How much is French Montana worth?
| Net Worth: | $18 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Rapper |
| Date of Birth: | November 9, 1984 (age 38) |
| Country: | Morocco-born American |
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
About French Montana
French Montana is the stage name of Karim Kharbouch – a distinguished Moroccan-American rapper, actor, singer, and songwriter. Known primarily for his obnoxious hip hop style, the rapper began recording in 2002 and since then has found success in the hip hop industry.
Throughout his career, he has released three studio albums, with the first two being the most successful. Thanks to both his singing and songwriting skills, the artist has been nominated for a few awards, including for two Grammy Awards in 2016 and 2017.
Outside of music, Montana has also starred in a number of films and television series. His first television appearance was in 2011 as part of the comedy show Ridiculousness.
Throughout the rest of the 2010s, he would continue to star in other productions such as The Perfect Match, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Empire, America’s Next Top Model, and most recently NCIS: New Orleans.
The rapper became famous shortly after the release of his first project – the mixtape French Revolution Volume 1. He continued to release new music every year and one of his hits “Choppa Choppa Down” helped him breakthrough. Born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, the aspiring rapper moved with his family to the United States when he was 13 years old.
During that time, he grew more and more interested in both soccer and rap music, however, during his teen years, he paid more attention to basketball. In the 1990s, after he moved to New York City, Montana was forced to become the breadwinner for his family as his father moved back to Morocco.
During his teen years, Karim decided to become a rapper and used the name “Young French”. In the late 1990s, alongside his friend Cams, he performed mainly as a battle rapper in different cities. In 2003, the rapper suffered a gunshot to the head, which caused him to take a hiatus from music.
A few years later, he returned and released his first studio project – a mixtape called French Revolution Volume 1. The mixtape included collaborations with many artists such as Jae Millz, Max B, Mazaradi Fox, Tony Yayo, and Uncle Murda, among many others with whom Montana became friends.
What made the Moroccan-American so rich were his single projects as well as his collaborations with influential singers. Soon after the became friends, Max B and French Montana began working together and the two eventually created what was Montana’s first collaborative project – the mixtape Coke Wave which premiered in February 2009.
That same year, the singer met the producer Harry Fraud who introduced him to Jadakiss. The two then released the song “New York Minute”, which served as one of Jadakiss’ lead singles in his mixtape Mac With Da Cheese.
In 2009, after releasing eight mixtapes, French Montana was offered a recording deal with Akon. He signed with his label Konvict Music and would go onto release several tracks with him such as Top Chef, Married to the Streets, and Burnin. He also released one of his most distinguished tracks “Choppa Choppa Down” in 2010, which features Waka Flocka Flame.
Throughout 2011 and 2012, the rapper would continue to create new music and release mixtapes, including sequels to the aforementioned Coke Wave, The Laundry Man and Mac & Cheese.
One of the things that really helped Montana get rich was his debut studio album Excuse My French, which was released in May 2013. The album, which includes collaborations with so many established artists, was welcomed with mixed reviews from the critics but it did relatively well in the album charts. In just one week it sold 56,000 copies and topped two of the Billboard charts – “Top Rap Albums” and “Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums”.
Among some of the names that appear in the album are Birdman, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, and The Weeknd.
French Montana found success immediately after he left Akon’s label Konvict Music and signed a deal with the giant Interscope Records.
During that time, he released his first album which boosted his popularity and helped him become rich. At the peak of his career, the impressive rapper also formed his own label imprint titled Coke Boys. In 2016, after he continued to work with various artists from around the world and star in different projects, Montana released his breakthrough and best single “Unforgettable”.
The track includes the hip hop sensation Swae Lee from the established duo Rae Sremmurd. Immediately after its premiere, the song debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Montana’s first single to achieve this. It also reached the top 10 in many countries from around the world including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to name a few.
As of now, the official music video on YouTube has amassed more than 1.1 billion views and the song itself also has over 1.1 billion streams on Spotify.
Upon its release, Montana announced that “Unforgettable” is the lead single of his upcoming second album. His by far most successful album Jungle Rules was released in July 2017. Just like he did with his first album, the rapper included a lot of songs, mostly collaborations with the likes of The Weeknd, Max B, Travis Scott, T.I., and others.
Besides having a commercial and critical success, the album also became his first to be certified platinum and gold in four different countries – Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, and the United States.
Montana’s Total Net Worth
French Montana has earned estimated total career income of $43 million dollars. As Montana has lived in the states of New Jersey and California, he will have had to pay around 46% in taxes on his career income. That is, considering for most of his commercial successful years he has resided in California. After tax, it is estimated that his career earnings are at around $21.93 million dollars, having paid $21.07 million dollars in taxes.
French Montana married Deen Kharbouch in 2007 and they divorced seven years later, in 2014. They had one child together, Kruz Kharbouch, and Deen reportedly received $2 million dollars as part of a settlement agreement. In his personal life Montana has likely spent $2-3 million dollars of his career earnings but also earned $3-4 million dollars from his investments.
In real estate, in 2013, French Montana bought a $995 thousand 1.4-acre estate in Pequannock, New Jersey. He later bought a $3.3 million dollar 8,000 square-foot property in Calabasas, from Selena Gomez, in 2016. He invested a reported $400,000 into the property, including building a recording studio and an adjacent guest property. He sold the property in 2021, for $5 million.
In 2020, he bought an $8.42 million dollar property in Hidden Hills, California. The seller, NBA player Paul George, has been originally been seeking $9.5 million dollars from the sale.
As he will have also had to pay around $2-3 million dollars in business related costs, it is therefore estimated, that French Montana has a net worth of about $18 million dollars.
Summing-Up
For the past few years, French Montana has continued to shine thanks to his rapping and songwriting abilities. His latest project is the album Montana, which was released in December 2019. Even though it wasn’t as successful as his other, the project also received a certification for gold by the RIAA and entered many album charts.
Besides releasing his own projects, he has hundreds of guest appearances in other artists’ works. At the peak of his career, the Grammy-nominated artist began appearing more and more on television which further boosted his popularity and wealth.
