But whereas Rozay has developed a character through vivid imagination and exaggeration*,* Montana doesn’t express enough individuality in his music to even be a caricature. Which isn’t a huge problem, since he’s often been welcome on Rick Ross’ fantasy island. Nobody that Montana threatens, fucks, robs, or peddles bricks to is granted any sort of humanity. You can get all of that from his Twitter feed his actual music just ends up putting his shortcomings in sharp relief. His flow conflates loopy rapping and off-key singing similar to Future, but Pluto somehow felt more earthbound than Excuse My French.

But you can understand what people see in French Montana, as he does give you the raw material of a 2013 rap icon: fluent in regional microtrends and stylistically fluid enough to involve himself in them, 'New York' enough to keep local tastemakers satisfied, all while carrying an air of self-aware absurdity. This isn’t all that surprising considering that his 2012 mixtape Mac & Cheese 3 achieved the same result as loudly and expensively as its commercially available follow-up.

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