Following a series of rapper deaths in recent years, record labels have supposedly begun taking out life insurance policies on their artists. This is what rapper French Montana claimed during a recent episode of DJ Akademiks‘ Off The Record podcast.
Montana delved into beef in the rap game, and how things are handled now, compared to the past.
“We was beefing for real,” Montana said. “People was dying and this and that, and it was blocking a lot of money. People didn’t want to touch you. Your rap friends stop picking up, the labels stop picking up. It gets crazy. But now it’s even crazier, they gettin’ life insurance on artists. At least back then, we didn’t have that. You’re praying on his death. You’re praying on making millions on his death.”
Last month, Montana released an album called Montega, which was produced entirely by Harry Fraud. In an interview with Okayplayer, Montana said the purpose of his previous album, They Got Amnesia was to remind people of his musical ability. On Montega, he seeks to cement his and Fraud’s legacy.
“…I scratched off my bucket list everything that I wanted to accomplish,” Montana said. “From going platinum on albums to going diamond. Now it’s back to how I want to finish my legacy with Harry Fraud how we started. How we made music, from the point of view of when we had our backs to the wall. When we would fight with music to get out of the rabbit hole, that’s what we got with this. Now we’re making music to bring everybody back but take them where we’re going at the same time.”
Check out the Off The Record clip above.