French Montana

A rapper who built an indie empire with his Cocaine City imprint, French Montana was born in Morocco, but emigrated to the U.S. while in his teens. He set up shop in the Bronx and began releasing his Cocaine City series of DVDs in 2002, mixing interviews with established hip-hop artists and unsigned talent. Around 2009, he began releasing his own mixtape CDs with DJs like DJ Drama, Evil Empire, and Big Mike as his hosts. That same year he would be signed to Akon’s Konvict Musik label but in 2011 it was announced the two parties had parted ways.