Back in 2012, French Montana joined Drake’s legendary Club Paradise tour, which boasted a lineup that featured the likes of Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, and Waka Flocka Flame. At the time, French was gearing up to release his debut album Excuse My French. Preceded by a bidding war that saw Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music sending offers, the tour would only help push French’s buzz further as the album rode a wave of excitement. Among the many who paid attention was J. Cole, who almost executive produced Montana’s debut album.
According to French, Cole offered to executive produce Excuse My French after an early listen. “He almost executive produced my first album after I played him my music,” the “Unforgettable” rapper revealed to Montreality. “I just remember when we was in the Club Paradise tour with Drake [and] I was playing him my album and he just called me one day and said, “Yo French like, I would love to help you with the album and executive produce it.”
While it was already clear to French that Cole was an ill producer and “one of the best out of our generation,” the timing wasn’t there for it to happen. ” The time just wasn’t right. He was moving, I was moving, [and] things like that need time.”
While a J. Cole-executive produced album never materialized, French is looking to make a collaborative album with A$AP Rocky a reality. “Yeah, me and [A$AP] Rocky got a project,” French announced during the same interview. “We’ll be coming out with it real soon.” He didn’t elaborate on the details for the project, but the “real soon” promise should draw some motion, especially since almost all of his announced joint albums (Three 6 Mafia, Waka Flocka, Fetty Wap) have seen the light of day.
Earlier this year, French released Jungle Rules, his official sophomore album, which spawned the massive hit “Unforgettable.” As for the aforementioned A$AP Rocky, the Harlem rapper is prepping his highly anticipated third studio album. This week, he previewed a few potential cuts from the album during a performance at Tyler, the Creator’s sixth annual Camp Flog Gnaw festival.