How French Montana Achieved a Net Worth of $16 Million

French Montana is the professional name of Karim Kharbouch. For those who are unfamiliar, he is a Moroccan-American rapper who has been active for almost two decades. As such, interested individuals shouldn’t be surprised to learn that French Montana has also managed to achieve a great deal of critical and commercial success.

What Is French Montana’s Current Net Worth?

Under those circumstances, interested individuals also shouldn’t be surprised to learn that there is a lot of public interest in French Montana’s finances. Exact numbers aren’t available because it is a private matter. Still, there are various organizations that have produced various estimates. To name an example, Celebrity Net Worth thinks that French Montana has a current net worth of approximately $16 million, which are from being 100 percent reliable but should nonetheless provide people with a general sense of the man’s wealth.

How Did French Montana Reach His Current Net Worth?

French Montana was born in Casablanca. A lot of people will recognize that as the name of a movie. However, it is important to note that Casablanca is Morocco’s chief port, with the result that it has become the country’s economic center. Regardless, French Montana spent much of his childhood living in a family estate situated outside of Casablanca. There, he became a fan of rap as well as soccer. Later, he picked up a passion for basketball as well.

When French Montana was still in his teens, his family moved to the Bronx. At the time, he knew French as well as Moroccan Arabic, both of which are his native languages. However, his interactions with the locals on the streets as well as in high school enabled him to pick up English within a short period of time. Unfortunately, French Montana’s family seems to have struggled in that period. It is known that his father wanted to move back to Morocco while his mother wanted to stay in the United States, which is why the two went their separate ways. As a result, French Montana’s family became reliant on welfare for their survival. Something that put a considerable amount of pressure on him to find a source of income because he was the oldest child. As a teenager, French Montana became a battle rapper under the name Young French. In 2002, he and his friends created a series of street DVDs called Cocaine City, which contained interviews with up-and-coming rappers as well as other rap-related topics. Initially, French Montana wanted to use the series as a way to showcase his skills. However, it proved to be more popular than what he and his friends expected, so much so that it resulted in 14 volumes plus a number of spinoff movies. Still, these were street DVDs, meaning that there was a limit to their profitability.

Not everything went smoothly for French Montana. To name an example, he was confronted by a pair of gunmen when he was leaving a recording studio in 2003. Fortunately, French Montana survived the incident, though he winded up staying for a few weeks in a hospital because of a gunshot to his head. Furthermore, it turned out that he had been set up by someone close to him and his friends. Having said that, there have also been fortuitous encounters in his life. For instance, he has worked very well with the producer Harry Fraud over the course of his career. However, that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for a police raid on the same building as the recording studio where said individual was working, which convinced him to form his own recording studio. Something that eventually resulted in the two meeting one another before forming a positive bond. By 2009, French Montana was notable enough that he had signed a shopping deal with Akon. Essentially, the idea was that the latter would try to get him signed to a record label because he had potential. That never worked out because of record label issues, but even so, the two remained close, so much so that French Montana has been known to call Akon a “big brother” of sorts. In any case, it was clear that French Montana was becoming more and more prominent by that point in time, which in turn, means that he was working with more and more artists on more and more projects.

In 2013, French Montana released his first album called Excuse My French, which earned him a BET Hip Hop Award for Best Club Banger. Said album was followed up by a couple more called Jungle Rules in 2017 and Montana in 2019. On top of this, it is important to mention that French Montana has been involved in a surprising range of other projects as well. In particular, he has been in quite a few movies as well as TV shows. Generally speaking, this has been as himself, whether because he was showing up as a cameo, a contestant, or for some other purpose. However, French Montana has also played a character called Vaughn for a couple of episodes on Empire, which is perhaps fitting considering the nature of the musical drama.

Further Considerations

Regardless, it seems safe to say that French Montana has made most of his money through his music in either a direct sense or an indirect sense. As such, seeing as how he is still in his mid 30s, it seems reasonable to speculate that his net worth will continue to increase in the times to come. Having said that, it is interesting to note that French Montana has some extravagant spending habits. After all, he has a reputation for being fond of exotic pets. One excellent example would be his pet monkey named Julius Ceasor. Another excellent example would be his two tiger cubs named Ike and Tina. Still, while French Montana does have some extravagant spending habits, he doesn’t seem to be unrestrained in this regard. This can be seen in how he gave up Ike and Tina just a short while after getting them because of the considerable difficulties in feeding as well as otherwise caring for the tigers.