The Next Buck Thing: "Excuse My French" Review

You're excused.

(Copyright: Coke Boys, Bad Boy Records, MMG, Interscope)

"MonTANA"

"Haaan"

These, dear friends, are the sounds of rapper French Montana's ad libs. They are simple, hard to forget, and easy to turn up to...just like his songs.

French's life story is a notable one, especially in a rap game dominated by home-grown thugs and "thugs." Born in Rabat, Morocco, Karim Kharbouch lived there for 13 years until his family emigrated to the US. In 2002 he began to invest his time heavily in creating a series of street-oriented mixtapes that, after several years of circulating, eventually landed him a major label deal with Akon's Konvict Muzik. He eventually left for Diddy's Bad Boy Records and is currently dually signed to Bad Boy and Rick Ross's rightfully named untouchable Maybach Music Group. With Diddy and Rozay at the production helm of Excuse My French (2013), French's debut album, there was an expectation from basically the entire rap community that this one would be absolute fire.

And fire it is. Sorta.

These days the standard for a mainstream rapper's debut album is just about as low as a limbo stick at a roach family cookout. That's pretty damn low.

It's not that every mainstream rapper out there is trash (though the number is regrettably high), it's just that the type of music they put out is pigeon-holed into one type of album. You know the type: there's a painfully un-deep intro track that's meant to warm the listener up with a slower beat and minimally meaningful lyrical content ("Once In a While)", at least one pop-oriented song that comes standard with a radio edit companion ("Freaks [feat. Nicki Minaj]"), at least one R&B collabo ("Drink Freely") and of course plenty and plenty of bangers ("Pop That," "Marble Floors," "Trap House," etc, etc, etc.) In this way, Excuse My French is almost painfully formulaic.

The production is grandiose, with heavy samples from 60s soul, 90s R&B, and more modern rap. The songs are clearly built for car speakers and house parties, but that's to be expected. Bass so hard gonna shake your insides up like a goshdarn ratchet at a Juicy J concert. Features are also the norm, with French getting help from behemoths of the rap game like Rozay, Diddy, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz as well as throwaways and no-names like Cocaine Records label mate, Chinx Drugz and Red Cafe. In-your-face production and many features are both characteristics of a typical mainstream rap album.

CHANGE OF PACE:

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that Excuse My French is a stereotypical mainstream album. While most rappers aren't daring enough to make their major label debuts count for something (praise Kendrick Lamar), that's pretty okay because honestly that's what rap has become.

Sorry, folks, but rap has always been about being showy. If you really wanna hit up an era when rap was clean fun just go out to your local record store and ask for the friendly wordplay of Sugarhill Gang and more recently (but not really that recently), Will Smith.

Sure there was a time when gangster rappers actually were gangsters but last time I checked being a gangster was frowned upon. The only difference between the mainstream rappers of the 90s and now is that their lyrical content was more violent and real. People still listened and enjoyed it even if they weren't living the life of a big, black, crack-dealing dude from Brooklyn. Nowadays rap fans listen to and enjoy the music of a big, black, former corrections officer turned mogul from Florida. But why did/do people worship the lifestyles of rappers?

Simple: We want to be what we are not.

Rap has devolved into a bunch of dudes running around blowing money fast and poppin' bottles and hitting strip clubs and just being so over the top that listeners are absolutely INUNDATED with the extravagant nature of the rap game and feel a part of the extravagance. I believe that is why rap can exist in the current state that it does. The only change in rap over the past 20 years is that it has become less about the struggle (a la Biggie and Tupac) and more about the come up (a la Rick Ross, Weezy, 2 Chainz and oh would you look at that, French Montana), and that is attractive to anyone who can stomach the vulgar, downright sinful nature of it all.

So, here is where French Montana comes back into play. His debut album is typical, but that doesn't necessarily mean bad...it simply is. There are plenty of buck ("wild and uncontrollably crazy," Urban Dictionary) tracks to party and cruise to and honestly, isn't that what rap fans really crave anyway?

I would most definitely not spend money on Excuse My French but if you're a preppy white dude from Ruxton who's looking for some sweet new tracks for his "2013 Rap" playlist on Spotify then look no further than just about half of French Montana's debut album. The beats are easy to enjoy so don't sweat the stereotypical materialistic lyrical content too much.

If you're a fan of easily digestible rap then lean your driver's seat back, grab your homies, go for a drive and let the sweet sounds of Excuse My French fill your being. If you're not a fan of rap at all then you can probably pass on this one as it's not really a milestone in the rap game and you'll probably hear the edited version of half the songs on the radio at some point in the next six months anyway.

Bottom line: Excuse My French is basic, buck and a good lens through which to observe the condition of the rap game today.


Key Bangers: "Trap House", "Ain't Worried About Nothin", "Paranoid", "Pop That", "Throw it in the Bag", "Marble Floors", "Ocho Cinco"