Drake

April marks Arab Heritage Month, and Apple Music 1 continues the celebration by sitting down with French Montana. The Moroccan-born and bred rapper moved to New York City when he was just a teen, engrossing himself in sports and Hip Hop. He also developed a skill that matched his peers, making Montana determined to become the next great superstar. With his dreams accomplished—and more goals to be met on the horizon—the Rap mogul remains a force to be reckoned with as he amasses awards and tops the charts.

Additionally, French Montana’s love for his heritage is felt in his music, as he often mentions his background or pays homage in music videos. He recently appeared on The Message with Ebro Darden on Apple Music 1, where the pair discussed various topics related to the rapper’s career. French spoke about relocating to the States during his developmental years, honoring Ramadan, focusing on philanthropy, his upcoming documentary produced by Drake, and much more. Here are a few highlights from the insightful conversation. Make sure to watch the two influential figures chop it up in the video below.

5. French Montana On Moving From Morocco To NYC

Your situation should not determine your success. I’m an immigrant from Morocco who came to the U.S. and put in the work to make success happen for me. My situation does not determine me. I made it out, and now my focus is helping other immigrants get access to life-changing opportunities.

…Everybody’s dream is to come to the United States. I remember when my aunt was getting me dressed to go to the airport, she was like, “You’re getting dressed like you going to America.” I was like, “I am.” She was like, “You are,” and it was a moment. It’s like hitting the lottery. But when you watch it as a kid, they only show you the skyline and they show you the big buildings and the penthouses and this and that. You thinking you going to heaven, you know what I’m saying? You get here. They sent me to Mott Haven projects into East Tremont Lafontaine by Crotona Park with all the Africans. And you just get there and the people downstairs yelling, and Spanish people. She hit them with a chair and it was like, “Yo, where am I at? I should’ve stayed in Morocco for this.”

4. Documentary Produced By Drake

Well, this documentary just tells my immigrant story basically, and all the people that followed me from the day that I started till now. I feel like a lot of people know me, but a lot of people just know me by the music. A lot of people know me from me dating people. It could be this, it could be that, but I want people to know me for the right reasons. I also feel like this documentary just is more based on the struggle. I watch a lot of documentaries, and I see a lot of people—this is not no shots at nobody—I see a lot of people just highlight the trophies and highlight the accomplishments and highlight why they got jerked by the Grammys. Highlight this and highlight that, and I really want to know the actual artists, you know what I’m saying?

Basically, it shows for me when I was young. From when my mother met my pops, we came from Africa, we was on welfare. To me getting shot, to me meeting Chinx, me meeting Max B. Max B be getting 75 years in jail. It’s the whole thing. It’s the whole enchilada. Me also being almost blackballed after he went to jail. Me just going through all the obstacles. Shout out to Drake for helping me do it, shout out to Puff, shout out to Max B for letting them cameras come inside that maximum security prison and helping me document it. Also shout out to my mother, she never been on nothing. That was her first one and it just shows that me, her, and my father came here not even speaking English. And it also shows that your temporary moment doesn’t have nothing to do with your long-term.

3. Honoring Ramadan

I take Ramadan very serious. I fast, I don’t go on Instagram, I don’t go on social media, I stay away from all the negative things, I don’t talk to no ladies, I don’t have no sex, I stay away from negative energy, I do everything I’m supposed to do for Ramadan. And I get better with Ramadan every year since I was young, I get more focused. Every Ramadan it gets harder because you’re trying to do things you didn’t do last Ramadan just to get better.

It’s all about energy. For me to not work during Ramadan, I lose a lot of money. But then, it keeps me away from just seeing naked females and this and that. My getting better is to try to cancel shows, try to do this, try to give it all my power. And that’s what I go through every Ramadan. This Ramadan, I also read the whole Quran, again, just to gain more knowledge. Get closer to the man upstairs and things like that. And even as far as fasting, I make sure I don’t sleep most of the day, that I wake up and really experience the fast and just pray Fajr and just do all things I’m supposed to do on Ramadan.

2. Importance Of Discipline

It took me a couple years to understand how to move. And basically, it just made me realize that anything is possible, you know what I’m saying? That impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. It made me just learn discipline, you what I’m saying? Discipline is going to make today hard, but tomorrow easy. Also I learned that having excuses is going to make today easy and tomorrow hard and things like that.

1. French Montana Talks Charitable Work

Pencils Of Promise, we working on building a couple of schools now in Ghana and Guatemala, and a bunch of places like that. In Africa, we always working there. We got a couple programs in Morocco. Just also started a rehab. It is called NAQI after a lot of my friends lost their life to taking all the wrong pills. And there’s a lot of laced pills with fentanyl and all this. And I just saw Mac Miller and a lot of people got taken away from me. So, I was just like, “You know what, let me build something.” If I could help one person, it’s worth it.

[via]