28,655 I never seen nobody dance like that. 1340 01:13:28,758 --> 01:13:30,343 I'm like, "Why are they dancing like that?" 1341 01:13:30,344 --> 01:13:32,379 They was like, "'Cause we don't have a TV 1342 01:13:32,517 --> 01:13:33,862 and nobody to learn from." 1343 01:13:35,413 --> 01:13:38,068 I can't even take, like, my eyes off the screen. 1344 01:13:38,172 --> 01:13:40,551 The power of music and art 1345 01:13:40,655 --> 01:13:43,034 and the places that it can take you. 1346 01:13:52,689 --> 01:13:55,792 When I went, the whole point of it was just going there 1347 01:13:55,793 --> 01:13:57,586 and just seeing how people living, 1348 01:13:57,724 --> 01:13:59,586 people that have no access to phones. 1349 01:13:59,724 --> 01:14:01,895 Like, there was just no medical care. 1350 01:14:01,896 --> 01:14:06,689 Like, people have less access to 10% of what we have, 1351 01:14:06,793 --> 01:14:10,137 less material things, less everything. 1352 01:14:10,241 --> 01:14:11,448 But happier than me. 1353 01:14:11,551 --> 01:14:13,965 They smiling like they was French Montana 1354 01:14:14,103 --> 01:14:15,862 and I was living in Uganda. 1355 01:14:15,965 --> 01:14:17,896 It just showed me that if you're not rich in heart, 1356 01:14:18,000 --> 01:14:19,620 you'll never be rich. 1357 01:14:19,724 --> 01:14:21,103 There's no medicine that could've healed me 1358 01:14:21,206 --> 01:14:22,172 better than that. 1359 01:14:22,275 --> 01:14:23,620 I went there and came back 1360 01:14:23,758 --> 01:14:25,137 with the biggest record in my career. 1361 01:14:25,241 --> 01:14:27,793 ♪ A fuckin' good time never hurt nobody ♪ 1362 01:14:27,931 --> 01:14:29,965 "Unforgettable" was more than just a song. 1363 01:14:30,068 --> 01:14:31,310 It was a movement. 1364 01:14:31,413 --> 01:14:33,378 I knew that record was gonna be bigger than me. 1365 01:14:33,379 --> 01:14:35,724 You know, not being able to make music 1366 01:14:35,827 --> 01:14:38,723 for like a year or two, people sleeping on me, 1367 01:14:38,724 --> 01:14:41,000 then I just come with the biggest bazooka. 1368 01:14:41,103 --> 01:14:42,689 ♪ On your level, too ♪ 1369 01:14:42,793 --> 01:14:44,448 ♪ Tryna do what lovers do ♪ 1370 01:14:44,586 --> 01:14:47,033 ♪ Feelin' like I'm fresh out, Boosie ♪ 1371 01:14:47,034 --> 01:14:49,137 ♪ If they want the drama, got the Uzi ♪ 1372 01:14:49,275 --> 01:14:51,310 ♪ Ship the whole crew to the cruise ship ♪ 1373 01:14:51,448 --> 01:14:53,827 ♪ Doin' shit you don't even see in movies ♪ 1374 01:14:55,137 --> 01:14:57,551 ♪ It's not good enough for me ♪ 1375 01:14:58,068 --> 01:15:01,344 ♪ Since I've been with you, ooh ♪ 1376 01:15:03,793 --> 01:15:06,862 ♪ I'm gonna sip on this drink when I'm fucked up ♪ 1377 01:15:07,000 --> 01:15:08,792 ♪ I sure know how to pick 'em ♪ 1378 01:15:08,793 --> 01:15:10,275 "Unforgettable." 1379 01:15:10,379 --> 01:15:12,206 "Unforgettable." 1380 01:15:12,310 --> 01:15:16,000 - "Unforgettable." - "Unforgettable." 1381 01:15:17,344 --> 01:15:19,896 That video just broke over half a billion, 1382 01:15:20,000 --> 01:15:21,102 600 million views. 1383 01:15:21,103 --> 01:15:22,517 President Obama likes that song. 1384 01:15:22,620 --> 01:15:23,862 He put it on his playlist. 1385 01:15:24,000 --> 01:15:25,344 So, shout-out to Obama. 1386 01:15:36,862 --> 01:15:40,034 "Unforgettable," it helped take kids from Uganda, 1387 01:15:40,137 --> 01:15:42,172 brought them here to experience the world, 1388 01:15:42,275 --> 01:15:43,586 all on visas. 1389 01:15:44,275 --> 01:15:46,447 I took kids that I see on YouTube 1390 01:15:46,448 --> 01:15:48,344 to the biggest stages in the world. 1391 01:15:48,448 --> 01:15:49,724 So many blessings. 1392 01:15:51,379 --> 01:15:53,862 And, like, it just helped heal a lot of things, 1393 01:15:53,965 --> 01:15:56,310 you know, so that was the experience of a lifetime. 1394 01:15:56,413 --> 01:15:59,654 ♪ H-here's a little story about a kid from Morocco ♪ 1395 01:15:59,655 --> 01:16:01,827 ♪ H-had to show Carlito I was Benny Blanco ♪ 1396 01:16:01,931 --> 01:16:05,241 ♪ Check it out, r-raindrop, offset ♪ 1397 01:16:06,206 --> 01:16:07,724 ♪ Fuck a plug, we the outlet ♪ 1398 01:16:07,862 --> 01:16:09,551 [woman] There goes your boy. 1399 01:16:09,655 --> 01:16:11,033 ♪ I'm in the box office ♪ 1400 01:16:11,034 --> 01:16:13,344 ♪ All the rocks made shorty blow my socks off ♪ 1401 01:16:13,448 --> 01:16:15,793 ♪ Coke boy white, Mac Miller, Reggie Miller ♪ 1402 01:16:15,931 --> 01:16:18,826 ♪ Shoot to kill-uh, canaries, quarterback, Steelers ♪ 1403 01:16:18,827 --> 01:16:20,137 ♪ White villa from... ♪ 1404 01:16:20,241 --> 01:16:23,551 Being successful, having money, 1405 01:16:23,655 --> 01:16:25,343 uh, being able to provide, 1406 01:16:25,344 --> 01:16:27,724 having people depend on you 1407 01:16:28,172 --> 01:16:31,448 is an extremely thankless position to be in. 1408 01:16:31,586 --> 01:16:35,448 Very rarely do you get the same energy reciprocated 1409 01:16:35,551 --> 01:16:38,000 because you've been chosen by some higher power 1410 01:16:38,103 --> 01:16:39,586 to be a provider. 1411 01:16:40,310 --> 01:16:41,931 You know, you have to make a decision. 1412 01:16:42,068 --> 01:16:43,862 Are you just gonna shut everybody out? 1413 01:16:45,275 --> 01:16:48,758 Or are you gonna try and pour out as much positivity 1414 01:16:48,862 --> 01:16:50,137 in the world that you can, 1415 01:16:50,275 --> 01:16:52,448 no matter what you receive back? 1416 01:16:57,482 --> 01:16:58,655 [Karim] A lot of people use Africa, 1417 01:16:58,758 --> 01:17:00,689 but they never give back to Africa. 1418 01:17:00,793 --> 01:17:02,724 And I was kind of tired of that. 1419 01:17:02,827 --> 01:17:04,896 So I wanted to go there and make an example 1420 01:17:05,000 --> 01:17:06,586 that whoever go there, give back. 1421 01:17:07,724 --> 01:17:09,241 People need action. 1422 01:17:09,344 --> 01:17:11,000 People need to see things happen, 1423 01:17:11,103 --> 01:17:12,517 not people just lying to them, 1424 01:17:12,655 --> 01:17:15,862 and "Unforgettable" was a song that took me to Africa 1425 01:17:15,965 --> 01:17:20,137 to build a hospital to save so many lives for 56 villages. 1426 01:17:20,482 --> 01:17:22,551 [cheering] 1427 01:17:28,034 --> 01:17:30,034 Hi, French. It's Nyla. I just wanted to show you 1428 01:17:30,172 --> 01:17:31,655 what you've been able to help build. 1429 01:17:31,758 --> 01:17:35,068 This is the staff quarters where all of the doctors 1430 01:17:35,172 --> 01:17:37,689 and nurses and health workers are gonna be able to live. 1431 01:17:37,793 --> 01:17:41,413 What we have happening here is the extension 1432 01:17:41,517 --> 01:17:43,827 that wasn't built two weeks ago. 1433 01:17:44,344 --> 01:17:47,000 And soon it will look just like the staff quarters, 1434 01:17:47,103 --> 01:17:48,344 and it will be plastered, 1435 01:17:48,482 --> 01:17:51,000 and it will have a roof in the next two weeks. 1436 01:17:51,103 --> 01:17:52,930 And then the services here 1437 01:17:52,931 --> 01:17:56,000 will be able to reach 286,000 people. 1438 01:17:56,103 --> 01:17:59,482 And so I just wanted you to know how much it means to me 1439 01:17:59,586 --> 01:18:02,896 that you decided to come to this beautiful community 1440 01:18:03,000 --> 01:18:05,688 and bring healthcare to all of these people. 1441 01:18:05,689 --> 01:18:08,068 This is honestly one of my favorite stories, 1442 01:18:08,206 --> 01:18:09,550 because you said, 1443 01:18:09,551 --> 01:18:12,344 "I'm going to help build up this medical facility." 1444 01:18:12,448 --> 01:18:13,724 And then The Weeknd was like, 1445 01:18:13,827 --> 01:18:16,413 "Oh, I'm also gonna drop 100 grand on this." 1446 01:18:16,517 --> 01:18:18,827 And I was like, "Is this gonna be the new, 1447 01:18:18,931 --> 01:18:21,068 like, thing in hip-hop 1448 01:18:21,172 --> 01:18:22,931 where it's like guys are gonna be bragging-- 1449 01:18:23,034 --> 01:18:24,448 instead of bottles in the club-- 1450 01:18:24,586 --> 01:18:26,241 ♪ I got a hospital in Africa ♪ 1451 01:18:26,379 --> 01:18:29,033 ♪ A hospital in Africa I got a... ♪ 1452 01:18:29,034 --> 01:18:30,516 You could make it a thing. 1453 01:18:30,517 --> 01:18:33,861 - You could make it a thing. - [Karim] Yeah, I hope so. 1454 01:18:33,862 --> 01:18:34,931 I hope so. 1455 01:18:40,758 --> 01:18:42,896 [conversing in Arabic] 1456 01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:45,241 [car beeping] 1457 01:18:56,965 --> 01:18:58,241 [Zack] Alrighty. 1458 01:19:07,862 --> 01:19:10,034 [emotive music playing] 1459 01:19:22,379 --> 01:19:23,931 Hi. How are you? 1460 01:20:08,724 --> 01:20:09,827 Shh! 1461 01:20:11,896 --> 01:20:13,137 Shh! 1462 01:20:14,586 --> 01:20:17,172 [indistinct conversations] 1463 01:20:17,275 --> 01:20:18,896 [dog barking] 1464 01:20:31,620 --> 01:20:34,034 [insects chirring] 1465 01:20:46,551 --> 01:20:49,655 [indistinct conversations] 1466 01:20:49,758 --> 01:20:51,482 [knocks on door] 1467 01:20:53,517 --> 01:20:56,034 [down-tempo emotive music plays] 1468 01:21:09,793 --> 01:21:12,000 [all cheering] 1469 01:21:13,827 --> 01:21:16,172 [emotive music continues] 1470 01:21:48,172 --> 01:21:50,724 [indistinct conversations] 1471 01:22:00,965 --> 01:22:04,137 [women singing in Arabic] 1472 01:22:11,344 --> 01:22:14,344 [cheering, ululation] 1473 01:22:14,862 --> 01:22:18,034 [Karim] I don't know who was more proud, me or my mother. 1474 01:22:18,137 --> 01:22:21,758 I think that to see my mother's whole energy shift 1475 01:22:22,310 --> 01:22:25,102 and she's busting through my room with her chest up, 1476 01:22:25,103 --> 01:22:27,275 and happy and dancing, 1477 01:22:27,724 --> 01:22:29,896 and just to see her in that spirit, 1478 01:22:30,344 --> 01:22:32,310 it's something I always dreamed about. 1479 01:22:34,655 --> 01:22:36,517 Even throughout all the obstacles, 1480 01:22:36,620 --> 01:22:39,862 even taking chances where I could have got deported. 1481 01:22:39,965 --> 01:22:41,413 Even situations where my mother 1482 01:22:41,517 --> 01:22:43,172 could have took that chance and went back home, 1483 01:22:43,275 --> 01:22:44,862 my father, when he said, "I'm going back." 1484 01:22:44,965 --> 01:22:48,310 And just the way things happened is unreal. 1485 01:22:49,827 --> 01:22:50,965 [all] ♪ Happy birthday... ♪ 1486 01:22:51,068 --> 01:22:52,172 [Karim] There's a story 1487 01:22:52,310 --> 01:22:53,827 for a lot of immigrants out there. 1488 01:22:55,275 --> 01:22:56,379 You sacrifice. 1489 01:22:57,068 --> 01:23:00,965 You know, some people have to sacrifice, 1490 01:23:01,068 --> 01:23:04,379 to better theirself, to better their family... 1491 01:23:05,862 --> 01:23:08,344 to create a new generation for their family. 1492 01:23:11,379 --> 01:23:14,343 [rhythmic thumping] 1493 01:23:14,344 --> 01:23:16,862 [emotive music playing] 1494 01:23:26,103 --> 01:23:29,344 I never had the energy to hold on to grudges. 1495 01:23:35,413 --> 01:23:36,620 When I seen him, 1496 01:23:36,724 --> 01:23:40,068 the only thought that was in my heart was... 1497 01:23:41,137 --> 01:23:42,862 "Are you proud of me?" 1498 01:23:50,344 --> 01:23:51,517 Yeah. 1499 01:23:56,379 --> 01:23:57,516 There was a line that I said. 1500 01:23:57,517 --> 01:23:59,896 I said, "I take a look at my son. 1501 01:24:00,000 --> 01:24:03,620 Then I picture my father the way he looked at his son. 1502 01:24:03,758 --> 01:24:05,793 Then I understood his story." 1503 01:24:26,068 --> 01:24:28,620 I still love my father like I loved him before he left. 1504 01:24:29,310 --> 01:24:31,758 He left. It made me French Montana. 1505 01:24:33,000 --> 01:24:35,068 Even when he did wrong, he did right. 1506 01:24:36,448 --> 01:24:38,000 ["Famous" plays] 1507 01:24:52,896 --> 01:24:55,206 [Zack] If I had the all-star team right now, 1508 01:24:55,310 --> 01:24:56,517 you'd be down 30 points. 1509 01:24:56,620 --> 01:24:58,103 No, you'd be down 50. 1510 01:24:58,551 --> 01:25:01,000 [music continues playing] 1511 01:25:01,482 --> 01:25:05,000 ♪ I hope no one falls in love with you ♪ 1512 01:25:05,931 --> 01:25:09,482 ♪ I've got my reasons ♪ 1513 01:25:10,724 --> 01:25:13,000 ♪ 'Cause if they knew what I know ♪ 1514 01:25:13,103 --> 01:25:18,000 ♪ Then I know I wouldn't stand a chance ♪ 1515 01:25:20,793 --> 01:25:25,000 ♪ There's no way you would go for a man like me ♪ 1516 01:25:25,137 --> 01:25:27,034 ♪ If you had options ♪ 1517 01:25:29,862 --> 01:25:33,862 ♪ Even though the world was meant for you ♪ 1518 01:25:34,586 --> 01:25:36,896 ♪ I hope you don't get famous 1519 01:25:37,965 --> 01:25:39,964 ♪ 'Cause everyone will love you ♪ 1520 01:25:39,965 --> 01:25:43,034 ♪ But won't love you like I do ♪ 1521 01:25:44,137 --> 01:25:46,344 ♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪ 1522 01:25:46,482 --> 01:25:48,655 ♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪ 1523 01:25:48,793 --> 01:25:53,000 ♪ Stay home with me ♪ 1524 01:25:53,586 --> 01:25:55,620 ♪ I'll always love you 1525 01:25:55,724 --> 01:25:57,172 ♪ I'll always... ♪ 1526 01:25:57,275 --> 01:26:01,000 ♪ Hope you don't get, hope you don't get famous ♪ 1527 01:26:03,482 --> 01:26:05,689 ♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪ 1528 01:26:08,172 --> 01:26:10,344 ♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪ 1529 01:26:13,000 --> 01:26:14,999 ♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪ 1530 01:26:15,000 --> 01:26:16,344 ♪ Yeah ♪ 1531 01:26:18,931 --> 01:26:20,103 ♪ Baby, live your life... ♪ 1532 01:26:20,206 --> 01:26:21,620 French Montana has been named 1533 01:26:21,758 --> 01:26:23,965 the most streamed African-born artist, 1534 01:26:24,068 --> 01:26:27,724 amassing more than 40 billion digital spins. 1535 01:26:27,827 --> 01:26:29,275 ♪ ...with the angels ♪ 1536 01:26:29,413 --> 01:26:31,586 ♪ I said fake it till you make it ♪ 1537 01:26:31,724 --> 01:26:33,931 ♪ I guess you fake when you make it ♪ 1538 01:26:34,034 --> 01:26:36,000 ♪ I told you stick to the basics ♪ 1539 01:26:36,103 --> 01:26:38,343 ♪ Built an empire, started from the basement ♪ 1540 01:26:38,344 --> 01:26:41,379 ♪ 'Cause if you trying to fix a glass that's broken ♪ 1541 01:26:41,482 --> 01:26:44,068 ♪ You know it might cut ya ♪ 1542 01:26:44,172 --> 01:26:46,551 ♪ Never want to see you with another man ♪ 1543 01:26:46,655 --> 01:26:48,586 ♪ Truth might eat you if you mumble it ♪ 1544 01:26:48,724 --> 01:26:51,551 ♪ When it get too cold for a blanket ♪ 1545 01:26:51,689 --> 01:26:52,965 ♪ Need you huggin' me ♪ 1546 01:26:53,655 --> 01:26:56,310 ♪ 'Cause nobody gonna love you like I do ♪ 1547 01:26:56,413 --> 01:27:01,068 ♪ Even though the world was meant for you ♪ 1548 01:27:01,172 --> 01:27:03,482 ♪ I hope you don't get famous ♪ 1549 01:27:04,310 --> 01:27:06,344 ♪ 'Cause everyone will love you ♪ 1550 01:27:06,448 --> 01:27:07,862 - ♪ But won't love you... - [song fades] 1551 01:27:07,965 --> 01:27:10,379 ["One More Chance" playing] 1552 01:27:10,482 --> 01:27:12,689 ♪ Rough time, bissy, bissy Don't cry ♪ 1553 01:27:12,793 --> 01:27:14,965 ♪ Hold me down when they talk Make a smile with me ♪ 1554 01:27:15,068 --> 01:27:17,310 ♪ Hold me down when they talk Make a smile with me ♪ 1555 01:27:17,413 --> 01:27:20,275 ♪ One more chance ♪ 1556 01:27:20,379 --> 01:27:22,137 ♪ All I need is one more chance ♪ 1557 01:27:22,275 --> 01:27:23,274 ♪ Just save me ♪ 1558 01:27:23,275 --> 01:27:25,000 ♪ Need is one more chance ♪ 1559 01:27:25,103 --> 01:27:26,655 ♪ One more chance, yeah ♪ 1560 01:27:26,793 --> 01:27:29,862 ♪ One more chance ♪ 1561 01:27:29,965 --> 01:27:31,550 ♪ All I need is one more chance ♪ 1562 01:27:31,551 --> 01:27:32,655 ♪ Just save me ♪ 1563 01:27:32,758 --> 01:27:34,412 ♪ Need is one more chance ♪ 1564 01:27:34,413 --> 01:27:36,240 ♪ One more chance, yeah ♪ 1565 01:27:36,241 --> 01:27:37,620 ♪ Anything that a Yahweh ♪ 1566 01:27:37,758 --> 01:27:39,482 ♪ Send it back to the sender ♪ 1567 01:27:39,586 --> 01:27:40,964 ♪ To the sender ♪ 1568 01:27:40,965 --> 01:27:43,034 ♪ Yeah, I was lost in the world many nights ♪ 1569 01:27:43,137 --> 01:27:44,274 ♪ I remember ♪ 1570 01:27:44,275 --> 01:27:46,412 ♪ Many days I wasn't livin' right ♪ 1571 01:27:46,413 --> 01:27:48,793 ♪ Beat the charge up for my blessings ♪ 1572 01:27:48,896 --> 01:27:50,620 ♪ When I walk, I shine so bright ♪ 1573 01:27:50,724 --> 01:27:51,758 [song fades out]