FRENCH MONTANA EXPOSES THE MUSIC INDUSTRY 🤯

**French Montana** (0:00)
There was a period of time where they brainwashed us, where they made you feel like getting an advance from a label was kind of actually, oh, you hit the jackpot because the label gave you the money. Then you come to find out, that's the worst mistake you ever made.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:12)
What is it different now as far as you doing the music independent?

**French Montana** (0:14)
I'm doing 100-0. I take all the risk and reap all the award. You know you're doing it for you. You're not doing it to make somebody else rich or make somebody else catalog.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:23)
When did you realize that you was getting the short end of the stick?

**French Montana** (0:25)
One leverage you get is that they take all your shit, but they give you exposure. So now, I'm stacking. What do you do when you get enough capital? Start backtracking, like, if they're giving me this, what they making off my shit?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:36)
You must have been good with money. So where did that come from?

**French Montana** (0:38)
If you somebody that, and you ask somebody for money, and they tell you they ain't got it, and you don't got it, that should be a situation you never want to go back to.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:45)
With the recouping thing, how do you even know the numbers are real? They could just tell you anything.

**French Montana** (0:49)
The trick they tell you is, after three years, you can't audit them. How you can't audit somebody after three years when the record is selling more now than it sold when I first put it out?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:57)
You lost $5 million on crypto?

**French Montana** (0:59)
Yeah.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:59)
What happened with that?

**French Montana** (1:00)
I had my money in FTX one morning. I woke up and there was like, yo, nobody can log in.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:06)
Who's the guy that you're like, I could do that. I could be him.

**French Montana** (1:08)
Honestly, what made me be an artist is when I was selling drugs and I got locked up. And there was like, if you get locked up again, you're gonna get deported.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:17)
All right, y'all, welcome back. Welcome back, y'all. Special guests in the building.

**French Montana** (1:23)
What's up, big dog?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:24)
What's going on, man?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:25)
One death on the Knicks.

**French Montana** (1:26)
My Moroccan brothers.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:27)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:29)
French Montana, what's going on, man? How you doing?

**French Montana** (1:31)
Man, coolin, man. One day at a time.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:33)
That's it. That's it, man. Congratulations on everything. You know, you got a whole new wave with the music. Max is home. It feels like, you know, it's a resurgence of the wave.

**French Montana** (1:43)
Felt like the next version of music.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:45)
Nick version of music.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:48)
We saw you out there. You shot the video with the crowd. How's the energy in the city compared to anything you've seen?

**French Montana** (1:55)
I honestly feel like it's gonna be bigger than winning the World Cup. Cause New York is such a big city and it's like waiting for like 50 years. It's like you got this girl you've been dating for 50 years to try to knock her off.
That's how I feel. I feel like you've been waiting 50 years to get some box.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:18)
So now you, what is it different now as far as you doing the music independent as opposed to you starting your career and working with majors and having that experience? Like how is the difference now?

**French Montana** (2:30)
It's almost like you're opening up a restaurant for yourself and you're not working at McDonald's. It's like you open up your own restaurant and you got to make sure everything is good. Like, you know, you back there checking with the chef, you back there doing this, you know what I mean? It's like you're wearing many hats, you're being the CEO wearing many hats and you control your own destiny.
I mean, obviously all the money come to you, so it's no better. You know what I'm saying? You see how everything...
And when you go to interviews and when you do certain things, you know you're doing it for you. You're not doing it to make somebody else rich or make somebody else catalog. You know what they say, if you don't build your business, somebody gonna use you to build theirs.
So I think the independent route is the route.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:17)
You've come through a bunch of errors in music, right? You've seen a lot of text tapes, see DVDs, right? Screaming, independent, major.