This month, French Montana appears both in XXL's first digital cover story and in a new video interview from the magazine, streaming above. The rapper takes the crew from a photo shoot in his new crib in California and to the beach, discussing his life over the past year and the upcoming album Mac & Cheese 4.
1. He credits his Muslim faith for everything he has.
"My religion plays a big role in my success... It's just about doing positive, that's what I love about my religion. That's why I'm scared of people who don't have no religion. I was born in [Islam] and you fear not doing the right thing."
2. No, he's not a fan of Donald Trump.
"I feel like he's looking at us as a whole when he really should be separating Muslims. ISIS is like how Bloods is, is like how Crips is. Just because Crips live in a neighbourhood doesn't mean that the whole neighbourhood is going around shooting and gangbanging... I feel like a lot of people are ignorant to learning about the Muslim culture, and what ISIS stand for. They stand for corruption."
3. He's trying to learn something from the death of Chinx Drugz.
"My general take on everything that happened with Chinx is that, for me, just be careful about my own life. Just know that nobody there is going to do justice, better than the justice you gon' do for yourself by not being in the wrong areas."
4. He doesn't have a problem with Chinx's mother, who has decried French's "lack of support."
"I have nothing but love for his mother. At the end of the day, it's his mother. I just feel like she was just asking me for questions I don't have the answer for... It hurt me more for her not to see that I was hurt at losing my brother."
5. Max B is a true pioneer in his eyes.
"It comes like every decade, someone comes out like that, that's just special to music. That whatever he say gonna last forever. He's just born for this... Max created something that's undeniable."
7. There was a fear that the spectacle of dating a Kardashian would "overshadow" his work.
"I feel like it's always going to overshadow your music if you're Khloe's boyfriend, or Kim's husband, or Kylie's boyfriend, Tyga. I feel like for that year we was together it happened like that."
