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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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[entrancing musical flourish]

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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[soft, dramatic music plays]

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Yeah. So, this is the quiet
before the storm comes.

6
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This is my people, man.

7
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[man speaking]

8
00:00:47,689 --> 00:00:48,965
The comeback.

9
00:00:50,448 --> 00:00:51,655
A young Moroccan boy.

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- [camera flashes]
- [crowd cheering]

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That started from the mud.

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[crowd shouting]

13
00:01:01,793 --> 00:01:03,275
These are my people.

14
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[crowd cheering]

15
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I put on for my country.

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And, you know,
I was the chosen one.

17
00:01:13,413 --> 00:01:15,137
What I do with that power is...

18
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what's-what's really gonna...

19
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put the name on what
I became, you know.

20
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<i>♪ Oh, this is a story ♪</i>

21
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<i>♪ About a young man ♪</i>

22
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<i>♪ That's getting ready
to go off to war ♪</i>

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<i>♪ But he leavin' ♪</i>

24
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<i>♪ Said he leavin' ♪</i>

25
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<i>♪ Said he leavin' ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Oh, the only woman ♪</i>

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<i>♪ That he never had ♪</i>

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<i>♪ And this is what he said... ♪</i>

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[Karim] <i>Before I hit that stage,</i>

30
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<i>when I talk to my conscience,
it's like,</i>

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<i>I did everything
the best way I could do it.</i>

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Started this rap thing,

33
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and from there,
I'm running with it,

34
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and I'm gonna take it
to the top. This is history.

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<i>♪ I don't wanna be the one ♪</i>

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<i>♪ I wanna love you ♪</i>

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[Karim] <i>I can't sit here
and tell you I'm a superhero.</i>

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<i>♪ No, no ♪</i>

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<i>I just run with this passion
that I have</i>

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<i>when I got a rush or something.</i>

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To make it in music, it's not
about the notes you can hit

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<i>or the raps
that you can write.</i>

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It's just people have
to believe something about you.

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[Karim] <i>Everybody's great
at something.</i>

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<i>I'm great at when I get
that sign from God,</i>

46
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<i>I just accomplish things
that I can't explain to you.</i>

47
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<i>You know what I'm saying?
It just happens like that.</i>

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<i>I promise you.</i>

49
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[smooth jazz music plays]

50
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[Fat Joe] <i>The Bronx?</i>

51
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<i>One giant ghetto.</i>

52
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<i>Shit just one giant ghetto.</i>

53
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<i>There's no mansions.
There's no upscale nothing.</i>

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<i>It's just the hood, B.</i>

55
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<i>That land is, like,
ordained by God</i>

56
00:03:34,965 --> 00:03:37,965
<i>for immigrants to migrate to</i>

57
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<i>and get they feet wet.</i>

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<i>It was Italians, Irish, Jews.</i>

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<i>They moved out the Bronx,
then the Puerto Ricans,</i>

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<i>the Blacks,
and the Dominicans came in.</i>

61
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<i>Now they moving out.</i>

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<i>And now you got the Mexicans
and the real Africans</i>

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<i>and the Muslims.</i>

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<i>What we got is a bunch
of people</i>

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<i>trying to get their way.</i>

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<i>This shit is
like gladiator school.</i>

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<i>You either prey,
or you're a predator.</i>

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<i>There's just
no way around that.</i>

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<i>So if you see a motherfucker
come up from the Bronx,</i>

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<i>he's a ill nigga.</i>

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<i>'Cause there were
so many people</i>

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trying for him not to come up.

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You get what I'm saying?

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[camera shutter clicks]

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[indistinct chatter]

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[speaking Spanish]

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[siren wailing]

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[hip-hop instrumental music
playing]

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[Odell] <i>We met right here.</i>

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<i>This is where I was raised up,
on this floor, 3A.</i>

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<i>He's from 3D.</i>

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<i>He came to the block.</i>

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<i>From there,
we grew a friendship</i>

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<i>into a brotherhood.</i>

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He was a hell
of a basketball player.

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You know, I thought we was going
to the NBA before all of this.

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<i>I was looking forward for us
to be on a side court at NBA,</i>

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<i>us playing for the Knicks
or something.</i>

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[man speaking]

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[Karim] <i>The place
to come play ball at.</i>

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<i>This is the only place
if you ain't hustling,</i>

92
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<i>right here.</i>

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00:05:46,620 --> 00:05:47,965
<i>Keep you out of the streets.</i>

94
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<i>Slinging crack rock
or you got a wicked jump shot.</i>

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This was the courts right here.

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We used to leave out
our apartment,

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bump heads together.

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And be like, "Yo, like,
what are we gonna do

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00:06:01,448 --> 00:06:03,172
to get out of here?"

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[Karim] <i>From the start,
it was like,</i>

101
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<i>"How do I escape poverty
without becoming a number?"</i>

102
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<i>There's so much temptation
that you have.</i>

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<i>You got to be just as strong,</i>

104
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<i>so my escape route
and my therapy</i>

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<i>was playing basketball.</i>

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[Zack] <i>I really started
to understand, like,</i>

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when I start going outside,

108
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and I'm seeing dudes
on the corner,

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<i>and I'm seeing
the gritty, the grimy.</i>

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<i>You're hearing gunshots,
people arguing, gambling,</i>

111
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<i>people getting drunk,
people selling drugs.</i>

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[Karim] What's up, bro?
What's up?

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I'm chill, bro.
How y'all doing out here?

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See that?

115
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Think you can fuck with me, huh?

116
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Hold up.

117
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Are you ready for me?

118
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Don't be talking,
'cause I'm ready.

119
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[heavy bass hip-hop instrumental
music plays]

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[indistinct chatter]

121
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Next time I catch you,
I'mma bust your ass.

122
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- Thank you.
- Thank you.

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[Zack] <i>The crazy thing
about French is,</i>

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he would sit in the crib
and make highlights of himself,

125
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like, all his best highlights,
like ESPN.

126
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So I would see him
with three cameras on the floor,

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all his best basketball
highlights,

128
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and he was sending it
to colleges and shit.

129
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But I guess after he found
about his status,

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that shit just killed him.

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[Karim] <i>That shit
broke my heart.</i>

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<i>Like, "You can't
go to college and play,"</i>

133
00:07:49,827 --> 00:07:52,379
<i>even though I was getting
recruited by D2, D3 colleges.</i>

134
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<i>I was an immigrant
with no papers,</i>

135
00:07:54,724 --> 00:07:57,586
<i>like, living under the radar
for like ten years.</i>

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There's nothing.
I can't go to college

137
00:08:00,103 --> 00:08:01,517
'cause I don't have my papers.

138
00:08:01,620 --> 00:08:04,034
I can't get a job.
I don't have no Social Security.

139
00:08:04,137 --> 00:08:05,655
I have no access to nothing

140
00:08:05,758 --> 00:08:08,103
to become this dream
that I always dreamed about.

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[man speaking]

142
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[Karim] <i>I used to look at
my father when I was young</i>

143
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<i>like,
"This nigga look like a star."</i>

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<i>If I look like him,
I'mma be a star.</i>

145
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[Khadija speaking]

146
00:09:27,034 --> 00:09:29,379
- [birds chirping]
- [indistinct conversation]

147
00:10:02,724 --> 00:10:05,586
[Khadija speaking]

148
00:10:36,241 --> 00:10:38,758
This is the first thing
that got me out of Africa,

149
00:10:39,379 --> 00:10:41,448
<i>was playing soccer.
I got my first visa.</i>

150
00:10:41,586 --> 00:10:45,172
<i>I went to Spain, to Barcelona.
I played soccer.</i>

151
00:10:47,758 --> 00:10:50,103
<i>That's what opened my eyes
to the rest of the world.</i>

152
00:10:50,551 --> 00:10:53,965
[heavy bass hip-hop instrumental
music playing]

153
00:11:02,275 --> 00:11:07,000
[Khadija speaking]

154
00:11:13,793 --> 00:11:17,896
[indistinct chatter]

155
00:11:24,103 --> 00:11:28,689
[Abdela speaking]

156
00:11:38,310 --> 00:11:40,620
America's land of the dreams.

157
00:11:40,758 --> 00:11:42,137
Land of the free.

158
00:11:43,275 --> 00:11:44,413
I mean, Morocco too,

159
00:11:44,517 --> 00:11:46,068
but the opportunities
are not the same.

160
00:11:46,862 --> 00:11:49,448
<i>You could literally become
the president, United States.</i>

161
00:11:50,517 --> 00:11:52,344
<i>We have a beautiful king.
We love him.</i>

162
00:11:52,482 --> 00:11:54,551
<i>But you cannot be a king here.</i>

163
00:11:57,172 --> 00:11:59,344
<i>When I was 13,
my father was just like,</i>

164
00:11:59,482 --> 00:12:01,344
<i>"Yo, pack your clothes up.
We out."</i>

165
00:12:01,758 --> 00:12:04,034
<i>He just came home one day,
said he had visas to leave.</i>

166
00:12:04,137 --> 00:12:05,344
<i>So we just left.</i>

167
00:12:05,482 --> 00:12:07,344
[sighs]

168
00:12:47,103 --> 00:12:48,413
Honestly...

169
00:12:49,413 --> 00:12:51,861
it was the best thing
that could've happened

170
00:12:51,862 --> 00:12:54,309
was for me to be born
and be in that atmosphere.

171
00:12:54,310 --> 00:12:56,517
<i>I feel it made me
the person I am.</i>

172
00:12:57,689 --> 00:12:59,379
<i>I feel like it made
my hustle relentless.</i>

173
00:12:59,482 --> 00:13:01,758
<i>It just made me
not take no for an answer.</i>

174
00:13:02,241 --> 00:13:04,517
How my father got them visas,
I don't know.

175
00:13:07,896 --> 00:13:11,034
<i>Us watching America,
you know, as kids,</i>

176
00:13:11,137 --> 00:13:14,034
<i>all we see, you know,
are the buildings downtown,</i>

177
00:13:14,137 --> 00:13:16,448
<i>you know,
the sky view of New York.</i>

178
00:13:17,448 --> 00:13:19,344
<i>So they sell you the dream.</i>

179
00:13:19,896 --> 00:13:22,172
<i>They don't show you
that behind those buildings,</i>

180
00:13:22,275 --> 00:13:23,965
there's the nightmare part, too.

181
00:13:24,724 --> 00:13:28,068
Everything was different,
like, people, the streets,

182
00:13:28,172 --> 00:13:29,896
the culture.

183
00:13:31,172 --> 00:13:33,517
<i>Having to adapt to that,</i>

184
00:13:33,620 --> 00:13:35,551
<i>you know,
was like the biggest...</i>

185
00:13:36,275 --> 00:13:37,896
<i>the biggest,
like, accomplishment</i>

186
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,206
<i>as, like, a Moroccan little kid
and having to learn English.</i>

187
00:13:42,724 --> 00:13:43,965
<i>You know what I mean?</i>

188
00:13:44,068 --> 00:13:46,586
<i>So it was
a total transformation.</i>

189
00:13:49,137 --> 00:13:50,793
[Karim] <i>When you're snatched
out of everything</i>

190
00:13:50,896 --> 00:13:52,137
<i>you know as a kid,</i>

191
00:13:52,275 --> 00:13:54,620
<i>it's almost like,
you know, a culture shock.</i>

192
00:13:56,827 --> 00:13:58,723
They used to call me "Bonjour"
because all I did

193
00:13:58,724 --> 00:14:00,412
was speak French,
and I didn't know English.

194
00:14:00,413 --> 00:14:02,689
After, they were like, "We're
not gonna name you Bonjour.

195
00:14:02,827 --> 00:14:05,517
Your name is 'French.'"
That's how my life started at 13

196
00:14:05,620 --> 00:14:08,689
<i>just right there in the Bronx,
the worst part of the Bronx.</i>

197
00:14:08,793 --> 00:14:10,724
<i>I woke up in a new house.</i>

198
00:14:10,862 --> 00:14:12,724
<i>We moved in
with my father's friend,</i>

199
00:14:12,827 --> 00:14:15,034
<i>and all four of us
had one room.</i>

200
00:14:15,172 --> 00:14:17,136
<i>Me and my brother
would sleep on the floor.</i>

201
00:14:17,137 --> 00:14:19,172
<i>My mother and my father
would sleep in the bed.</i>

202
00:14:19,793 --> 00:14:24,137
<i>It was the grind of all grinds,
welfare, this, that.</i>

203
00:14:24,862 --> 00:14:28,034
<i>My father's out working
every day ten, 12 hours.</i>

204
00:14:28,172 --> 00:14:30,862
<i>Once one business after
the other started collapsing,</i>

205
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,862
<i>it became a nightmare for him.</i>

206
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:34,448
I remember going with my father

207
00:14:34,551 --> 00:14:37,344
to Harlem to 115th Street
to pick up his money,

208
00:14:37,448 --> 00:14:39,447
because whoever
he opened the store with

209
00:14:39,448 --> 00:14:40,758
is trying to finesse him.

210
00:14:41,482 --> 00:14:43,517
<i>After his businesses
started going down,</i>

211
00:14:43,620 --> 00:14:46,137
<i>guess he went and applied
to get a green card.</i>

212
00:14:46,241 --> 00:14:47,655
And they denied that.

213
00:14:49,620 --> 00:14:54,999
So him facing reality,
"How do I get back on my feet?

214
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,758
Let me go back to Morocco,
where I live like a king."

215
00:14:58,517 --> 00:15:00,931
[Zack] <i>I remember
when my father wanted to leave.</i>

216
00:15:01,068 --> 00:15:02,689
My little brother was just born.

217
00:15:04,275 --> 00:15:07,033
My pop, he didn't like
the way French was going,

218
00:15:07,034 --> 00:15:09,068
<i>and he wanted to leave French.</i>

219
00:15:10,034 --> 00:15:12,241
[Karim] <i>Emotions are
the enemies of facts.</i>

220
00:15:12,724 --> 00:15:15,310
My father, he didn't have nobody
to take the anger out on,

221
00:15:15,413 --> 00:15:17,931
so he just started taking
the anger out on us.

222
00:15:19,448 --> 00:15:21,827
<i>This is a real situation now.</i>

223
00:15:21,931 --> 00:15:24,103
<i>My mother, she was tired
of the abuse.</i>

224
00:15:24,206 --> 00:15:26,103
<i>She was tired
of a drunk man coming home</i>

225
00:15:26,206 --> 00:15:27,448
<i>because he lost his money.</i>

226
00:15:27,551 --> 00:15:29,413
<i>I guess she probably saw a side</i>

227
00:15:29,896 --> 00:15:31,448
that she wasn't used to.

228
00:15:40,931 --> 00:15:43,034
[birds chirping]

229
00:15:46,448 --> 00:15:48,517
[water bubbling]

230
00:16:04,482 --> 00:16:06,965
[liquid pouring]

231
00:16:08,620 --> 00:16:14,379
[Khadija speaking]

232
00:16:30,827 --> 00:16:33,586
[dramatic music plays]

233
00:16:59,517 --> 00:17:01,689
[Karim] <i>I would love
to understand</i>

234
00:17:01,827 --> 00:17:04,206
<i>his intentions, you know?</i>

235
00:17:05,137 --> 00:17:09,206
<i>But when my father left,
a part of me died.</i>

236
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,034
And I never looked back
for that part.

237
00:17:12,517 --> 00:17:14,551
[Karim speaks in Arabic]

238
00:18:44,206 --> 00:18:47,103
[Zack] <i>I just remember my mother
working two, three jobs.</i>

239
00:18:50,758 --> 00:18:52,620
<i>Under the table, cash only.</i>

240
00:18:52,724 --> 00:18:54,931
<i>My mother was working
in one of them halal places</i>

241
00:18:55,034 --> 00:18:56,413
<i>where they cut chickens.</i>

242
00:18:57,344 --> 00:18:59,965
And you go there,
you pick what animal you want,

243
00:19:00,068 --> 00:19:01,482
and they slaughter it
in front of you,

244
00:19:01,586 --> 00:19:02,826
<i>and you take it home with you.</i>

245
00:19:02,827 --> 00:19:04,896
<i>That's where my mother
was working at.</i>

246
00:19:06,103 --> 00:19:11,724
[Khadija speaking]

247
00:19:34,965 --> 00:19:37,757
I walked in on my mother
one time crying, praying

248
00:19:37,758 --> 00:19:38,965
in the chicken spot.

249
00:19:39,862 --> 00:19:41,689
<i>You don't want to see
your mother like that.</i>

250
00:19:42,275 --> 00:19:43,862
[Zack] <i>To see
what she was going through,</i>

251
00:19:43,965 --> 00:19:46,586
I was like, "I got to help.
I got to do something."

252
00:19:46,689 --> 00:19:49,068
But French was already
ten steps ahead of me.

253
00:19:50,103 --> 00:19:53,862
[Karim] <i>I became my father
when he left at an early age.</i>

254
00:19:54,724 --> 00:19:57,000
<i>We're not doing that.
It's gonna stop here.</i>

255
00:19:59,137 --> 00:20:00,930
<i>I'm trying to go to college
'cause I played ball,</i>

256
00:20:00,931 --> 00:20:02,827
<i>and it was like,
"We can't give you scholarship.</i>

257
00:20:02,931 --> 00:20:04,447
<i>You have no papers."
I can't get a job.</i>

258
00:20:04,448 --> 00:20:06,206
<i>I don't got no Social Security.</i>

259
00:20:06,310 --> 00:20:08,724
<i>I'm a real immigrant,
fresh off the boat.</i>

260
00:20:08,827 --> 00:20:10,379
<i>You know what I'm saying?</i>

261
00:20:10,517 --> 00:20:11,689
<i>So it was just like,</i>

262
00:20:12,172 --> 00:20:13,689
<i>what other options you got?</i>

263
00:20:14,551 --> 00:20:16,034
Hit the streets.

264
00:20:18,482 --> 00:20:19,896
[Zack] <i>Once they kill
your dreams,</i>

265
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,862
<i>you start leaning towards</i>

266
00:20:22,793 --> 00:20:26,000
the things that you know
is gonna get you the fast money.

267
00:20:26,724 --> 00:20:28,655
The difficult part,
knowing that my mother

268
00:20:28,758 --> 00:20:30,172
just sacrificed
everything for us.

269
00:20:30,275 --> 00:20:33,689
And if I get locked up,
I just smacked her in the face.

270
00:20:34,689 --> 00:20:36,654
But knowing
if I don't take these chances,

271
00:20:36,655 --> 00:20:39,689
<i>she gonna be working
at this chicken place 12 hours,</i>

272
00:20:39,793 --> 00:20:41,379
<i>for a hundred dollars a day.</i>

273
00:20:44,172 --> 00:20:46,517
The only thing you can do
is take those chances.

274
00:20:48,517 --> 00:20:50,792
[gentle music playing]

275
00:20:50,793 --> 00:20:53,793
[conversation in Arabic]

276
00:21:33,724 --> 00:21:37,240
[hip-hop instrumental music
plays]

277
00:21:37,241 --> 00:21:39,688
[Karim] <i>So, Lafontaine
High School.</i>

278
00:21:39,689 --> 00:21:41,205
<i>So, I used to go to school.</i>

279
00:21:41,206 --> 00:21:43,688
<i>Every day, there was somebody
out there pumping,</i>

280
00:21:43,689 --> 00:21:45,413
crack, whatever,
anything you want.

281
00:21:46,068 --> 00:21:48,724
<i>There was a barbershop
right downstairs.</i>

282
00:21:48,827 --> 00:21:51,068
<i>Everything that goes on
get talked about there.</i>

283
00:21:51,172 --> 00:21:53,413
<i>He a legend out here,
man, for real.</i>

284
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,344
For real,
one of the last few standing.

285
00:21:56,448 --> 00:21:57,965
You're a legend in my book.

286
00:21:58,103 --> 00:21:59,310
- Feel me?
- My man.

287
00:21:59,758 --> 00:22:02,344
<i>Let them know, you used to be
cutting my hair, I had a vest.</i>

288
00:22:02,448 --> 00:22:04,379
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, all that.

289
00:22:04,517 --> 00:22:06,482
Yeah, you sure you want
to go into that?

290
00:22:07,344 --> 00:22:09,274
Yeah. That was the bad times,

291
00:22:09,275 --> 00:22:10,689
- wasn't it?
- Yeah, yeah.

292
00:22:10,827 --> 00:22:12,689
[Doug] <i>You ain't want
to go through that, did you?</i>

293
00:22:12,827 --> 00:22:14,379
<i>I tried to tell you 'bout that.</i>

294
00:22:15,137 --> 00:22:16,206
<i>But like I said,</i>

295
00:22:16,344 --> 00:22:18,344
<i>y'all little kids
was hardheaded,</i>

296
00:22:18,482 --> 00:22:19,620
<i>you know?</i>

297
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,000
- You don't listen to nothing.
- Doug was cutting my hair.

298
00:22:23,827 --> 00:22:25,862
So he cutting my hair
from the back.

299
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,000
He go like this to the joint.

300
00:22:27,137 --> 00:22:28,517
He like,
"What is this, a vest on?"

301
00:22:28,655 --> 00:22:30,585
Yeah. "What is this, a vest on?

302
00:22:30,586 --> 00:22:32,447
What you bringing in my store?"

303
00:22:32,448 --> 00:22:34,310
Yeah, things like that.

304
00:22:34,413 --> 00:22:36,689
I was getting a cut,
and I had to have a hoodie on,

305
00:22:36,793 --> 00:22:40,965
the vest under,
and a 40 right in my pocket.

306
00:22:41,620 --> 00:22:45,379
And I'd be like, "Yo, Doug,
cut me facing the door."

307
00:22:46,310 --> 00:22:48,172
- You know?
- Yeah, facing the door.

308
00:22:48,310 --> 00:22:49,964
So nothing happens to you.

309
00:22:49,965 --> 00:22:52,068
[Karim laughs]

310
00:22:53,241 --> 00:22:56,689
- Yo, Doug, you can talk on here.
- Yeah. You kept me sharp, too,

311
00:22:56,793 --> 00:22:58,931
<i>'cause when you came around,
what I got to carry?</i>

312
00:22:59,034 --> 00:23:01,275
- [Karim laughs]
- [Doug] <i>Right?</i>

313
00:23:02,896 --> 00:23:05,033
Nah, Doug, man,
you still over there, same spot?

314
00:23:05,034 --> 00:23:07,205
Yeah, yeah, I'm still
at the same spot.

315
00:23:07,206 --> 00:23:08,551
When y'all go in
and out of jail,

316
00:23:08,689 --> 00:23:10,205
I'm still in the same spot.

317
00:23:10,206 --> 00:23:12,723
- Nah, I've been doing good.
- I ain't going nowhere.

318
00:23:12,724 --> 00:23:15,517
- I've been doing good, you know?
- Yeah, I hope so.

319
00:23:18,172 --> 00:23:20,827
I was like 18 years old
when I started selling drugs.

320
00:23:20,931 --> 00:23:22,758
<i>I wasn't really thinking
about the drugs.</i>

321
00:23:22,862 --> 00:23:24,516
<i>I was thinking about
getting deported.</i>

322
00:23:24,517 --> 00:23:25,758
<i>There wasn't no social media</i>

323
00:23:25,862 --> 00:23:27,241
where you could become
an influencer.

324
00:23:27,344 --> 00:23:29,172
<i>The influencers was
the drug dealers.</i>

325
00:23:29,275 --> 00:23:31,862
<i>That's all you see
when you walk outside.</i>

326
00:23:34,379 --> 00:23:37,965
<i>So, people got the Montana
from</i> Scarface, <i>Tony Montana.</i>

327
00:23:38,103 --> 00:23:39,689
<i>It was just an immigrant story,</i>

328
00:23:39,793 --> 00:23:42,689
<i>him just making his way
from a dishwasher</i>

329
00:23:42,793 --> 00:23:44,620
<i>all the way to being the boss.</i>

330
00:23:44,724 --> 00:23:46,585
You know?
That was the only time.

331
00:23:46,586 --> 00:23:49,068
Escaping poverty was
the only time my spirits was up.

332
00:23:49,172 --> 00:23:50,827
<i>So we would all come together.</i>

333
00:23:50,965 --> 00:23:53,067
<i>We would all sling whatever
the fuck we got to sling,</i>

334
00:23:53,068 --> 00:23:57,000
<i>whether it's guns,
it's coke, weed, this, that.</i>

335
00:23:57,793 --> 00:24:00,137
<i>At first I did it
to get my mother out of there,</i>

336
00:24:00,241 --> 00:24:02,517
and it became something
that it was just like,

337
00:24:02,655 --> 00:24:05,034
"Oh, I can make
this type of money?"

338
00:24:05,137 --> 00:24:06,310
<i>Got a Range Rover.</i>

339
00:24:06,413 --> 00:24:08,379
<i>Living in a one-bedroom
with my mother,</i>

340
00:24:08,517 --> 00:24:09,896
<i>parking it outside.</i>

341
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,551
<i>I was feeling myself.
I was feeling myself</i>

342
00:24:11,689 --> 00:24:13,724
<i>to the point I was buying shit
I can't afford.</i>

343
00:24:13,862 --> 00:24:15,965
<i>Start doing shit
that's not in my character.</i>

344
00:24:16,758 --> 00:24:18,481
<i>But we was just living
so reckless.</i>

345
00:24:18,482 --> 00:24:21,172
<i>Like, I had a gun
and a vest on me for years.</i>

346
00:24:21,310 --> 00:24:24,517
<i>I hid it from my mother
by putting it in sneaker boxes,</i>

347
00:24:24,620 --> 00:24:25,757
<i>wherever I could hide it.</i>

348
00:24:25,758 --> 00:24:27,206
<i>There was a risk of deportation</i>

349
00:24:27,344 --> 00:24:28,689
<i>every time I got locked up.</i>

350
00:24:28,827 --> 00:24:31,137
<i>I had to think about
how the police gonna catch me</i>

351
00:24:31,241 --> 00:24:32,964
<i>before it even crossed
their mind.</i>

352
00:24:32,965 --> 00:24:35,274
French was one
of the first niggas I seen

353
00:24:35,275 --> 00:24:37,724
<i>that put a pistol in the roof
of the car, the hood,</i>

354
00:24:37,862 --> 00:24:40,309
<i>tying a shoelace to a gun,
putting it in a plastic bag,</i>

355
00:24:40,310 --> 00:24:42,862
tying a plastic bag,
and tying it to the battery.

356
00:24:42,965 --> 00:24:44,206
<i>You know when cops
pull you over,</i>

357
00:24:44,310 --> 00:24:45,551
<i>they're gonna search the trunk.</i>

358
00:24:45,689 --> 00:24:47,793
<i>They're not searching
the hood of the car</i>

359
00:24:47,896 --> 00:24:49,172
<i>where the engine is.</i>

360
00:25:01,620 --> 00:25:04,586
It's not something
that you're proud of.

361
00:25:04,689 --> 00:25:05,758
You know?

362
00:25:05,862 --> 00:25:08,827
I think that God
put our back to the wall.

363
00:25:08,931 --> 00:25:10,344
<i>Your mother's getting tortured</i>

364
00:25:10,448 --> 00:25:12,999
<i>'cause she made that decision
to stay with you?</i>

365
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,896
<i>That's something
psychologically</i>

366
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,517
<i>that could break you.</i>

367
00:25:16,620 --> 00:25:18,793
<i>Just like how he backed me
into a corner to make music,</i>

368
00:25:18,931 --> 00:25:21,654
'cause my life was gonna end
if I kept on doing that.

369
00:25:21,655 --> 00:25:23,999
Now let's go. DFL over there.

370
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,827
Hellbound over here.
What the fuck? Let's go.

371
00:25:26,931 --> 00:25:29,827
Let's go, baby.
Come on, Gunna, let's go.

372
00:25:29,931 --> 00:25:31,931
[man] Go, nigga.
It's now or never, nigga.

373
00:25:32,068 --> 00:25:33,275
Listen, man.

374
00:25:33,379 --> 00:25:35,586
<i>♪ I banged early, came pearly ♪</i>

375
00:25:35,689 --> 00:25:38,068
<i>♪ Holdin' toast
with both hands, surely ♪</i>

376
00:25:38,206 --> 00:25:39,413
<i>♪ It's the dope, man, dirty ♪</i>

377
00:25:39,551 --> 00:25:41,931
<i>♪ Coke grams 30,
and hope, fam ♪</i>

378
00:25:42,034 --> 00:25:43,517
<i>♪ Know my whole clan dirty ♪</i>

379
00:25:43,620 --> 00:25:45,931
<i>♪ Whoa, there, shorty,
see that chrome 40 ♪</i>

380
00:25:46,517 --> 00:25:49,793
Keep it all the way 100,
when I first heard French rap,

381
00:25:49,931 --> 00:25:52,379
I was like, "Aw, he trash.
He ain't goin' nowhere."

382
00:25:52,482 --> 00:25:53,861
<i>He kept at it.</i>

383
00:25:53,862 --> 00:25:57,068
The battle rap era was it.
That shit was everything.

384
00:25:57,758 --> 00:25:58,861
<i>Niggas talking shit.</i>

385
00:25:58,862 --> 00:26:00,448
<i>"Yo, you want to put up some?"</i>

386
00:26:00,586 --> 00:26:02,620
<i>Like, "Yeah,
I would put up some."</i>

387
00:26:02,724 --> 00:26:03,793
<i>"You want to put up some?"</i>

388
00:26:03,896 --> 00:26:04,965
Before you know it, shit,

389
00:26:05,103 --> 00:26:06,413
$4,000 or $5,000,

390
00:26:06,517 --> 00:26:08,034
<i>and you go meet up on a corner</i>

391
00:26:08,137 --> 00:26:09,447
<i>and y'all battle,</i>

392
00:26:09,448 --> 00:26:11,931
<i>and it's no real judges
or none of that shit.</i>

393
00:26:12,034 --> 00:26:15,172
In the beginning, it was crowd
and you got to keep it real.

394
00:26:15,310 --> 00:26:19,344
You had to get molded around,
you know, real life

395
00:26:19,448 --> 00:26:22,310
to rap in front of a bunch
of killers and drug dealers

396
00:26:22,413 --> 00:26:23,655
and niggas from the block,

397
00:26:23,758 --> 00:26:25,310
<i>and everybody got to be
looking at you</i>

398
00:26:25,448 --> 00:26:27,240
<i>- and feeling you.
- If you lost, you lost.</i>

399
00:26:27,241 --> 00:26:29,068
Look at the nigga,
give him a pound.

400
00:26:29,172 --> 00:26:33,310
It was an agreement,
a mutual agreement, a consensus.

401
00:26:33,413 --> 00:26:35,517
Just rapping outside,
like, going to Fight Club,

402
00:26:35,620 --> 00:26:39,137
battling, like, putting up
my own money, $20,000 at a time.

403
00:26:39,241 --> 00:26:42,689
You had to have the battle raps.
You had to have the song raps.

404
00:26:42,793 --> 00:26:44,482
<i>You had to have
your whole swag together.</i>

405
00:26:44,620 --> 00:26:46,274
[Zack] <i>He took losses</i>

406
00:26:46,275 --> 00:26:48,517
and knew how to come back
and never lose again,

407
00:26:49,482 --> 00:26:51,103
'cause when you coming
on the street,

408
00:26:51,206 --> 00:26:53,517
$5,000 was like 100 bands
back then.

409
00:26:53,655 --> 00:26:55,000
After you lose that first five,

410
00:26:55,137 --> 00:26:57,792
you gonna go straight home
and practice your bars.

411
00:26:57,793 --> 00:27:01,965
[Karim] <i>The hip-hop lifestyle
was a form of expression,</i>

412
00:27:02,068 --> 00:27:03,793
<i>therapy for the soul.</i>

413
00:27:04,310 --> 00:27:05,482
I was going through things

414
00:27:05,586 --> 00:27:07,448
that I could only explain
in my music.

415
00:27:27,517 --> 00:27:28,964
Coming from Morocco

416
00:27:28,965 --> 00:27:31,413
and landing
in the mecca of hip-hop,

417
00:27:31,551 --> 00:27:32,965
<i>you're gonna hear
a thousand noes</i>

418
00:27:33,068 --> 00:27:34,343
<i>before you hear one yes</i>

419
00:27:34,344 --> 00:27:36,068
<i>about anything
you're trying to do with rap.</i>

420
00:27:36,206 --> 00:27:38,343
<i>They don't want to let nobody
into this hip-hop thing</i>

421
00:27:38,344 --> 00:27:41,034
that they created,
especially a kid from Africa.

422
00:27:41,137 --> 00:27:42,827
So I had to prove myself.

423
00:27:42,931 --> 00:27:44,310
<i>♪ Leave a hole in your chest ♪</i>

424
00:27:44,413 --> 00:27:46,896
<i>♪ Size of Reggie Miller head,
motherfucker ♪</i>

425
00:27:48,413 --> 00:27:52,379
It was either making music,
selling drugs, or kidnapping.

426
00:27:52,482 --> 00:27:54,758
Like, what would you choose?

427
00:27:56,448 --> 00:27:57,862
[car horn honks]

428
00:28:07,827 --> 00:28:10,034
I don't know what y'all want.
Get whatever y'all want, man.

429
00:28:10,137 --> 00:28:12,517
I don't know what y'all want.
This bodega life.

430
00:28:12,620 --> 00:28:15,206
[upbeat music plays over radio]

431
00:28:15,310 --> 00:28:17,551
- Thank you, brother.
- Thank you so much.

432
00:28:25,172 --> 00:28:28,965
Damn, we, like, in--
This what you call a red zone.

433
00:28:29,379 --> 00:28:30,862
See that box right there?

434
00:28:31,241 --> 00:28:33,551
That's, like,
a shot-detection box.

435
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,413
You're automatically
gonna get riots. Type shit.

436
00:28:36,896 --> 00:28:38,103
Back in those days,

437
00:28:38,206 --> 00:28:42,000
it was way harder
to be respected

438
00:28:42,103 --> 00:28:43,965
<i>as a gangster rapper
or something</i>

439
00:28:44,068 --> 00:28:46,275
<i>unless you looked
and felt a certain way.</i>

440
00:28:46,379 --> 00:28:48,931
You had to be
a certain type of individual

441
00:28:49,034 --> 00:28:51,517
to get that credit
as a gangster rapper.

442
00:28:51,620 --> 00:28:53,103
<i>You know what I'm saying?</i>

443
00:28:53,206 --> 00:28:55,137
<i>French, he's a street dude.
You know what I'm saying?</i>

444
00:28:55,241 --> 00:28:58,137
<i>Like, and people wasn't--
they wasn't really seeing that</i>

445
00:28:58,275 --> 00:29:00,827
<i>or really respecting
that initially.</i>

446
00:29:00,965 --> 00:29:03,551
Everything is word of mouth.
Who got shot is word of mouth.

447
00:29:03,689 --> 00:29:05,724
<i>Who went to jail
is word of mouth.</i>

448
00:29:05,827 --> 00:29:09,896
After a couple of episodes
and incidents, the streets seen.

449
00:29:11,689 --> 00:29:13,379
[Zack] <i>When he first
started doing music,</i>

450
00:29:13,482 --> 00:29:15,103
<i>he was part
of this little crew.</i>

451
00:29:16,103 --> 00:29:19,481
And, you know,
French was ahead of his time,

452
00:29:19,482 --> 00:29:22,000
and he probably felt like
it was slowing him down.

453
00:29:22,517 --> 00:29:24,379
He started doing his own thing.

454
00:29:25,344 --> 00:29:28,172
And then he started
blowing past them.

455
00:29:28,310 --> 00:29:31,344
<i>♪ Settin' the six fees,
lettin' my wrist freeze ♪</i>

456
00:29:52,103 --> 00:29:55,551
[Zack] <i>It was wintertime,
4:00 or 5:00 in the morning.</i>

457
00:29:56,448 --> 00:29:59,344
I remember my mother
waking me up scared to death.

458
00:29:59,448 --> 00:30:01,689
Like, "Yo, there's some people
in the hallway

459
00:30:01,793 --> 00:30:04,551
<i>asking for your brother,
and they want to come in."</i>

460
00:30:05,965 --> 00:30:07,172
We had one of them lights

461
00:30:07,275 --> 00:30:08,965
that be flickering
in the hallway.

462
00:30:09,068 --> 00:30:12,517
So it's dark, and that shit
come on when it want.

463
00:30:13,206 --> 00:30:14,379
When they came to my door,

464
00:30:14,482 --> 00:30:16,517
it was like four people
in the hallways.

465
00:30:16,655 --> 00:30:19,931
But everybody had big-ass
North Faces on with hoodies.

466
00:30:20,344 --> 00:30:21,586
And it was somebody that I knew

467
00:30:21,689 --> 00:30:23,689
that I would usually see
with my brother.

468
00:30:28,517 --> 00:30:30,102
<i>He's, like, knocking
on the door.</i>

469
00:30:30,103 --> 00:30:31,758
<i>He's like,
"Bro, I got to come in</i>

470
00:30:31,862 --> 00:30:33,102
<i>and tell you something crazy.</i>

471
00:30:33,103 --> 00:30:34,517
They just shot your brother.

472
00:30:34,655 --> 00:30:36,000
I want to come inside the crib

473
00:30:36,137 --> 00:30:38,517
<i>and talk to you
and make sure y'all good."</i>

474
00:30:40,724 --> 00:30:42,689
I still be having nightmares
about this.

475
00:30:42,793 --> 00:30:45,862
It was one little lock
that never even really closed.

476
00:30:46,620 --> 00:30:49,103
<i>So it's just me and my moms
and my little brother.</i>

477
00:30:49,206 --> 00:30:50,931
<i>He's still a baby at the time.</i>

478
00:30:51,482 --> 00:30:54,551
But I already adjusted
to all this--

479
00:30:54,655 --> 00:30:56,482
all the fuckery and everything.

480
00:30:57,689 --> 00:30:59,517
<i>Roaming through the house
and finding things</i>

481
00:30:59,620 --> 00:31:01,862
<i>and knowing what my brother
was dealing with...</i>

482
00:31:03,068 --> 00:31:04,413
I ain't let them in.

483
00:31:06,448 --> 00:31:08,551
<i>And they was getting
frustrated in the hallway.</i>

484
00:31:08,655 --> 00:31:09,931
<i>They started getting loud.</i>

485
00:31:10,413 --> 00:31:13,275
<i>And then I remember having
this neighbor next to me.</i>

486
00:31:13,379 --> 00:31:16,758
He woke up and then he came
to the hallway and was like,

487
00:31:16,862 --> 00:31:18,275
"What's going on out there?"

488
00:31:19,206 --> 00:31:21,793
And I think that's
what just shook them off.

489
00:31:24,379 --> 00:31:28,033
I went to the studio
and just had this deejay,

490
00:31:28,034 --> 00:31:30,724
one guy deejay with me,
not thinking nothing of it,

491
00:31:30,827 --> 00:31:32,895
make music, getting drunk,
this and that.

492
00:31:32,896 --> 00:31:35,655
<i>Now we're leaving.
I say peace to everybody.</i>

493
00:31:35,758 --> 00:31:36,931
<i>Nobody know I'm there.</i>

494
00:31:37,034 --> 00:31:38,275
<i>This is, like, under the bridge</i>

495
00:31:38,379 --> 00:31:40,033
<i>and right by
Mott Haven project.</i>

496
00:31:40,034 --> 00:31:42,413
So, you can see, like,
there's like, they call it

497
00:31:42,551 --> 00:31:44,620
the black hole back here.
Nobody come here.

498
00:31:45,724 --> 00:31:46,758
<i>So, go downstairs.</i>

499
00:31:46,896 --> 00:31:48,448
<i>I just see
two dudes on the corner,</i>

500
00:31:48,586 --> 00:31:49,896
<i>so I'm not thinking
nothing of it.</i>

501
00:31:50,034 --> 00:31:51,206
<i>So we go towards the car.</i>

502
00:31:51,310 --> 00:31:52,620
As soon as we went in,

503
00:31:52,758 --> 00:31:54,275
they was acting
like they was chilling.

504
00:31:54,379 --> 00:31:55,516
They turned around,

505
00:31:55,517 --> 00:31:57,241
pulled two hammers out,
and came towards us.

506
00:31:57,344 --> 00:31:59,448
<i>The deejay scattered.</i>

507
00:31:59,551 --> 00:32:01,482
<i>So I knew they wasn't
after him.</i>

508
00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:03,310
<i>So I'm like, "Oh, shit,
I got set up."</i>

509
00:32:03,413 --> 00:32:05,379
<i>I slipped and fell
trying to get out of there.</i>

510
00:32:05,482 --> 00:32:06,655
<i>One of them fell.</i>

511
00:32:06,793 --> 00:32:08,585
While he on top of me
trying to grab the gun,

512
00:32:08,586 --> 00:32:10,620
he just yelling out,
"Shoot him. Shoot him."

513
00:32:10,724 --> 00:32:12,585
<i>Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop.</i>

514
00:32:12,586 --> 00:32:15,655
<i>You know?
And the shots stopped.</i>

515
00:32:15,758 --> 00:32:18,275
And when homeboy
took off, I just--

516
00:32:18,965 --> 00:32:22,827
You know, I threw homeboy
that was on top of me off of me.

517
00:32:23,655 --> 00:32:26,447
You know,
and he was shot, you know.

518
00:32:26,448 --> 00:32:28,000
I mean, we was both shot.

519
00:32:28,137 --> 00:32:29,827
Probably still got some holes.

520
00:32:31,689 --> 00:32:35,793
So I go to try
to shoot him in the face.

521
00:32:36,275 --> 00:32:38,793
When I go to try
to shoot him, the gun jammed.

522
00:32:39,655 --> 00:32:42,412
- That was God again.
- [siren wailing]

523
00:32:42,413 --> 00:32:45,413
[Zack] <i>An hour later,
French girl at the time call me</i>

524
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,586
<i>and was like, "Your brother
just got shot in the head.</i>

525
00:32:48,689 --> 00:32:50,620
<i>He's in-he's in ICU."</i>

526
00:32:52,172 --> 00:32:53,965
<i>I end up going
to Lincoln Hospital</i>

527
00:32:54,068 --> 00:32:55,068
<i>in the Bronx.</i>

528
00:32:56,689 --> 00:32:58,757
[Karim] <i>The girl I used
to mess with at the time,</i>

529
00:32:58,758 --> 00:33:00,067
<i>her mother came in.</i>

530
00:33:00,068 --> 00:33:02,793
I'm still in a daze.
I'm still, like, confused.

531
00:33:02,896 --> 00:33:06,517
So she's like,
"Yo, homeboy that drove you here

532
00:33:06,655 --> 00:33:08,344
is the one that set you up."

533
00:33:08,793 --> 00:33:09,862
[monitor beeping]

534
00:33:09,965 --> 00:33:11,172
[Zack] <i>I go in his room.</i>

535
00:33:11,275 --> 00:33:13,551
<i>He's literally
just sitting on his bed,</i>

536
00:33:13,689 --> 00:33:16,758
head wrapped, like,
you know what I mean?

537
00:33:16,896 --> 00:33:19,482
And that's the first time
I really seen my brother cry,

538
00:33:19,586 --> 00:33:21,551
like, as a man.

539
00:33:23,689 --> 00:33:25,310
<i>When baggy clothes was in...</i>

540
00:33:27,034 --> 00:33:29,862
<i>I seen bullet holes
all over his clothes.</i>

541
00:33:31,379 --> 00:33:32,551
<i>He put my jacket on,</i>

542
00:33:32,689 --> 00:33:35,379
took all, like, the IVs

543
00:33:35,482 --> 00:33:37,206
and everything off him,
and he walked out.

544
00:33:37,344 --> 00:33:39,206
<i>Me and him walked out,
out the hospital.</i>

545
00:33:39,310 --> 00:33:41,206
He put the hoodie on,
and we left.

546
00:33:43,379 --> 00:33:45,448
[ominous music plays]

547
00:33:45,551 --> 00:33:47,517
I was conflicted
from every direction.

548
00:33:47,620 --> 00:33:49,034
<i>The person that
shot me up came to my house</i>

549
00:33:49,137 --> 00:33:50,826
<i>and broke fast
with me and my mother.</i>

550
00:33:50,827 --> 00:33:52,482
<i>It was somebody
that I grew up with.</i>

551
00:33:52,586 --> 00:33:54,688
<i>They came in there and said,
"Salam alaykum," sat down,</i>

552
00:33:54,689 --> 00:33:56,931
<i>ate with me on Ramadan,
came to see my mother.</i>

553
00:33:57,965 --> 00:33:59,862
That's how real
it was in the hood.

554
00:34:00,379 --> 00:34:04,103
My environment was cutthroat,
as cutthroat as it gets.

555
00:34:04,206 --> 00:34:05,895
[Zack] <i>From that point on,</i>

556
00:34:05,896 --> 00:34:07,931
<i>I just seen
his whole life shift.</i>

557
00:34:10,103 --> 00:34:11,931
<i>He didn't want to tell me
everything, but he knew,</i>

558
00:34:12,034 --> 00:34:14,758
like, deep down inside,
he had to do something.

559
00:34:17,310 --> 00:34:19,310
I remember French
hustling on the street.

560
00:34:19,448 --> 00:34:22,102
I remember French
doing crazy shit,

561
00:34:22,103 --> 00:34:25,103
<i>you know, just to help out
with the bills and everything.</i>

562
00:34:25,551 --> 00:34:29,137
<i>The first time,
you know, I found, like,</i>

563
00:34:29,241 --> 00:34:30,793
some drugs in my crib or...

564
00:34:31,655 --> 00:34:34,067
<i>anything I seen
that was out of the ordinary,</i>

565
00:34:34,068 --> 00:34:35,068
<i>I would ask him,</i>

566
00:34:35,551 --> 00:34:39,103
and he would always tell me,
"Look, we gonna be good.

567
00:34:39,241 --> 00:34:42,275
Let me figure it out.
I don't want you to do nothing."

568
00:34:42,379 --> 00:34:45,275
He always tried to be
like that father figure for me.

569
00:34:45,724 --> 00:34:47,655
That was the breaking point.

570
00:34:48,724 --> 00:34:50,137
<i>That's when I was like,
"I got to stop</i>

571
00:34:50,241 --> 00:34:51,758
<i>and I got to start building
my empire</i>

572
00:34:51,862 --> 00:34:53,172
<i>and leave something
for my family</i>

573
00:34:53,310 --> 00:34:54,827
<i>in case something
happened to me."</i>

574
00:34:54,965 --> 00:34:57,724
<i>It was something that broke
my heart but fixed my vision.</i>

575
00:34:58,275 --> 00:34:59,965
You can't keep smacking
your luck in the face,

576
00:35:00,103 --> 00:35:01,551
is what I'm trying to say.

577
00:35:01,655 --> 00:35:03,758
[chimes tinkling]

578
00:35:35,448 --> 00:35:39,655
Shout-out to Frenchy.
Hey. Hey, Frenchy.

579
00:35:39,758 --> 00:35:41,688
Don't feel
like niggas is stalking you.

580
00:35:41,689 --> 00:35:44,551
You feel like you got
some stalkers on your back?

581
00:35:45,448 --> 00:35:46,931
I heard niggas bombing on you,

582
00:35:47,034 --> 00:35:48,620
stealing on you,
all type of dumb shit.

583
00:35:48,724 --> 00:35:49,896
You gotta be cool, be easy

584
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:51,862
when you're making DVDs, man.

585
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,517
Understand some people
take that shit personal.

586
00:35:54,620 --> 00:35:56,448
[laughs]

587
00:36:04,620 --> 00:36:06,033
[Smack] <i>Trying to tell you,</i>

588
00:36:06,034 --> 00:36:08,655
<i>I used to do the DVD shit.
You know what I mean?</i>

589
00:36:14,758 --> 00:36:16,310
<i>I'm just a product
of the culture</i>

590
00:36:16,448 --> 00:36:18,103
<i>of hip-hop, period.</i>

591
00:36:18,206 --> 00:36:19,861
I got into, like,
you know what I'm saying,

592
00:36:19,862 --> 00:36:22,275
the battle rap culture
in high school.

593
00:36:22,413 --> 00:36:24,240
<i>You know what I mean?
In the lunchroom.</i>

594
00:36:24,241 --> 00:36:26,517
<i>People, like,
going back and forth,</i>

595
00:36:26,620 --> 00:36:28,517
<i>seeing who had
the dopest rhymes.</i>

596
00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:32,379
<i>Then, you know, as we grew up,
it started getting personal,</i>

597
00:36:32,482 --> 00:36:34,620
<i>you throwing dirt
on their name in the rhymes.</i>

598
00:36:34,724 --> 00:36:37,586
<i>And that's what basically
hip-hop is all about,</i>

599
00:36:37,724 --> 00:36:39,241
this competition.

600
00:36:39,344 --> 00:36:41,103
<i>♪ And he's an act,
he don't rap ♪</i>

601
00:36:41,241 --> 00:36:43,137
[Smack] <i>I'm listening
to Jada freestyle.</i>

602
00:36:43,241 --> 00:36:45,412
<i>I'm listening
to Beanie Sigel freestyle,</i>

603
00:36:45,413 --> 00:36:48,241
all these Fabolous freestyles,
and I'm like, "Damn.

604
00:36:48,344 --> 00:36:50,793
Shit would be dope
if I could actually see

605
00:36:50,896 --> 00:36:54,793
<i>these dudes in the studio
laying down these tracks</i>

606
00:36:54,896 --> 00:36:58,517
<i>or see them in their natural
environment in the hood,</i>

607
00:36:58,620 --> 00:37:01,862
<i>the shit that I don't
see on BET or MTV."</i>

608
00:37:01,965 --> 00:37:03,275
<i>Technology caught up with times</i>

609
00:37:03,379 --> 00:37:06,310
<i>when you could actually
buy a handheld camera,</i>

610
00:37:06,413 --> 00:37:09,517
<i>go home, and import
that footage and content</i>

611
00:37:09,620 --> 00:37:11,827
<i>into your computer,
make your own edit.</i>

612
00:37:12,344 --> 00:37:13,792
That shit fascinated me.

613
00:37:13,793 --> 00:37:15,689
That shit was dope.
I was like, "Oh, shit."

614
00:37:15,827 --> 00:37:19,619
Got a computer,
got a camera, FireWire.

615
00:37:19,620 --> 00:37:22,379
You know what I mean?
And import my shit.

616
00:37:22,482 --> 00:37:25,517
And I just started
running outside doing videos

617
00:37:25,620 --> 00:37:26,862
<i>for everybody in the hood,</i>

618
00:37:26,965 --> 00:37:28,517
<i>running up on dudes like,
"Yo, what's up?</i>

619
00:37:28,620 --> 00:37:31,172
Let's do a video. You rap?"
'Cause everybody raps.

620
00:37:31,275 --> 00:37:34,275
<i>Mind you,
this was all prior YouTube.</i>

621
00:37:34,379 --> 00:37:35,586
Back on Smack.

622
00:37:35,689 --> 00:37:37,172
You getting
some first live footage.

623
00:37:37,275 --> 00:37:38,413
You got me first.

624
00:37:38,517 --> 00:37:40,034
[Smack] <i>Everybody started
giving it up.</i>

625
00:37:40,137 --> 00:37:41,930
<i>It was a snowball effect.</i>

626
00:37:41,931 --> 00:37:45,448
<i>I was dropping DVDs
like once every quarter.</i>

627
00:37:46,103 --> 00:37:48,931
It's so easy to get a glimpse
into everybody's life,

628
00:37:49,034 --> 00:37:52,862
<i>but I preferred a time
where it was curated, you know?</i>

629
00:37:52,965 --> 00:37:55,309
<i>And the DVD era
was a curated look</i>

630
00:37:55,310 --> 00:37:57,379
<i>into American rap life,</i>

631
00:37:57,482 --> 00:37:58,827
which, at the time,
we all felt was

632
00:37:58,965 --> 00:38:01,103
the most, like, wide-eyed,

633
00:38:01,206 --> 00:38:03,620
surreal, unattainable lifestyle.

634
00:38:03,758 --> 00:38:06,275
<i>We would just sit there,
mesmerized.</i>

635
00:38:06,379 --> 00:38:08,241
Bang, bang.
We in the building, man.

636
00:38:08,344 --> 00:38:10,827
Anybody still can get it.
You know what it is, man.

637
00:38:10,931 --> 00:38:12,171
- I'm out here.
- Smack!

638
00:38:12,172 --> 00:38:14,689
Those DVDs were, like,
my tutorial

639
00:38:14,793 --> 00:38:16,379
<i>for what I wanted to be.</i>

640
00:38:16,482 --> 00:38:19,344
<i>And French was, like,
such a pioneer in that.</i>

641
00:38:19,448 --> 00:38:21,516
Let me tell y'all something.
I'mma drop a jewel, man.

642
00:38:21,517 --> 00:38:25,205
Like, anything that's successful
in any business,

643
00:38:25,206 --> 00:38:27,516
if it's successful
and have an impact,

644
00:38:27,517 --> 00:38:31,103
within the first 15 months
from your creation,

645
00:38:31,206 --> 00:38:33,655
<i>you're gonna have a competitor
in your marketplace.</i>

646
00:38:33,758 --> 00:38:35,172
Everybody's going through
the door.

647
00:38:35,275 --> 00:38:36,586
I'mma try to slide through
the window.

648
00:38:36,724 --> 00:38:38,551
Play some shit for you.

649
00:38:43,206 --> 00:38:45,068
[Karim] <i>Smack DVD was out.</i>

650
00:38:46,241 --> 00:38:47,758
<i>Me and my bro Cams
was watching it.</i>

651
00:38:47,896 --> 00:38:50,378
<i>We was drinking, watching it,</i>

652
00:38:50,379 --> 00:38:52,241
like, "Let's come out
with our own DVD."

653
00:38:52,379 --> 00:38:53,896
When I met him, he's like,

654
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,448
"Cams, I got to get this money.
Cams, I got to get this money."

655
00:38:57,551 --> 00:38:59,724
You know what I mean?
At the time,

656
00:38:59,827 --> 00:39:01,344
I was into getting money.

657
00:39:10,827 --> 00:39:12,102
[Cams] <i>At the time,
everybody was,</i>

658
00:39:12,103 --> 00:39:13,827
<i>"My shit is crack."
So we was like,</i>

659
00:39:13,965 --> 00:39:17,619
<i>"Our shit is cocaine. It's raw.
It's rawer than crack."</i>

660
00:39:17,620 --> 00:39:22,206
Cocaine City, then that's how
the epidemic of that started.

661
00:39:22,310 --> 00:39:26,000
[old school hip-hop music plays]

662
00:39:31,551 --> 00:39:33,620
He would bring everything
to the crib.

663
00:39:34,344 --> 00:39:35,723
He'll be like,
"Box all these up.

664
00:39:35,724 --> 00:39:37,102
Put the paper in the plastic,

665
00:39:37,103 --> 00:39:39,310
put the co-- put the CD in it,
then put--"

666
00:39:39,965 --> 00:39:43,447
In my head, I'm like,
"Alright, 5,000 DVDs."

667
00:39:43,448 --> 00:39:44,930
He in there slaving me.

668
00:39:44,931 --> 00:39:48,137
<i>As a young kid, I'm like,
"Man, that's dope. Do it."</i>

669
00:39:48,620 --> 00:39:49,931
<i>That's why I'm here</i>

670
00:39:50,034 --> 00:39:51,724
<i>putting all these DVDs together
for you.</i>

671
00:39:51,827 --> 00:39:54,827
Back in the day,
we used to watch Smack.

672
00:39:54,931 --> 00:39:57,172
We used to watch it for...
All the shit was poppin'.

673
00:39:57,275 --> 00:39:59,931
It had everybody on there.
Shea Davis and all that shit.

674
00:40:00,034 --> 00:40:02,102
You remember that shit?
It had everybody on there.

675
00:40:02,103 --> 00:40:03,172
[overlapping chatter]

676
00:40:03,310 --> 00:40:04,724
Cocaine City, that was our shit.

677
00:40:04,827 --> 00:40:06,896
<i>I remember the clip of you
pulling out all the money.</i>

678
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:08,586
[Karim] <i>And it fell
on the floor?</i>

679
00:40:08,689 --> 00:40:11,447
And they used to... After that,
they started calling me French

680
00:40:11,448 --> 00:40:12,827
'cause we look the same.

681
00:40:12,965 --> 00:40:16,482
He just had this attitude
where he was kinda like...

682
00:40:16,620 --> 00:40:19,103
He was kinda
this New York villain.

683
00:40:19,655 --> 00:40:22,793
It was, like, him and his people
against whoever.

684
00:40:22,896 --> 00:40:25,068
I had this idea
of French in my head

685
00:40:25,172 --> 00:40:31,310
as this young, untouchable
mob boss from New York.

686
00:40:31,413 --> 00:40:34,310
It just was wild, man.
It was a wild time.

687
00:40:34,448 --> 00:40:37,482
[man] <i>Our shit was booming
every which way.</i>

688
00:40:37,586 --> 00:40:40,724
And our whole marketing plan
was different from Smack

689
00:40:40,827 --> 00:40:43,723
'cause we didn't want
to be Smack DVD.

690
00:40:43,724 --> 00:40:45,793
You feel me?
We was Cocaine City.

691
00:40:45,896 --> 00:40:47,723
If you had
kind of like a pop song

692
00:40:47,724 --> 00:40:49,310
or something at that time,

693
00:40:50,137 --> 00:40:51,965
you probably wouldn't be
on Cocaine City.

694
00:40:52,655 --> 00:40:54,827
You know, that was not--
that was not the vision.

695
00:40:54,965 --> 00:40:56,379
Cocaine City!

696
00:40:56,482 --> 00:40:58,103
Cocaine City!

697
00:40:58,620 --> 00:41:00,517
Everything was built
off controversy.

698
00:41:00,620 --> 00:41:01,862
Going back in there,
talkin' 'bout

699
00:41:01,965 --> 00:41:04,068
- call the police. You get that?
- [man] Nah.

700
00:41:04,172 --> 00:41:05,413
You ain't get that?

701
00:41:05,551 --> 00:41:07,999
You ain't fucking get that?
You ain't get that?

702
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,758
That's the studio right there.
That's that nigga's car.

703
00:41:13,034 --> 00:41:15,413
Get the police.
Get how many police is out here.

704
00:41:15,551 --> 00:41:17,136
[man] Oh, you want
to get even with me?

705
00:41:17,137 --> 00:41:18,862
Literally had war with people

706
00:41:18,965 --> 00:41:21,137
over certain shit
we put on a DVD.

707
00:41:21,241 --> 00:41:22,724
Niggas go get that DVD,

708
00:41:22,827 --> 00:41:24,482
see who getting
they chain snatched,

709
00:41:25,172 --> 00:41:27,343
<i>who getting robbed,
who getting beat up,</i>

710
00:41:27,344 --> 00:41:28,792
<i>shit like that.</i>

711
00:41:28,793 --> 00:41:30,964
Niggas can't front
on French, though.

712
00:41:30,965 --> 00:41:33,034
You know? At the end of the day,

713
00:41:33,172 --> 00:41:34,241
he made it happen.

714
00:41:38,034 --> 00:41:40,034
[Zack] <i>His plan was,
"I'mma put myself on each DVD.</i>

715
00:41:40,137 --> 00:41:42,551
Then after that,
I'mma just let the music grow."

716
00:41:42,655 --> 00:41:45,379
Wanting to be a rapper
was always the goal.

717
00:41:46,344 --> 00:41:48,724
<i>People was paying
to promote themselves.</i>

718
00:41:49,172 --> 00:41:51,137
<i>I was promoting myself
and getting paid.</i>

719
00:41:51,586 --> 00:41:54,136
So we'll press up 50,000 DVDs,
sell them $5 apiece.

720
00:41:54,137 --> 00:41:57,000
How much is that? $250,000.

721
00:41:57,103 --> 00:41:58,551
<i>I made the $250,000,</i>

722
00:41:58,655 --> 00:42:00,758
<i>and everybody
just finished watching me.</i>

723
00:42:01,344 --> 00:42:02,620
<i>By the time they realized it,</i>

724
00:42:02,724 --> 00:42:05,482
I was already making
crazy cake off of it.

725
00:42:10,310 --> 00:42:11,585
[Zack] <i>As I got older,</i>

726
00:42:11,586 --> 00:42:13,206
<i>our conversations
only became realer.</i>

727
00:42:13,655 --> 00:42:15,206
<i>You know what I mean?</i>

728
00:42:15,896 --> 00:42:19,689
Our biggest conversation
is when, like, my father left

729
00:42:20,103 --> 00:42:21,965
and when he got shot
in the head.

730
00:42:23,517 --> 00:42:25,241
That was probably, like,

731
00:42:25,344 --> 00:42:27,689
<i>the game-changers for me</i>

732
00:42:27,793 --> 00:42:32,275
as a teenager,
'cause in my mind, I was like,

733
00:42:32,758 --> 00:42:35,550
"If-if this man
is outside hustling,

734
00:42:35,551 --> 00:42:37,827
<i>trying to provide
for my family,</i>

735
00:42:37,931 --> 00:42:39,586
<i>who gonna be there
to watch out for him?"</i>

736
00:42:39,689 --> 00:42:41,551
[Karim] <i>He learning things.
He hearing things.</i>

737
00:42:41,655 --> 00:42:44,482
<i>He see me in cars, see me
in this. He see me in that.</i>

738
00:42:44,620 --> 00:42:47,241
<i>The little change
you give him is not enough.</i>

739
00:42:47,344 --> 00:42:49,103
<i>He want his own piece
of cake now.</i>

740
00:42:49,241 --> 00:42:51,034
<i>So he want to make
a name for himself.</i>

741
00:42:51,620 --> 00:42:53,689
[Zack] <i>From there on out,
I was just, like,</i>

742
00:42:53,793 --> 00:42:56,895
<i>doing everything that was
just, like, negative,</i>

743
00:42:56,896 --> 00:42:58,620
<i>carrying pistols on me.</i>

744
00:42:58,758 --> 00:43:02,586
<i>I started doing illegal shit,
like, me and all my friends,</i>

745
00:43:02,689 --> 00:43:05,241
<i>and I stopped even
seeing French.</i>

746
00:43:06,517 --> 00:43:08,206
<i>I stopped seeing him for like--</i>

747
00:43:09,310 --> 00:43:12,000
It would be months
we wouldn't see each other.

748
00:43:13,034 --> 00:43:16,448
<i>And that's what really made me
a different kind of man.</i>

749
00:43:16,551 --> 00:43:19,344
<i>I start moving on my own.
I built my own little circle.</i>

750
00:43:19,448 --> 00:43:23,068
<i>His friends at the time
would be calling him like,</i>

751
00:43:23,172 --> 00:43:25,793
<i>"Yo, your little brother's
moving around like this."</i>

752
00:43:26,206 --> 00:43:27,862
You can fight with somebody
all you want

753
00:43:27,965 --> 00:43:29,309
about what you want for them.

754
00:43:29,310 --> 00:43:32,482
<i>But he had his own--
you know, his own vision.</i>

755
00:43:33,068 --> 00:43:35,344
[Zack] <i>He would come
pull up on me.</i>

756
00:43:36,344 --> 00:43:41,136
<i>Everybody around me in,
you know, expensive-ass shit,</i>

757
00:43:41,137 --> 00:43:43,655
like new cars,
new jewelry, new everything.

758
00:43:43,758 --> 00:43:45,793
We was 18, 19 at the time.

759
00:43:46,241 --> 00:43:48,862
And at that point,
he was just looking at me like,

760
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:52,034
"Man, you got no idea."

761
00:43:53,862 --> 00:43:56,068
[Karim] <i>I think my lifestyle
was a negative influence,</i>

762
00:43:56,206 --> 00:43:58,965
<i>but there was nothing else
that was positive around us.</i>

763
00:43:59,068 --> 00:44:00,896
<i>And it was to the point
where I remember</i>

764
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,758
<i>he got a bunch of money
for something.</i>

765
00:44:02,896 --> 00:44:05,000
<i>I grabbed it from him
to hold it for him</i>

766
00:44:05,103 --> 00:44:07,655
<i>and to help him, you know,
flip it towards something</i>

767
00:44:07,758 --> 00:44:09,275
<i>that I was doing,
this and that.</i>

768
00:44:09,413 --> 00:44:12,241
<i>I held it too long,
and he came to grab it.</i>

769
00:44:12,344 --> 00:44:13,448
<i>We ended up fighting,</i>

770
00:44:13,551 --> 00:44:15,655
<i>broke the table, this and that.</i>

771
00:44:15,758 --> 00:44:17,172
<i>I'm like,
"He's getting older."</i>

772
00:44:17,758 --> 00:44:19,655
<i>So he ain't even let me,
you know,</i>

773
00:44:19,758 --> 00:44:21,103
<i>teach him how to do his money.</i>

774
00:44:21,241 --> 00:44:22,793
<i>Once I had that fight
with him, I was like,</i>

775
00:44:22,896 --> 00:44:25,793
<i>"Nah, he grown now. Let him go
figure out how life is."</i>

776
00:44:27,034 --> 00:44:29,689
She wanted us
to have a safe life.

777
00:44:29,793 --> 00:44:31,517
She didn't want to bury
none of her kids.

778
00:44:33,724 --> 00:44:37,482
<i>My moms is quiet.</i>

779
00:44:37,586 --> 00:44:40,206
<i>She-she got her own beliefs.</i>

780
00:44:40,310 --> 00:44:41,724
<i>She don't never deal
with people.</i>

781
00:44:41,827 --> 00:44:43,827
<i>She don't never
befriend nobody.</i>

782
00:44:44,896 --> 00:44:47,206
Like, you know,
after my pops left,

783
00:44:47,310 --> 00:44:49,517
I never seen that woman
with another man.

784
00:44:50,206 --> 00:44:51,206
Not once.

785
00:44:53,241 --> 00:44:55,275
<i>Imagine her being
in the States alone.</i>

786
00:44:55,413 --> 00:44:57,931
<i>All her sisters
and brothers is in Morocco.</i>

787
00:44:58,724 --> 00:45:00,000
<i>Imagine not seeing
your brothers</i>

788
00:45:00,103 --> 00:45:01,827
<i>and sisters
for 20-something years.</i>

789
00:45:03,310 --> 00:45:04,551
<i>You there alone.</i>

790
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:18,413
[upbeat hip-hop music playing]

791
00:47:04,448 --> 00:47:06,620
[indistinct conversations]

792
00:47:12,103 --> 00:47:14,000
[speaking in Arabic]

793
00:47:14,103 --> 00:47:16,137
[laughing]

794
00:47:23,896 --> 00:47:25,241
She really praying.

795
00:47:38,517 --> 00:47:42,275
[Zack speaking]

796
00:47:50,896 --> 00:47:52,240
I asked if she was nervous.

797
00:47:52,241 --> 00:47:55,275
She said, "What you mean,
I'm nervous? I'm happy."

798
00:47:58,413 --> 00:48:00,862
"Why do you think I'm nervous?
I'm going to court?"

799
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:07,000
25 years.

800
00:48:07,482 --> 00:48:11,068
[gentle music plays]

801
00:48:36,379 --> 00:48:39,826
We did the DVDs
for like five, six years.

802
00:48:39,827 --> 00:48:43,068
Six, seven years French
was unsigned until he met--

803
00:48:43,655 --> 00:48:44,654
until he met Max.

804
00:48:44,655 --> 00:48:46,896
<i>♪ Y'all can hate all you want ♪</i>

805
00:48:47,517 --> 00:48:48,827
<i>♪ It gotta be the life</i>

806
00:48:48,931 --> 00:48:51,103
I look like a boss.
I feel like a boss.

807
00:48:51,206 --> 00:48:52,827
I taste like a boss, nigga.

808
00:48:52,931 --> 00:48:54,068
Max Biggavel.

809
00:48:54,206 --> 00:48:56,586
<i>♪ Yeah, it gotta be the life ♪</i>

810
00:48:56,689 --> 00:48:58,068
<i>♪ The life ♪</i>

811
00:48:58,206 --> 00:49:01,068
<i>♪ We for real, dawg
we will kill y'all ♪</i>

812
00:49:01,172 --> 00:49:04,172
<i>♪ Shoot you up and cut you,
fucking with us ♪</i>

813
00:49:04,275 --> 00:49:06,378
[indistinct chatter]

814
00:49:06,379 --> 00:49:08,517
[song fades]

815
00:49:09,965 --> 00:49:11,965
[birds chirping]

816
00:49:12,551 --> 00:49:14,758
[indistinct chatter]

817
00:49:21,758 --> 00:49:24,655
[Max B] <i>I be doing crazy shit,
cheating on my women</i>

818
00:49:24,758 --> 00:49:26,344
and just dramatic bullshit.

819
00:49:26,448 --> 00:49:28,448
You hear
all that shit in my music.

820
00:49:28,931 --> 00:49:31,448
<i>"He's a fucking degenerate,
that Max B.</i>

821
00:49:31,551 --> 00:49:34,413
<i>But, boy, do he motherfucking
write them songs."</i>

822
00:49:34,517 --> 00:49:36,000
When they say shit
like that about you,

823
00:49:36,103 --> 00:49:37,931
I don't give a fuck,
I don't care.

824
00:49:38,068 --> 00:49:39,862
"Oh, boy, oh, boy,

825
00:49:39,965 --> 00:49:44,275
that motherfucker Max drunk,
drunk, degenerate, horny.

826
00:49:44,379 --> 00:49:46,861
Damn, that motherfucker
rich as hell.

827
00:49:46,862 --> 00:49:49,103
He's a rich,
talented motherfucker, though."

828
00:49:49,206 --> 00:49:51,757
And when they finish
with lines like that, who cares?

829
00:49:51,758 --> 00:49:54,448
Who gives a fuck what they say?
I don't give a fuck.

830
00:49:56,413 --> 00:49:58,689
<i>I think I met French
in like '07.</i>

831
00:49:59,344 --> 00:50:01,965
<i>I was doing my thing.
He was doing his thing.</i>

832
00:50:02,482 --> 00:50:04,688
That was it. Once we started
fucking with each other,

833
00:50:04,689 --> 00:50:06,793
that was it.
Like, that's my man.

834
00:50:06,931 --> 00:50:08,482
When I first seen him,

835
00:50:08,620 --> 00:50:10,586
he had somebody play
the video for me.

836
00:50:10,689 --> 00:50:13,241
<i>It was, like,
a little Internet joint.</i>

837
00:50:13,344 --> 00:50:14,965
<i>They was like,
"Look at his sample.</i>

838
00:50:15,103 --> 00:50:16,655
<i>He wanted to holler at you."</i>

839
00:50:16,758 --> 00:50:18,275
We ain't even know each other.

840
00:50:18,413 --> 00:50:20,585
I was seeing little videos
he was doing.

841
00:50:20,586 --> 00:50:22,757
I'm like, "Alright,
son on his shit."

842
00:50:22,758 --> 00:50:25,689
So next thing, we hooked up,
we got to the studio,

843
00:50:26,137 --> 00:50:27,412
<i>and then that was it.</i>

844
00:50:27,413 --> 00:50:28,965
<i>We worked on a couple
little underground cuts.</i>

845
00:50:29,103 --> 00:50:30,448
<i>We started fucking
with each other.</i>

846
00:50:30,551 --> 00:50:32,896
<i>Then we got cool
and we was like brothers.</i>

847
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:36,586
<i>Our relationship based on
more of, you know, friendship.</i>

848
00:50:36,689 --> 00:50:37,758
<i>That's my dude.</i>

849
00:50:37,862 --> 00:50:39,896
Hey, Frenchy, baby,
let's get them.

850
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:42,965
[hip-hop music playing]

851
00:50:44,655 --> 00:50:48,586
<i>So you would grind. If you had
a nice DVD, back then Smack,</i>

852
00:50:49,103 --> 00:50:51,275
if your camera shit was up,
your WorldStar shit,

853
00:50:51,413 --> 00:50:52,930
that's how you was popping.

854
00:50:52,931 --> 00:50:55,689
Max was the hottest thing
in the city, smoking hot.

855
00:50:55,793 --> 00:50:57,448
<i>The only person
that was going more viral</i>

856
00:50:57,551 --> 00:51:00,310
<i>than Max and me was Tupac when
he was beefing with Biggie.</i>

857
00:51:00,413 --> 00:51:02,758
<i>At this time, me and Max
be running the city.</i>

858
00:51:02,862 --> 00:51:06,206
We dropped "Coke Wave 1,"
"Coke Wave 2," Coke Wave 3."

859
00:51:06,344 --> 00:51:07,792
<i>There's nobody fucking with us.</i>

860
00:51:07,793 --> 00:51:09,206
[Max B] <i>You know how many times</i>

861
00:51:09,344 --> 00:51:11,000
<i>we ran up on motherfuckers
and gave that out?</i>

862
00:51:11,103 --> 00:51:12,447
<i>Niggas was like,
"This shit look official,"</i>

863
00:51:12,448 --> 00:51:14,000
and grabbed it
'cause it looked good?

864
00:51:14,103 --> 00:51:16,757
Just 'cause the way
French would package the shit.

865
00:51:16,758 --> 00:51:19,482
[up-tempo hip-hop music plays]

866
00:51:24,206 --> 00:51:25,930
<i>Them niggas would come
to my crib every day.</i>

867
00:51:25,931 --> 00:51:27,655
<i>I got a studio in my crib.</i>

868
00:51:27,758 --> 00:51:29,482
<i>Everybody was
at my house every day.</i>

869
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:32,482
Yonkers every day.
Cookouts I did every day.

870
00:51:32,620 --> 00:51:34,000
<i>We spent time together.</i>

871
00:51:35,482 --> 00:51:37,724
[Karim] <i>I was from the Bronx.
He was from Harlem.</i>

872
00:51:37,827 --> 00:51:39,517
It was one
of those friendships, man,

873
00:51:39,620 --> 00:51:41,655
that was like we grew
a bond like brothers,

874
00:51:41,793 --> 00:51:43,275
like, outside of the music.

875
00:51:43,793 --> 00:51:45,827
French such a good-hearted
person

876
00:51:46,517 --> 00:51:49,931
that, you know, Max had problems
that became our problems.

877
00:51:50,517 --> 00:51:52,172
Anybody that's affiliated
with that whole shit,

878
00:51:52,310 --> 00:51:54,517
you help that whole shit out,
we taking you down, too.

879
00:51:54,620 --> 00:51:56,310
[Zack] <i>You couldn't
separate them two.</i>

880
00:51:56,758 --> 00:52:00,206
<i>French beef became Max beef.
Max beef became French beef.</i>

881
00:52:00,896 --> 00:52:02,103
At the time, Jim Jones

882
00:52:02,241 --> 00:52:03,758
<i>was one of the biggest artists
in New York.</i>

883
00:52:04,172 --> 00:52:07,517
<i>Him and Max B, he had Byrd Gang
and they had just broke up.</i>

884
00:52:07,620 --> 00:52:08,793
<i>Max wanted to feed his family,</i>

885
00:52:08,896 --> 00:52:10,379
<i>wanted to get out
of his contract.</i>

886
00:52:10,482 --> 00:52:11,793
<i>I felt where
he was coming from.</i>

887
00:52:11,896 --> 00:52:13,551
I wasn't trying to get
to the technicals of it,

888
00:52:13,655 --> 00:52:16,068
like, "Oh, yo, Max,
he's right, or he's right."

889
00:52:16,206 --> 00:52:18,551
It was like,
"That's my nigga. Let's ride."

890
00:52:22,620 --> 00:52:26,931
French's affiliation
with Max B was...

891
00:52:29,172 --> 00:52:31,034
It was a problem out here.

892
00:52:31,137 --> 00:52:33,103
- A big one.
- It was a problem.

893
00:52:33,206 --> 00:52:34,275
Niggas lip-synching

894
00:52:34,413 --> 00:52:36,448
and swagger jacking
over there, baby.

895
00:52:36,551 --> 00:52:38,724
Them niggas over there
stealing songs,

896
00:52:38,827 --> 00:52:40,551
swagger jacking
and lip-synching.

897
00:52:40,655 --> 00:52:42,275
Milli Vanilli-ass niggas.

898
00:52:42,379 --> 00:52:46,965
Max B was having a situation
with Jim Jones...

899
00:52:47,068 --> 00:52:48,965
Jim, all them niggas is enemies.

900
00:52:49,068 --> 00:52:52,826
...about money,
about, like, credits,

901
00:52:52,827 --> 00:52:54,688
and publishing,
and everything else.

902
00:52:54,689 --> 00:52:56,205
Y'all made
incredible music together.

903
00:52:56,206 --> 00:52:59,171
I made incredible music.
All he did was rhyme 16s.

904
00:52:59,172 --> 00:53:02,655
You a bum-ass nigga.
You just a bum-ass nigga.

905
00:53:02,793 --> 00:53:06,827
You don't know no better, man.
You're a bottom-feeder.

906
00:53:06,931 --> 00:53:13,344
Now, French may not have
directly been at Jim Jones,

907
00:53:13,482 --> 00:53:15,517
<i>but he was standing
next to Max.</i>

908
00:53:16,586 --> 00:53:17,758
So it was an issue.

909
00:53:18,379 --> 00:53:21,310
Where I stand in the DVD game
is if you gonna make a DVD,

910
00:53:21,413 --> 00:53:24,034
have some integrity,
like you should have in life.

911
00:53:24,137 --> 00:53:25,206
So when you DVD'ing

912
00:53:25,310 --> 00:53:26,655
and you recording
all these artists

913
00:53:26,793 --> 00:53:27,655
and shit like that,

914
00:53:27,793 --> 00:53:29,000
some niggas don't give a fuck

915
00:53:29,137 --> 00:53:30,344
too much about life.

916
00:53:40,965 --> 00:53:42,344
Yeah. I'mma dust this shit off,

917
00:53:42,448 --> 00:53:44,550
get this shit out the way,
get this verdict,

918
00:53:44,551 --> 00:53:46,344
and we gonna make history.

919
00:53:46,482 --> 00:53:48,241
When shit is all said and done,

920
00:53:48,896 --> 00:53:49,930
y'all gon' see

921
00:53:49,931 --> 00:53:52,412
who the victorious
vainglorious is.

922
00:53:52,413 --> 00:53:54,000
[somber music plays]

923
00:53:54,137 --> 00:53:58,965
[no audible dialogue]

924
00:54:02,379 --> 00:54:03,379
Can't get too close

925
00:54:03,517 --> 00:54:05,275
to this building
with them cameras.

926
00:54:05,793 --> 00:54:08,379
I'mma let y'all know
when to put them shits down.

927
00:54:09,137 --> 00:54:11,103
I don't need
that extra attention over here

928
00:54:11,206 --> 00:54:12,931
fucking with this Bergen County.

929
00:54:13,586 --> 00:54:15,241
Max trial start.

930
00:54:15,344 --> 00:54:16,551
You know, we was living wild.

931
00:54:16,655 --> 00:54:19,862
Like, we was just,
like, you know,

932
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:21,448
<i>rock stars at its fullest.</i>

933
00:54:21,551 --> 00:54:23,862
<i>You know what I'm saying?
And it kind of backfired.</i>

934
00:54:23,965 --> 00:54:25,689
He would shoot a video
outside the courthouse,

935
00:54:25,827 --> 00:54:27,103
and I'd be like,
"You're bugging."

936
00:54:27,206 --> 00:54:28,620
His lawyers doing interviews.

937
00:54:28,724 --> 00:54:31,000
I see y'all niggas
when we come out.

938
00:54:31,379 --> 00:54:32,517
Yeah.

939
00:54:32,620 --> 00:54:33,827
Come on.

940
00:54:35,551 --> 00:54:38,379
[dramatic music plays]

941
00:54:51,620 --> 00:54:53,206
[Karim] <i>You take away
my other half</i>

942
00:54:53,310 --> 00:54:55,826
<i>and you put me in the middle
of all these beefs.</i>

943
00:54:55,827 --> 00:54:59,000
Max went in, it was just like
the stocks just dropped.

944
00:54:59,689 --> 00:55:02,241
[Cams] <i>Max, at that time,
it looked like everything</i>

945
00:55:02,344 --> 00:55:04,412
was about to work,
then Max goes to jail,

946
00:55:04,413 --> 00:55:06,827
and now everybody's
kind of counting French out.

947
00:55:06,931 --> 00:55:09,895
I had to lock in
like I never locked in before.

948
00:55:09,896 --> 00:55:11,758
[hip-hop music playing]

949
00:55:22,965 --> 00:55:25,310
<i>You know, motherfuckers
used to clown me</i>

950
00:55:25,448 --> 00:55:29,206
'cause, you know,
I was just skinny,

951
00:55:29,310 --> 00:55:30,724
goofy fucking white kid,

952
00:55:30,827 --> 00:55:32,793
you know what I'm saying,
like, running around.

953
00:55:32,896 --> 00:55:34,620
And one guy-- my man was like,

954
00:55:34,758 --> 00:55:37,516
"You like the Harrison Ford
of this shit."

955
00:55:37,517 --> 00:55:39,344
And I was like, "Nah, man.

956
00:55:39,448 --> 00:55:41,620
I'm the Harrison Fraud
of this shit,

957
00:55:41,724 --> 00:55:44,448
<i>'cause I ain't like
all these other motherfuckers."</i>

958
00:55:55,379 --> 00:55:57,723
<i>I was working, doing beats
for different rappers,</i>

959
00:55:57,724 --> 00:56:01,034
<i>and, you know, just playing
my shit for people,</i>

960
00:56:01,137 --> 00:56:03,103
<i>trying to get on,
you know, so to speak.</i>

961
00:56:03,206 --> 00:56:06,068
<i>And I had did a beat
for this guy.</i>

962
00:56:06,172 --> 00:56:09,034
<i>French heard it and was like,
"Who did these beats?"</i>

963
00:56:10,862 --> 00:56:13,206
I definitely always
wanted to go left.

964
00:56:13,310 --> 00:56:14,827
And I think with me and French,

965
00:56:14,931 --> 00:56:16,896
that's kind of
what drew him to me.

966
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:19,551
<i>He comes to my studio.
I have no idea what to expect.</i>

967
00:56:19,655 --> 00:56:23,931
The only-- I knew French
from Cocaine City DVD.

968
00:56:24,034 --> 00:56:27,000
<i>I was excited,
but I also was like...</i>

969
00:56:28,448 --> 00:56:29,689
Didn't know what to expect.

970
00:56:30,620 --> 00:56:31,896
<i>The first couple times,</i>

971
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:33,344
<i>we were feeling each other out,</i>

972
00:56:33,482 --> 00:56:35,689
<i>you know what I'm saying,
and figuring it out.</i>

973
00:56:35,827 --> 00:56:39,964
<i>When we first met up, he made
me play him a million beats.</i>

974
00:56:39,965 --> 00:56:42,379
<i>He would key in
on stuff that he liked,</i>

975
00:56:42,482 --> 00:56:44,482
<i>and I would
take notice of that,</i>

976
00:56:44,586 --> 00:56:47,447
<i>and then I would go
farther down those roads.</i>

977
00:56:47,448 --> 00:56:48,655
<i>We were both sloppy,</i>

978
00:56:48,758 --> 00:56:49,757
<i>meaning, like,</i>

979
00:56:49,758 --> 00:56:52,482
the vocals
that he was recording,

980
00:56:52,586 --> 00:56:57,241
he was layering, you know,
a hundred takes on them

981
00:56:57,344 --> 00:56:59,896
and a million doubles
and all that.

982
00:57:00,034 --> 00:57:03,758
And I started to be like,
"Yo, don't double that.

983
00:57:03,862 --> 00:57:05,999
You know, like,
don't lay so many layers.

984
00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:08,068
Your voice is dope.
Let it just cut through.

985
00:57:08,172 --> 00:57:09,241
Let them hear it."

986
00:57:09,344 --> 00:57:11,517
So we were
giving each other that feedback

987
00:57:11,620 --> 00:57:16,482
at that perfect moldable time
where, like, we were both really

988
00:57:17,068 --> 00:57:19,310
figuring it out together,
you know?

989
00:57:19,413 --> 00:57:21,550
[Karim] <i>His sound was different.
It was epic.</i>

990
00:57:21,551 --> 00:57:25,413
<i>It was more, like,
dark and soul at the same time.</i>

991
00:57:25,551 --> 00:57:27,000
<i>And it's just that sound.</i>

992
00:57:27,103 --> 00:57:30,758
<i>Some things you can't explain
when it comes to music.</i>

993
00:57:30,862 --> 00:57:34,379
<i>It's like you just got to have
music grab the ears of people</i>

994
00:57:34,931 --> 00:57:37,482
<i>when it comes from your soul,
when it comes from you.</i>

995
00:57:37,586 --> 00:57:39,275
<i>You know what I'm saying?
The same way how</i>

996
00:57:39,379 --> 00:57:41,655
<i>it grabs you,
it's gonna grab somebody else.</i>

997
00:57:44,379 --> 00:57:46,724
<i>Max B,
the day he got sentenced,</i>

998
00:57:46,862 --> 00:57:49,206
I was the most
blackballed artist,

999
00:57:50,344 --> 00:57:51,551
you know, in New York City.

1000
00:57:51,689 --> 00:57:54,033
<i>So when he goes, Jim Jones</i>

1001
00:57:54,034 --> 00:57:55,758
<i>is the number-one rapper
in New York.</i>

1002
00:57:55,896 --> 00:57:58,172
<i>So you can't play me
in the club.</i>

1003
00:57:58,275 --> 00:58:00,482
<i>Certain deejays got
to pick a side.</i>

1004
00:58:00,965 --> 00:58:03,517
People is never loyal
for friendship.

1005
00:58:03,620 --> 00:58:04,931
They're loyal for opportunity.

1006
00:58:05,034 --> 00:58:07,931
<i>It goes back to music
controls the streets.</i>

1007
00:58:08,310 --> 00:58:11,655
<i>But still,
I was a people champ.</i>

1008
00:58:11,793 --> 00:58:13,067
<i>I was the underdog.</i>

1009
00:58:13,068 --> 00:58:15,034
<i>There's no car in New York City</i>

1010
00:58:15,137 --> 00:58:17,172
<i>that was driving by
that listened to hip-hop</i>

1011
00:58:17,275 --> 00:58:19,137
<i>that didn't have me
and Max B in their car.</i>

1012
00:58:19,241 --> 00:58:21,103
[horn honking]

1013
00:58:27,689 --> 00:58:29,757
[Percy] <i>Jim was
on a whole nother level.</i>

1014
00:58:29,758 --> 00:58:32,758
<i>Like, he was through the roof
with the music and everything.</i>

1015
00:58:32,862 --> 00:58:36,034
<i>He basically had New York
in a choke hold at that time.</i>

1016
00:58:36,931 --> 00:58:38,448
French is not even
on that level.

1017
00:58:38,586 --> 00:58:39,619
You know what I'm saying?

1018
00:58:39,620 --> 00:58:41,034
What you beefing
with French for?

1019
00:58:41,137 --> 00:58:44,068
<i>And it dawned on me,
French is up and coming.</i>

1020
00:58:45,965 --> 00:58:49,413
I've seen a few artists
experience it.

1021
00:58:49,517 --> 00:58:51,724
I ain't seen a ton of them
get through it.

1022
00:58:52,241 --> 00:58:55,137
You know, he had a hard time.
He had a real hard time.

1023
00:58:59,034 --> 00:59:01,068
<i>With that,
French reached out to me.</i>

1024
00:59:01,724 --> 00:59:05,034
<i>He was like, "Yo, P, yo,
I need you to do me a favor."</i>

1025
00:59:05,137 --> 00:59:06,689
And I'm like, "What's up?"

1026
00:59:06,793 --> 00:59:09,034
He's like, "Yo, I need you
to talk to Joe for me."

1027
00:59:09,137 --> 00:59:10,482
[horn honking]

1028
00:59:10,586 --> 00:59:11,965
[hip-hop music playing]

1029
00:59:12,068 --> 00:59:13,482
[Fat Joe] <i>I grew up
in the projects</i>

1030
00:59:13,586 --> 00:59:14,827
<i>called Forest Projects.</i>

1031
00:59:15,206 --> 00:59:17,896
<i>And we was getting
a lot of money in the streets.</i>

1032
00:59:20,137 --> 00:59:22,068
And I wanted to rap, too.

1033
00:59:22,206 --> 00:59:24,379
So I went to the Apollo
Amateur Night

1034
00:59:24,517 --> 00:59:29,413
and I came in first place
like four weeks in a row.

1035
00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:33,413
<i>I knew that I had
to get out the game...</i>

1036
00:59:34,689 --> 00:59:37,551
'cause I was either
gonna die or go to jail.

1037
00:59:38,172 --> 00:59:40,000
<i>So thank God I made the change.</i>

1038
00:59:40,103 --> 00:59:44,068
And I went and I rapped,
and the people embraced me.

1039
00:59:44,586 --> 00:59:46,517
<i>I used to coach at the Rucker,</i>

1040
00:59:46,620 --> 00:59:49,310
<i>and the first time
I remember meeting French</i>

1041
00:59:49,413 --> 00:59:51,827
<i>is every game I was coaching,</i>

1042
00:59:51,931 --> 00:59:54,619
<i>he would be sitting
in the back of the Rucker</i>

1043
00:59:54,620 --> 00:59:56,068
<i>waiting for me to come up.</i>

1044
00:59:56,586 --> 00:59:59,033
<i>He would always try to have
these conversations with me,</i>

1045
00:59:59,034 --> 01:00:01,931
<i>but he was a little nigga,
and I'd be like, "Yo, alright."</i>

1046
01:00:02,034 --> 01:00:04,068
I'd keep it moving
on him, go inside,

1047
01:00:04,172 --> 01:00:06,586
and I'd go coach
'cause I'm focused on the game.

1048
01:00:06,689 --> 01:00:08,792
And he would always
hand me a DVD.

1049
01:00:08,793 --> 01:00:10,793
He would always hand me a DVD.

1050
01:00:10,896 --> 01:00:14,551
I thought he was the DVD guy.
You know what I'm saying?

1051
01:00:14,655 --> 01:00:16,862
Like, you know,
putting it together,

1052
01:00:16,965 --> 01:00:19,000
and then
he turned into an artist.

1053
01:00:19,103 --> 01:00:22,517
<i>So as he was getting more
and more hotter in the streets,</i>

1054
01:00:22,620 --> 01:00:24,689
<i>he kept telling me,
you know what I'm saying,</i>

1055
01:00:24,793 --> 01:00:26,724
<i>"My name's getting up.
I'm getting hot.</i>

1056
01:00:26,827 --> 01:00:29,310
You see me, nigga."
This and this and that.

1057
01:00:29,413 --> 01:00:32,206
<i>So my son was
a little kid, 13, 14,</i>

1058
01:00:32,310 --> 01:00:33,379
like, "You got to listen."

1059
01:00:33,482 --> 01:00:35,413
I'm like, "Him?
I know this nigga.

1060
01:00:35,517 --> 01:00:36,999
What are you talking about?"

1061
01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:39,724
"Oh, he's the best.
He's the nicest."

1062
01:00:39,827 --> 01:00:41,551
He's the this.
He kept hyping me up.

1063
01:00:41,655 --> 01:00:43,034
I'm like, "Fuck out of here."

1064
01:00:43,137 --> 01:00:47,481
He kept playing the shit
over and over and over again,

1065
01:00:47,482 --> 01:00:48,964
and I'd be like, "Yo."

1066
01:00:48,965 --> 01:00:50,206
Him and Joe met up.

1067
01:00:50,344 --> 01:00:52,379
<i>Joe said, "Let me
hear what you got."</i>

1068
01:00:53,344 --> 01:00:55,068
He played him "Shot Caller."

1069
01:00:55,206 --> 01:00:56,896
And Joe was like...

1070
01:00:57,000 --> 01:00:59,620
<i>So Joe, when he's excited
about something,</i>

1071
01:00:59,724 --> 01:01:01,965
<i>you don't really see
a reaction out of him.</i>

1072
01:01:02,068 --> 01:01:03,241
He just was like...

1073
01:01:03,620 --> 01:01:07,034
But in his mind, he was like,
"Wow, this is crazy."

1074
01:01:07,137 --> 01:01:09,517
I was really trying
to front a little,

1075
01:01:09,620 --> 01:01:12,275
like, "Joe, don't get hype,
don't get hype."

1076
01:01:12,379 --> 01:01:13,965
This shit is ridiculous.

1077
01:01:14,103 --> 01:01:16,965
Wanted you to come and hear it
'cause, like, from you,

1078
01:01:17,103 --> 01:01:18,413
like, it means a lot.

1079
01:01:19,172 --> 01:01:22,034
Trust me, man, this remind me
of some back-in-the-day shit,

1080
01:01:22,137 --> 01:01:24,137
man, when Biggie
used to play me his album.

1081
01:01:24,241 --> 01:01:26,275
Ain't nobody fucking with this.

1082
01:01:27,206 --> 01:01:29,448
["Shot Caller" plays]

1083
01:01:33,275 --> 01:01:35,862
<i>♪ Wanna be with a baller,
shot caller ♪</i>

1084
01:01:35,965 --> 01:01:38,448
<i>♪ Could tell by her aura,
she want a shot caller ♪</i>

1085
01:01:38,586 --> 01:01:41,550
<i>♪ Wanna be with a baller,
shot caller ♪</i>

1086
01:01:41,551 --> 01:01:44,103
<i>♪ Could tell by her aura,
she want a shot caller ♪</i>

1087
01:01:44,793 --> 01:01:47,620
<i>♪ D-D-Dippin' in the 'lac,
three in the back ♪</i>

1088
01:01:47,758 --> 01:01:50,067
<i>♪ Two if ya fat,
pimpin' is a fact ♪</i>

1089
01:01:50,068 --> 01:01:52,793
<i>♪ Fresh up out the street,
hot, jump to the top ♪</i>

1090
01:01:52,896 --> 01:01:55,448
<i>♪ I be French Montana
from the, the, the block ♪</i>

1091
01:01:55,551 --> 01:01:59,655
"Shot Caller" started
as a freestyle for Flex.

1092
01:02:01,172 --> 01:02:03,862
[Karim] <i>I did a record
for Funkmaster Flex.</i>

1093
01:02:04,379 --> 01:02:05,448
Crickets.

1094
01:02:05,931 --> 01:02:07,964
Didn't take it.
The mixtape dropped.

1095
01:02:07,965 --> 01:02:10,206
<i>I go inside
one of the strip clubs,</i>

1096
01:02:10,344 --> 01:02:11,689
<i>and the deejay pressed play.</i>

1097
01:02:11,827 --> 01:02:14,172
<i>They was like, "Hold on,
French Montana, that's you?"</i>

1098
01:02:14,310 --> 01:02:16,586
They was like,
"I don't care what you doing.

1099
01:02:16,689 --> 01:02:19,206
<i>This is the record
of the summer."</i>

1100
01:02:20,172 --> 01:02:22,309
So it was him always
having that vision

1101
01:02:22,310 --> 01:02:25,619
and being able to be like,
"Fuck who don't believe.

1102
01:02:25,620 --> 01:02:26,655
We believe, and, like,

1103
01:02:26,793 --> 01:02:28,482
that's the most
important thing."

1104
01:02:28,586 --> 01:02:30,241
[Karim] <i>Fat Joe will tell you,</i>

1105
01:02:30,344 --> 01:02:33,034
<i>he had to go to
Funkmaster Flex personally</i>

1106
01:02:33,172 --> 01:02:36,068
<i>and tell him,
"You have to play this kid."</i>

1107
01:02:36,206 --> 01:02:37,379
<i>Yeah, he stepped up for me,</i>

1108
01:02:37,482 --> 01:02:39,827
<i>when I was
the most blackballed dude ever.</i>

1109
01:02:39,931 --> 01:02:42,758
Love y'all. French Montana,
the future. Terror!

1110
01:02:42,896 --> 01:02:44,724
[Karim] <i>There's special moments
in an artist's career</i>

1111
01:02:44,862 --> 01:02:46,172
<i>when somebody step up for you,</i>

1112
01:02:46,275 --> 01:02:47,551
<i>'cause it don't happen a lot.</i>

1113
01:02:47,689 --> 01:02:49,310
What I respected the most is,

1114
01:02:49,896 --> 01:02:51,034
French didn't talk to me

1115
01:02:51,172 --> 01:02:53,275
about the situation
he was having.

1116
01:02:53,931 --> 01:02:56,206
He was really just talking
about his music.

1117
01:02:56,689 --> 01:02:58,171
"Shot Caller" came out.

1118
01:02:58,172 --> 01:02:59,655
Then it was just like...

1119
01:02:59,758 --> 01:03:02,862
[hip-hop music plays]

1120
01:03:03,689 --> 01:03:06,482
[Flex on the radio] <i>I'm telling
you what it is, New York.</i>

1121
01:03:08,689 --> 01:03:10,033
<i>Don't shoot the messenger.</i>

1122
01:03:10,034 --> 01:03:12,379
<i>I'm telling you
what the streets are saying.</i>

1123
01:03:14,965 --> 01:03:17,862
<i>I'm telling you
what the streets are saying.</i>

1124
01:03:18,482 --> 01:03:20,758
[distorted voice]
<i>Lot of heat on this.</i>

1125
01:03:20,862 --> 01:03:22,275
<i>Ha!</i>

1126
01:03:27,275 --> 01:03:29,965
<i>And after this, we gonna go
into that "Ocho Cinco."</i>

1127
01:03:31,689 --> 01:03:34,240
<i>French Montana is currently
wearing the crown</i>

1128
01:03:34,241 --> 01:03:35,758
<i>in this town.</i>

1129
01:03:37,413 --> 01:03:40,896
Number-one song
in New York City right now, BX!

1130
01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:43,620
<i>♪ Shorty got potential,
I could be her sponsor ♪</i>

1131
01:03:43,758 --> 01:03:46,240
<i>♪ Met her backstage
at a Summer Jam concert ♪</i>

1132
01:03:46,241 --> 01:03:48,862
<i>♪ Hair like Rihanna,
shoe game was awesome ♪</i>

1133
01:03:48,965 --> 01:03:51,586
<i>♪ Could tell by her aura,
she want a shot caller ♪</i>

1134
01:03:52,034 --> 01:03:55,551
There's a gene,
there's a DNA in any person,

1135
01:03:55,655 --> 01:03:58,275
whether they become
a successful barbershop owner,

1136
01:03:58,379 --> 01:04:01,448
or they become the number-one
teacher in the world,

1137
01:04:01,551 --> 01:04:04,689
or the real estate
or the rapper or the wrestler,

1138
01:04:04,793 --> 01:04:06,517
<i>or whatever the fuck
you want to call.</i>

1139
01:04:06,620 --> 01:04:09,068
<i>These people have a thing
that they will not quit</i>

1140
01:04:09,172 --> 01:04:10,689
<i>till they make it.</i>

1141
01:04:11,689 --> 01:04:13,826
[crowd cheering]

1142
01:04:13,827 --> 01:04:17,724
[Karim] <i>I had my-my career
in full control in my hand.</i>

1143
01:04:17,827 --> 01:04:19,309
<i>You could've signed me
anywhere.</i>

1144
01:04:19,310 --> 01:04:22,275
<i>I wanted to meet up with Kanye.
Next day, I flew to Vegas.</i>

1145
01:04:22,379 --> 01:04:23,551
<i>It was the right moment.</i>

1146
01:04:23,655 --> 01:04:25,000
[soft music playing]

1147
01:04:25,137 --> 01:04:26,517
<i>When I realized I made it</i>

1148
01:04:26,620 --> 01:04:28,827
<i>is when I cashed
my first check.</i>

1149
01:04:30,172 --> 01:04:31,517
<i>This was my dream,</i>

1150
01:04:31,620 --> 01:04:33,448
<i>to get paid off something
that I loved doing.</i>

1151
01:04:33,551 --> 01:04:35,965
<i>Long way from the chicken spot
with my mother.</i>

1152
01:04:36,862 --> 01:04:39,102
<i>Got my mother a house,
and French Montana</i>

1153
01:04:39,103 --> 01:04:42,517
<i>became a household name,
which cracked that ceiling</i>

1154
01:04:42,655 --> 01:04:45,862
<i>that no other rapper
from Africa cracked.</i>

1155
01:04:46,344 --> 01:04:48,206
<i>From here on out,
ain't no limit.</i>

1156
01:04:50,620 --> 01:04:52,896
- ["Pop That" playing]
- [crowd cheering]

1157
01:04:55,137 --> 01:04:56,517
[man] <i>...Montana.</i>

1158
01:05:01,689 --> 01:05:04,343
[crowd cheering]

1159
01:05:04,344 --> 01:05:07,448
[Fat Joe] <i>When I say "French,"
you all say "Montana."</i>

1160
01:05:07,586 --> 01:05:08,965
<i>- French!</i>
- [crowd] Montana!

1161
01:05:09,068 --> 01:05:10,550
<i>- French!</i>
- [crowd] <i>Montana!</i>

1162
01:05:10,551 --> 01:05:13,241
[Fat Joe] <i>When I say "Coke,"
y'all say "Boys."</i>

1163
01:05:13,344 --> 01:05:14,482
<i>- Coke!</i>
- [crowd] Boys!

1164
01:05:14,586 --> 01:05:15,896
<i>- Coke!</i>
- [crowd] <i>Boys!</i>

1165
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:17,275
<i>- Coke!</i>
- [crowd] <i>Boys!</i>

1166
01:05:18,758 --> 01:05:20,241
[crowd cheering]

1167
01:05:27,344 --> 01:05:31,034
[crowd continues cheering]

1168
01:05:33,931 --> 01:05:36,413
- [Drake] ...French Montana!
- [crowd cheering]

1169
01:05:36,551 --> 01:05:39,758
Miami, look, this is my brother
in real life.

1170
01:05:39,862 --> 01:05:41,758
And the funny part is
that we look alike,

1171
01:05:41,862 --> 01:05:45,343
but we think alike.
It's all love. It's family shit.

1172
01:05:45,344 --> 01:05:48,206
[Angie] HOT 97. That's #2 today
on the countdown, HOT 97.

1173
01:05:48,310 --> 01:05:49,688
French Montana's
in the building.

1174
01:05:49,689 --> 01:05:50,896
[man] In the building!

1175
01:05:51,000 --> 01:05:53,103
You're the hottest rapper
from New York...

1176
01:05:53,241 --> 01:05:54,344
Thank you.

1177
01:05:54,448 --> 01:05:56,620
...clearly, in the country
doing something.

1178
01:05:59,379 --> 01:06:01,655
[indistinct chatter]

1179
01:06:02,827 --> 01:06:04,034
Here we go!

1180
01:06:04,137 --> 01:06:05,585
<i>♪ My whole hood love me ♪</i>

1181
01:06:05,586 --> 01:06:08,067
<i>♪ But now a nigga
wanna touch me, haan ♪</i>

1182
01:06:08,068 --> 01:06:09,586
<i>♪ I ain't worried
about nothin' ♪</i>

1183
01:06:09,689 --> 01:06:11,586
<i>♪ Nigga, I ain't worried
about nothin' ♪</i>

1184
01:06:12,137 --> 01:06:14,034
Everything he got,
man, he earned it.

1185
01:06:14,137 --> 01:06:15,965
Everything he get he deserve.

1186
01:06:16,103 --> 01:06:17,344
We're in the 2%

1187
01:06:17,448 --> 01:06:19,827
when it comes to writers
and creators.

1188
01:06:19,931 --> 01:06:22,344
I can't say I've done that
with many artists,

1189
01:06:22,448 --> 01:06:24,275
it's not even five artists.

1190
01:06:24,379 --> 01:06:26,965
- Wayne can do that.
- Wayne does that.

1191
01:06:27,068 --> 01:06:29,620
Drake does that. Who else?

1192
01:06:29,724 --> 01:06:31,586
- Jay-Z.
- Jay-Z.

1193
01:06:31,689 --> 01:06:33,067
But when I say somebody

1194
01:06:33,068 --> 01:06:34,862
that could come
right there and...

1195
01:06:34,965 --> 01:06:37,379
French Montana,
he one of those motherfucker,

1196
01:06:37,482 --> 01:06:38,965
he a party-motherfucker with me.

1197
01:06:39,068 --> 01:06:42,137
He is somebody that would create
records all night

1198
01:06:42,275 --> 01:06:43,620
if you in there with him.

1199
01:06:43,724 --> 01:06:46,034
Listen. French became
very successful as a rapper.

1200
01:06:46,137 --> 01:06:47,757
- Definitely.
- He transitioned

1201
01:06:47,758 --> 01:06:48,965
and did a lot of shit.

1202
01:06:49,103 --> 01:06:50,827
French to me was always
a marketing genius.

1203
01:06:50,931 --> 01:06:53,034
<i>He was kind of ahead
of his time.</i>

1204
01:06:53,137 --> 01:06:56,137
[upbeat hip-hop music playing]

1205
01:06:59,448 --> 01:07:02,413
[indistinct chatter]

1206
01:07:02,551 --> 01:07:04,517
[Zack] <i>It was our time
and it was his time,</i>

1207
01:07:04,620 --> 01:07:05,965
<i>his first album.</i>

1208
01:07:06,068 --> 01:07:07,931
Had the biggest records
on the streets in New York.

1209
01:07:08,034 --> 01:07:10,586
<i>He was moving.
French was just blowing up.</i>

1210
01:07:21,241 --> 01:07:23,172
Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait.

1211
01:07:32,379 --> 01:07:34,034
[music fades]

1212
01:07:34,137 --> 01:07:36,034
Yo, what's up, fool?
It's your nigga Chinx.

1213
01:07:36,413 --> 01:07:38,379
Coke Boys
in your motherfucking area.

1214
01:07:38,517 --> 01:07:39,931
Come here.

1215
01:07:40,724 --> 01:07:41,862
This is my brother Chinx.

1216
01:07:41,965 --> 01:07:43,689
[man] Wants to dip it, baby.

1217
01:07:45,379 --> 01:07:46,862
[laughs] Don't reach.

1218
01:07:50,034 --> 01:07:51,241
You ready?

1219
01:07:51,344 --> 01:07:52,931
All the way down like this.

1220
01:07:54,310 --> 01:07:56,896
[laughter]

1221
01:07:59,241 --> 01:08:01,620
["Coke Boy Money" plays]

1222
01:08:01,724 --> 01:08:04,448
<i>♪ Oh, shit, Jughead
just bought a 5, g-head ♪</i>

1223
01:08:04,586 --> 01:08:05,758
<i>♪ A King Tut piece ♪</i>

1224
01:08:05,862 --> 01:08:07,378
<i>♪ 'Bout the size
of Little Maurice ♪</i>

1225
01:08:07,379 --> 01:08:10,137
<i>♪ 'Fore I step out the crib,
put the 40 on me ♪</i>

1226
01:08:10,275 --> 01:08:13,068
<i>♪ When you greet a nigga,
do it how you would an OG ♪</i>

1227
01:08:13,172 --> 01:08:15,793
<i>♪ Shots rained, bum dropped
his 40-ounce OE ♪</i>

1228
01:08:15,931 --> 01:08:17,931
<i>♪ It's kinda hard tryin'
to survive ♪</i>

1229
01:08:18,034 --> 01:08:19,585
<i>♪ In New York streets ♪</i>

1230
01:08:19,586 --> 01:08:21,620
Chinx always
just used to want to work.

1231
01:08:21,724 --> 01:08:23,551
That's all he--
"Oh, what's up, bro?

1232
01:08:23,655 --> 01:08:24,896
I want to work."

1233
01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:26,241
<i>You know, at that time,</i>

1234
01:08:26,344 --> 01:08:28,103
him and French was also

1235
01:08:28,206 --> 01:08:29,758
building a bond, as well.

1236
01:08:29,862 --> 01:08:31,931
<i>♪ China silk, diamond rings ♪</i>

1237
01:08:32,862 --> 01:08:34,896
[Karim] <i>Chinx used
to always come around Max B.</i>

1238
01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:37,757
<i>Used to be this kid rapping.
I used to see him,</i>

1239
01:08:37,758 --> 01:08:41,137
<i>but once Max got locked up,
I just took Chinx with me.</i>

1240
01:08:42,655 --> 01:08:45,482
<i>He came with me
on every tour I went to.</i>

1241
01:08:45,586 --> 01:08:47,344
<i>When I went down south
to learn how they move</i>

1242
01:08:47,448 --> 01:08:48,793
<i>down south, he was with me.</i>

1243
01:08:48,931 --> 01:08:50,310
<i>I never made a dollar
off Chinx.</i>

1244
01:08:50,448 --> 01:08:52,241
<i>That shows you how much love
I had for him.</i>

1245
01:08:52,793 --> 01:08:54,620
[Zack] <i>It was really
experiencing everything</i>

1246
01:08:54,724 --> 01:08:56,310
<i>for the first time together.</i>

1247
01:08:57,758 --> 01:09:00,827
Jets, vacations, shows, tours.

1248
01:09:00,931 --> 01:09:02,344
[Karim] <i>Just a hungry kid.</i>

1249
01:09:02,448 --> 01:09:05,000
<i>Like, I see so much ambition
like I had in my eyes.</i>

1250
01:09:05,103 --> 01:09:07,274
<i>He was like a student
in the classroom</i>

1251
01:09:07,275 --> 01:09:09,447
'cause he was learning,
he was soaking everything up,

1252
01:09:09,448 --> 01:09:10,619
he was absorbing the game.

1253
01:09:10,620 --> 01:09:12,481
And I knew he was gonna
go and be, like,

1254
01:09:12,482 --> 01:09:13,931
<i>one of the best artists.</i>

1255
01:09:14,517 --> 01:09:16,136
[Harry Fraud] <i>I remember
watching him record</i>

1256
01:09:16,137 --> 01:09:19,241
<i>and, like, him
just pacing around the studio</i>

1257
01:09:19,344 --> 01:09:21,447
<i>and for like 20 minutes,
and then he's like,</i>

1258
01:09:21,448 --> 01:09:23,551
<i>"Alright, I'm ready,"
and I'm thinking,</i>

1259
01:09:23,655 --> 01:09:25,931
<i>"He's gonna write it
in the booth, line for line."</i>

1260
01:09:26,034 --> 01:09:29,931
<i>He went in and spit the whole
shit clean like a technician.</i>

1261
01:09:30,034 --> 01:09:31,724
<i>And I was like--
I remember being like,</i>

1262
01:09:31,827 --> 01:09:33,379
<i>"Oh, this kid is different."</i>

1263
01:09:33,482 --> 01:09:36,000
He caught
the "I'm a Coke Boy" single.

1264
01:09:36,103 --> 01:09:39,275
So he was doing the same thing
that I was doing

1265
01:09:39,379 --> 01:09:41,448
and he was catching
one after another.

1266
01:09:41,551 --> 01:09:42,862
<i>Then the moment--</i>

1267
01:09:42,965 --> 01:09:45,862
<i>my proudest moment
of him about to blow up</i>

1268
01:09:45,965 --> 01:09:48,931
<i>turned into the most miserable
time of our lives.</i>

1269
01:09:49,034 --> 01:09:51,758
Motherfucking coke boy!

1270
01:09:52,275 --> 01:09:53,792
[ominous musical flourish]

1271
01:09:53,793 --> 01:09:56,413
[Karim] <i>One morning I woke up
crying and told my mother--</i>

1272
01:09:56,517 --> 01:09:58,379
<i>I was like, "I don't know
why I'm crying."</i>

1273
01:09:58,896 --> 01:10:01,000
<i>I get a phone call,
"Your brother locked up."</i>

1274
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:06,517
<i>When you have things
that you can't afford,</i>

1275
01:10:06,620 --> 01:10:08,826
<i>and you have to maintain
that lifestyle,</i>

1276
01:10:08,827 --> 01:10:11,000
<i>you end up doing things
out of your character.</i>

1277
01:10:11,551 --> 01:10:15,206
<i>So he ended up going
with his homeboys, you know,</i>

1278
01:10:15,896 --> 01:10:17,654
<i>and they got locked up</i>

1279
01:10:17,655 --> 01:10:19,724
<i>for running up
in somebody's house.</i>

1280
01:10:20,413 --> 01:10:23,517
While he's blowing up,
I'm in a cell. Like, wow.

1281
01:10:24,172 --> 01:10:26,241
Why wasn't-why wasn't I patient?

1282
01:10:26,827 --> 01:10:28,827
Why wasn't I--
You know what I mean?

1283
01:10:28,965 --> 01:10:32,482
Why didn't I, you know,
remind myself to chill?

1284
01:10:33,000 --> 01:10:35,000
Everything was moving
too fast for me.

1285
01:11:06,862 --> 01:11:09,448
[news anchor] <i>A rising star
in the rap world dies</i>

1286
01:11:09,551 --> 01:11:11,758
just hours after performing
a show,

1287
01:11:11,896 --> 01:11:13,724
murdered in an ambush in Queens.

1288
01:11:13,827 --> 01:11:16,413
CBS 2's Steve Langford
reports...

1289
01:11:16,517 --> 01:11:19,689
I just remember waking up...

1290
01:11:20,620 --> 01:11:24,551
and just looking at my phone,
and I had so many text messages,

1291
01:11:24,655 --> 01:11:26,758
and I just fell on the floor

1292
01:11:27,103 --> 01:11:31,103
and just laid on the floor,
bro, for a long time.

1293
01:11:31,620 --> 01:11:33,620
You know what I'm saying?
And just cried.

1294
01:11:34,206 --> 01:11:36,137
Cried and cried
and cried and cried

1295
01:11:36,241 --> 01:11:39,758
and then called French
a couple hours later.

1296
01:11:40,379 --> 01:11:42,068
You know, we didn't
really say much.

1297
01:11:42,172 --> 01:11:44,068
You know, French broke down
on the phone,

1298
01:11:44,206 --> 01:11:46,172
'cause them niggas
had the best relationship.

1299
01:11:46,275 --> 01:11:47,758
<i>They did everything together.</i>

1300
01:11:48,241 --> 01:11:49,965
<i>That was like his right hand.</i>

1301
01:11:50,586 --> 01:11:52,413
<i>Went everywhere together,
tours and shit.</i>

1302
01:11:52,517 --> 01:11:54,724
<i>While I was in prison,
they was doing everything.</i>

1303
01:11:56,413 --> 01:11:58,034
<i>And for French, man,
that shit just--</i>

1304
01:11:58,137 --> 01:11:59,827
it killed his spirit.

1305
01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:04,310
You just wake up, and people
tell you Chinx died.

1306
01:12:04,413 --> 01:12:05,862
Dropped the phone. Just...

1307
01:12:06,655 --> 01:12:07,793
cried, like...

1308
01:12:08,586 --> 01:12:11,137
<i>Feel like somebody
ripped your fucking heart out.</i>

1309
01:12:13,000 --> 01:12:15,275
[Zack] <i>French, he look
at hisself like, damn.</i>

1310
01:12:15,379 --> 01:12:16,862
"Everything that you love
is getting taken away.

1311
01:12:16,965 --> 01:12:18,137
I'm the last man standing."

1312
01:12:18,275 --> 01:12:19,827
How can you even handle
that stress

1313
01:12:19,931 --> 01:12:21,413
and still be happy?

1314
01:12:23,137 --> 01:12:28,034
Not everything is so basic
and black and white,

1315
01:12:28,137 --> 01:12:30,793
especially when you see
terrible things happen

1316
01:12:30,896 --> 01:12:32,482
to good people around you.

1317
01:12:32,586 --> 01:12:33,655
You know what I'm saying?

1318
01:12:33,758 --> 01:12:35,965
I think French
realized that, too.

1319
01:12:37,448 --> 01:12:39,447
[Karim] <i>My brother
locked up first.</i>

1320
01:12:39,448 --> 01:12:41,379
<i>Chinx had just died.</i>

1321
01:12:42,344 --> 01:12:44,827
<i>Max B got 75 years.</i>

1322
01:12:46,137 --> 01:12:49,103
<i>I was in the worst place
you could be at.</i>

1323
01:12:50,172 --> 01:12:52,068
<i>And you just there,</i>

1324
01:12:52,172 --> 01:12:54,172
<i>and people want you
to make music.</i>

1325
01:12:55,137 --> 01:12:57,000
<i>You just sunk into this sand</i>

1326
01:12:57,103 --> 01:12:59,551
<i>that just keeps sinking you in
even more and more.</i>

1327
01:12:59,655 --> 01:13:01,516
<i>Like, it's up
to your neck now.</i>

1328
01:13:01,517 --> 01:13:03,551
<i>At any moment,
you're ready to explode.</i>

1329
01:13:03,655 --> 01:13:05,620
I was at the moment
when I realized,

1330
01:13:05,724 --> 01:13:08,034
"Oh, this is how people
kill theyself.

1331
01:13:08,137 --> 01:13:10,000
This is how people lose it."

1332
01:13:10,482 --> 01:13:12,034
Then I just went to Uganda.

1333
01:13:12,172 --> 01:13:14,136
["Unforgettable"
instrumental plays]

1334
01:13:14,137 --> 01:13:15,724
<i>I met these kids.</i>

1335
01:13:18,000 --> 01:13:19,758
<i>The Triplets Ghetto Kids.</i>

1336
01:13:19,862 --> 01:13:21,862
<i>I watch a lot of African music.</i>

1337
01:13:22,379 --> 01:13:25,482
<i>And these kids, their moves
is not the same moves</i>

1338
01:13:25,586 --> 01:13:27,034
<i>I see on the Internet
and the Gram every day.</i>

1339
01:13:27,172 --> 01:13:28,655
I never seen nobody
dance like that.

1340
01:13:28,758 --> 01:13:30,343
I'm like, "Why are
they dancing like that?"

1341
01:13:30,344 --> 01:13:32,379
They was like,
"'Cause we don't have a TV

1342
01:13:32,517 --> 01:13:33,862
and nobody to learn from."

1343
01:13:35,413 --> 01:13:38,068
<i>I can't even take, like,
my eyes off the screen.</i>

1344
01:13:38,172 --> 01:13:40,551
<i>The power of music and art</i>

1345
01:13:40,655 --> 01:13:43,034
<i>and the places
that it can take you.</i>

1346
01:13:52,689 --> 01:13:55,792
When I went, the whole point
of it was just going there

1347
01:13:55,793 --> 01:13:57,586
and just seeing
how people living,

1348
01:13:57,724 --> 01:13:59,586
<i>people that have
no access to phones.</i>

1349
01:13:59,724 --> 01:14:01,895
<i>Like, there was just
no medical care.</i>

1350
01:14:01,896 --> 01:14:06,689
<i>Like, people have less access
to 10% of what we have,</i>

1351
01:14:06,793 --> 01:14:10,137
less material things,
less everything.

1352
01:14:10,241 --> 01:14:11,448
But happier than me.

1353
01:14:11,551 --> 01:14:13,965
<i>They smiling
like they was French Montana</i>

1354
01:14:14,103 --> 01:14:15,862
<i>and I was living in Uganda.</i>

1355
01:14:15,965 --> 01:14:17,896
<i>It just showed me that
if you're not rich in heart,</i>

1356
01:14:18,000 --> 01:14:19,620
<i>you'll never be rich.</i>

1357
01:14:19,724 --> 01:14:21,103
There's no medicine
that could've healed me

1358
01:14:21,206 --> 01:14:22,172
better than that.

1359
01:14:22,275 --> 01:14:23,620
<i>I went there and came back</i>

1360
01:14:23,758 --> 01:14:25,137
<i>with the biggest record
in my career.</i>

1361
01:14:25,241 --> 01:14:27,793
<i>♪ A fuckin' good time
never hurt nobody ♪</i>

1362
01:14:27,931 --> 01:14:29,965
<i>"Unforgettable" was more
than just a song.</i>

1363
01:14:30,068 --> 01:14:31,310
It was a movement.

1364
01:14:31,413 --> 01:14:33,378
<i>I knew that record was gonna be
bigger than me.</i>

1365
01:14:33,379 --> 01:14:35,724
<i>You know, not being
able to make music</i>

1366
01:14:35,827 --> 01:14:38,723
<i>for like a year or two,
people sleeping on me,</i>

1367
01:14:38,724 --> 01:14:41,000
<i>then I just come
with the biggest bazooka.</i>

1368
01:14:41,103 --> 01:14:42,689
<i>♪ On your level, too ♪</i>

1369
01:14:42,793 --> 01:14:44,448
<i>♪ Tryna do what lovers do ♪</i>

1370
01:14:44,586 --> 01:14:47,033
<i>♪ Feelin' like I'm fresh out,
Boosie ♪</i>

1371
01:14:47,034 --> 01:14:49,137
<i>♪ If they want the drama,
got the Uzi ♪</i>

1372
01:14:49,275 --> 01:14:51,310
<i>♪ Ship the whole crew
to the cruise ship ♪</i>

1373
01:14:51,448 --> 01:14:53,827
<i>♪ Doin' shit
you don't even see in movies ♪</i>

1374
01:14:55,137 --> 01:14:57,551
<i>♪ It's not good enough for me ♪</i>

1375
01:14:58,068 --> 01:15:01,344
<i>♪ Since I've been
with you, ooh ♪</i>

1376
01:15:03,793 --> 01:15:06,862
<i>♪ I'm gonna sip on this drink
when I'm fucked up ♪</i>

1377
01:15:07,000 --> 01:15:08,792
<i>♪ I sure know how to pick 'em ♪</i>

1378
01:15:08,793 --> 01:15:10,275
"Unforgettable."

1379
01:15:10,379 --> 01:15:12,206
"Unforgettable."

1380
01:15:12,310 --> 01:15:16,000
- "Unforgettable."
- "Unforgettable."

1381
01:15:17,344 --> 01:15:19,896
That video just broke
over half a billion,

1382
01:15:20,000 --> 01:15:21,102
600 million views.

1383
01:15:21,103 --> 01:15:22,517
<i>President Obama
likes that song.</i>

1384
01:15:22,620 --> 01:15:23,862
<i>He put it on his playlist.</i>

1385
01:15:24,000 --> 01:15:25,344
So, shout-out to Obama.

1386
01:15:36,862 --> 01:15:40,034
<i>"Unforgettable," it helped
take kids from Uganda,</i>

1387
01:15:40,137 --> 01:15:42,172
<i>brought them here
to experience the world,</i>

1388
01:15:42,275 --> 01:15:43,586
<i>all on visas.</i>

1389
01:15:44,275 --> 01:15:46,447
I took kids
that I see on YouTube

1390
01:15:46,448 --> 01:15:48,344
to the biggest stages
in the world.

1391
01:15:48,448 --> 01:15:49,724
So many blessings.

1392
01:15:51,379 --> 01:15:53,862
<i>And, like, it just helped heal
a lot of things,</i>

1393
01:15:53,965 --> 01:15:56,310
you know, so that was
the experience of a lifetime.

1394
01:15:56,413 --> 01:15:59,654
<i>♪ H-here's a little story
about a kid from Morocco ♪</i>

1395
01:15:59,655 --> 01:16:01,827
<i>♪ H-had to show Carlito
I was Benny Blanco ♪</i>

1396
01:16:01,931 --> 01:16:05,241
<i>♪ Check it out,
r-raindrop, offset ♪</i>

1397
01:16:06,206 --> 01:16:07,724
<i>♪ Fuck a plug, we the outlet ♪</i>

1398
01:16:07,862 --> 01:16:09,551
[woman] There goes your boy.

1399
01:16:09,655 --> 01:16:11,033
<i>♪ I'm in the box office ♪</i>

1400
01:16:11,034 --> 01:16:13,344
<i>♪ All the rocks made shorty
blow my socks off ♪</i>

1401
01:16:13,448 --> 01:16:15,793
<i>♪ Coke boy white,
Mac Miller, Reggie Miller ♪</i>

1402
01:16:15,931 --> 01:16:18,826
<i>♪ Shoot to kill-uh, canaries,
quarterback, Steelers ♪</i>

1403
01:16:18,827 --> 01:16:20,137
<i>♪ White villa from... ♪</i>

1404
01:16:20,241 --> 01:16:23,551
Being successful, having money,

1405
01:16:23,655 --> 01:16:25,343
uh, being able to provide,

1406
01:16:25,344 --> 01:16:27,724
<i>having people depend on you</i>

1407
01:16:28,172 --> 01:16:31,448
is an extremely
thankless position to be in.

1408
01:16:31,586 --> 01:16:35,448
<i>Very rarely do you get
the same energy reciprocated</i>

1409
01:16:35,551 --> 01:16:38,000
<i>because you've been chosen
by some higher power</i>

1410
01:16:38,103 --> 01:16:39,586
<i>to be a provider.</i>

1411
01:16:40,310 --> 01:16:41,931
<i>You know, you have to make
a decision.</i>

1412
01:16:42,068 --> 01:16:43,862
<i>Are you just gonna
shut everybody out?</i>

1413
01:16:45,275 --> 01:16:48,758
<i>Or are you gonna try
and pour out as much positivity</i>

1414
01:16:48,862 --> 01:16:50,137
<i>in the world that you can,</i>

1415
01:16:50,275 --> 01:16:52,448
<i>no matter
what you receive back?</i>

1416
01:16:57,482 --> 01:16:58,655
[Karim] <i>A lot of people
use Africa,</i>

1417
01:16:58,758 --> 01:17:00,689
<i>but they never give back
to Africa.</i>

1418
01:17:00,793 --> 01:17:02,724
<i>And I was
kind of tired of that.</i>

1419
01:17:02,827 --> 01:17:04,896
<i>So I wanted to go there
and make an example</i>

1420
01:17:05,000 --> 01:17:06,586
<i>that whoever go there,
give back.</i>

1421
01:17:07,724 --> 01:17:09,241
<i>People need action.</i>

1422
01:17:09,344 --> 01:17:11,000
<i>People need to see
things happen,</i>

1423
01:17:11,103 --> 01:17:12,517
<i>not people just lying to them,</i>

1424
01:17:12,655 --> 01:17:15,862
and "Unforgettable" was a song
that took me to Africa

1425
01:17:15,965 --> 01:17:20,137
<i>to build a hospital to save
so many lives for 56 villages.</i>

1426
01:17:20,482 --> 01:17:22,551
[cheering]

1427
01:17:28,034 --> 01:17:30,034
Hi, French. It's Nyla.
I just wanted to show you

1428
01:17:30,172 --> 01:17:31,655
what you've been able
to help build.

1429
01:17:31,758 --> 01:17:35,068
This is the staff quarters
where all of the doctors

1430
01:17:35,172 --> 01:17:37,689
and nurses and health workers
are gonna be able to live.

1431
01:17:37,793 --> 01:17:41,413
What we have happening here
is the extension

1432
01:17:41,517 --> 01:17:43,827
that wasn't built two weeks ago.

1433
01:17:44,344 --> 01:17:47,000
And soon it will look
just like the staff quarters,

1434
01:17:47,103 --> 01:17:48,344
and it will be plastered,

1435
01:17:48,482 --> 01:17:51,000
and it will have a roof
in the next two weeks.

1436
01:17:51,103 --> 01:17:52,930
And then the services here

1437
01:17:52,931 --> 01:17:56,000
will be able to reach
286,000 people.

1438
01:17:56,103 --> 01:17:59,482
And so I just wanted you to know
how much it means to me

1439
01:17:59,586 --> 01:18:02,896
that you decided to come
to this beautiful community

1440
01:18:03,000 --> 01:18:05,688
and bring healthcare
to all of these people.

1441
01:18:05,689 --> 01:18:08,068
This is honestly one
of my favorite stories,

1442
01:18:08,206 --> 01:18:09,550
because you said,

1443
01:18:09,551 --> 01:18:12,344
"I'm going to help build up
this medical facility."

1444
01:18:12,448 --> 01:18:13,724
<i>And then The Weeknd was like,</i>

1445
01:18:13,827 --> 01:18:16,413
<i>"Oh, I'm also gonna drop
100 grand on this."</i>

1446
01:18:16,517 --> 01:18:18,827
<i>And I was like,
"Is this gonna be the new,</i>

1447
01:18:18,931 --> 01:18:21,068
like, thing in hip-hop

1448
01:18:21,172 --> 01:18:22,931
where it's like guys
are gonna be bragging--

1449
01:18:23,034 --> 01:18:24,448
instead of bottles in the club--

1450
01:18:24,586 --> 01:18:26,241
<i>♪ I got a hospital in Africa ♪</i>

1451
01:18:26,379 --> 01:18:29,033
<i>♪ A hospital in Africa
I got a... ♪</i>

1452
01:18:29,034 --> 01:18:30,516
You could make it a thing.

1453
01:18:30,517 --> 01:18:33,861
<i>- You could make it a thing.</i>
- [Karim] <i>Yeah, I hope so.</i>

1454
01:18:33,862 --> 01:18:34,931
<i>I hope so.</i>

1455
01:18:40,758 --> 01:18:42,896
[conversing in Arabic]

1456
01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:45,241
[car beeping]

1457
01:18:56,965 --> 01:18:58,241
[Zack] Alrighty.

1458
01:19:07,862 --> 01:19:10,034
[emotive music playing]

1459
01:19:22,379 --> 01:19:23,931
Hi. How are you?

1460
01:20:08,724 --> 01:20:09,827
Shh!

1461
01:20:11,896 --> 01:20:13,137
Shh!

1462
01:20:14,586 --> 01:20:17,172
[indistinct conversations]

1463
01:20:17,275 --> 01:20:18,896
[dog barking]

1464
01:20:31,620 --> 01:20:34,034
[insects chirring]

1465
01:20:46,551 --> 01:20:49,655
[indistinct conversations]

1466
01:20:49,758 --> 01:20:51,482
[knocks on door]

1467
01:20:53,517 --> 01:20:56,034
[down-tempo emotive music plays]

1468
01:21:09,793 --> 01:21:12,000
[all cheering]

1469
01:21:13,827 --> 01:21:16,172
[emotive music continues]

1470
01:21:48,172 --> 01:21:50,724
[indistinct conversations]

1471
01:22:00,965 --> 01:22:04,137
[women singing in Arabic]

1472
01:22:11,344 --> 01:22:14,344
[cheering, ululation]

1473
01:22:14,862 --> 01:22:18,034
[Karim] <i>I don't know who was
more proud, me or my mother.</i>

1474
01:22:18,137 --> 01:22:21,758
<i>I think that to see
my mother's whole energy shift</i>

1475
01:22:22,310 --> 01:22:25,102
<i>and she's busting through
my room with her chest up,</i>

1476
01:22:25,103 --> 01:22:27,275
<i>and happy and dancing,</i>

1477
01:22:27,724 --> 01:22:29,896
<i>and just to see her
in that spirit,</i>

1478
01:22:30,344 --> 01:22:32,310
<i>it's something
I always dreamed about.</i>

1479
01:22:34,655 --> 01:22:36,517
<i>Even throughout
all the obstacles,</i>

1480
01:22:36,620 --> 01:22:39,862
<i>even taking chances where
I could have got deported.</i>

1481
01:22:39,965 --> 01:22:41,413
<i>Even situations where my mother</i>

1482
01:22:41,517 --> 01:22:43,172
<i>could have took that chance
and went back home,</i>

1483
01:22:43,275 --> 01:22:44,862
<i>my father, when he said,
"I'm going back."</i>

1484
01:22:44,965 --> 01:22:48,310
<i>And just the way
things happened is unreal.</i>

1485
01:22:49,827 --> 01:22:50,965
[all] <i>♪ Happy birthday... ♪</i>

1486
01:22:51,068 --> 01:22:52,172
[Karim] <i>There's a story</i>

1487
01:22:52,310 --> 01:22:53,827
<i>for a lot
of immigrants out there.</i>

1488
01:22:55,275 --> 01:22:56,379
You sacrifice.

1489
01:22:57,068 --> 01:23:00,965
You know, some people
have to sacrifice,

1490
01:23:01,068 --> 01:23:04,379
<i>to better theirself,
to better their family...</i>

1491
01:23:05,862 --> 01:23:08,344
<i>to create a new generation
for their family.</i>

1492
01:23:11,379 --> 01:23:14,343
[rhythmic thumping]

1493
01:23:14,344 --> 01:23:16,862
[emotive music playing]

1494
01:23:26,103 --> 01:23:29,344
<i>I never had the energy
to hold on to grudges.</i>

1495
01:23:35,413 --> 01:23:36,620
<i>When I seen him,</i>

1496
01:23:36,724 --> 01:23:40,068
<i>the only thought
that was in my heart was...</i>

1497
01:23:41,137 --> 01:23:42,862
<i>"Are you proud of me?"</i>

1498
01:23:50,344 --> 01:23:51,517
Yeah.

1499
01:23:56,379 --> 01:23:57,516
<i>There was a line that I said.</i>

1500
01:23:57,517 --> 01:23:59,896
I said,
"I take a look at my son.

1501
01:24:00,000 --> 01:24:03,620
Then I picture my father
the way he looked at his son.

1502
01:24:03,758 --> 01:24:05,793
Then I understood his story."

1503
01:24:26,068 --> 01:24:28,620
I still love my father
like I loved him before he left.

1504
01:24:29,310 --> 01:24:31,758
<i>He left. It made me
French Montana.</i>

1505
01:24:33,000 --> 01:24:35,068
<i>Even when he did wrong,
he did right.</i>

1506
01:24:36,448 --> 01:24:38,000
["Famous" plays]

1507
01:24:52,896 --> 01:24:55,206
[Zack] If I had the all-star
team right now,

1508
01:24:55,310 --> 01:24:56,517
you'd be down 30 points.

1509
01:24:56,620 --> 01:24:58,103
No, you'd be down 50.

1510
01:24:58,551 --> 01:25:01,000
[music continues playing]

1511
01:25:01,482 --> 01:25:05,000
<i>♪ I hope no one falls
in love with you ♪</i>

1512
01:25:05,931 --> 01:25:09,482
<i>♪ I've got my reasons ♪</i>

1513
01:25:10,724 --> 01:25:13,000
<i>♪ 'Cause if they knew
what I know ♪</i>

1514
01:25:13,103 --> 01:25:18,000
<i>♪ Then I know
I wouldn't stand a chance ♪</i>

1515
01:25:20,793 --> 01:25:25,000
<i>♪ There's no way you would go
for a man like me ♪</i>

1516
01:25:25,137 --> 01:25:27,034
<i>♪ If you had options ♪</i>

1517
01:25:29,862 --> 01:25:33,862
<i>♪ Even though the world
was meant for you ♪</i>

1518
01:25:34,586 --> 01:25:36,896
<i>♪ I hope you don't get famous</i>

1519
01:25:37,965 --> 01:25:39,964
<i>♪ 'Cause everyone
will love you ♪</i>

1520
01:25:39,965 --> 01:25:43,034
<i>♪ But won't love you
like I do ♪</i>

1521
01:25:44,137 --> 01:25:46,344
<i>♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪</i>

1522
01:25:46,482 --> 01:25:48,655
<i>♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪</i>

1523
01:25:48,793 --> 01:25:53,000
<i>♪ Stay home with me ♪</i>

1524
01:25:53,586 --> 01:25:55,620
<i>♪ I'll always love you</i>

1525
01:25:55,724 --> 01:25:57,172
<i>♪ I'll always... ♪</i>

1526
01:25:57,275 --> 01:26:01,000
<i>♪ Hope you don't get,
hope you don't get famous ♪</i>

1527
01:26:03,482 --> 01:26:05,689
<i>♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪</i>

1528
01:26:08,172 --> 01:26:10,344
<i>♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪</i>

1529
01:26:13,000 --> 01:26:14,999
<i>♪ Hope you don't get famous ♪</i>

1530
01:26:15,000 --> 01:26:16,344
<i>♪ Yeah ♪</i>

1531
01:26:18,931 --> 01:26:20,103
<i>♪ Baby, live your life... ♪</i>

1532
01:26:20,206 --> 01:26:21,620
French Montana has been named

1533
01:26:21,758 --> 01:26:23,965
the most streamed
African-born artist,

1534
01:26:24,068 --> 01:26:27,724
amassing more than 40 billion
digital spins.

1535
01:26:27,827 --> 01:26:29,275
<i>♪ ...with the angels ♪</i>

1536
01:26:29,413 --> 01:26:31,586
<i>♪ I said fake it
till you make it ♪</i>

1537
01:26:31,724 --> 01:26:33,931
<i>♪ I guess you fake
when you make it ♪</i>

1538
01:26:34,034 --> 01:26:36,000
<i>♪ I told you stick
to the basics ♪</i>

1539
01:26:36,103 --> 01:26:38,343
<i>♪ Built an empire,
started from the basement ♪</i>

1540
01:26:38,344 --> 01:26:41,379
<i>♪ 'Cause if you trying to fix
a glass that's broken ♪</i>

1541
01:26:41,482 --> 01:26:44,068
<i>♪ You know it might cut ya ♪</i>

1542
01:26:44,172 --> 01:26:46,551
<i>♪ Never want to see you
with another man ♪</i>

1543
01:26:46,655 --> 01:26:48,586
<i>♪ Truth might eat you
if you mumble it ♪</i>

1544
01:26:48,724 --> 01:26:51,551
<i>♪ When it get too cold
for a blanket ♪</i>

1545
01:26:51,689 --> 01:26:52,965
<i>♪ Need you huggin' me ♪</i>

1546
01:26:53,655 --> 01:26:56,310
<i>♪ 'Cause nobody gonna love you
like I do ♪</i>

1547
01:26:56,413 --> 01:27:01,068
<i>♪ Even though the world
was meant for you ♪</i>

1548
01:27:01,172 --> 01:27:03,482
<i>♪ I hope you don't get famous ♪</i>

1549
01:27:04,310 --> 01:27:06,344
<i>♪ 'Cause everyone
will love you ♪</i>

1550
01:27:06,448 --> 01:27:07,862
<i>- ♪ But won't love you...</i>
- [song fades]

1551
01:27:07,965 --> 01:27:10,379
["One More Chance" playing]

1552
01:27:10,482 --> 01:27:12,689
<i>♪ Rough time, bissy, bissy
Don't cry ♪</i>

1553
01:27:12,793 --> 01:27:14,965
<i>♪ Hold me down when they talk
Make a smile with me ♪</i>

1554
01:27:15,068 --> 01:27:17,310
<i>♪ Hold me down when they talk
Make a smile with me ♪</i>

1555
01:27:17,413 --> 01:27:20,275
<i>♪ One more chance ♪</i>

1556
01:27:20,379 --> 01:27:22,137
<i>♪ All I need is
one more chance ♪</i>

1557
01:27:22,275 --> 01:27:23,274
<i>♪ Just save me ♪</i>

1558
01:27:23,275 --> 01:27:25,000
<i>♪ Need is one more chance ♪</i>

1559
01:27:25,103 --> 01:27:26,655
<i>♪ One more chance, yeah ♪</i>

1560
01:27:26,793 --> 01:27:29,862
<i>♪ One more chance ♪</i>

1561
01:27:29,965 --> 01:27:31,550
<i>♪ All I need is
one more chance ♪</i>

1562
01:27:31,551 --> 01:27:32,655
<i>♪ Just save me ♪</i>

1563
01:27:32,758 --> 01:27:34,412
<i>♪ Need is one more chance ♪</i>

1564
01:27:34,413 --> 01:27:36,240
<i>♪ One more chance, yeah ♪</i>

1565
01:27:36,241 --> 01:27:37,620
<i>♪ Anything that a Yahweh ♪</i>

1566
01:27:37,758 --> 01:27:39,482
<i>♪ Send it back to the sender ♪</i>

1567
01:27:39,586 --> 01:27:40,964
<i>♪ To the sender ♪</i>

1568
01:27:40,965 --> 01:27:43,034
<i>♪ Yeah, I was lost
in the world many nights ♪</i>

1569
01:27:43,137 --> 01:27:44,274
<i>♪ I remember ♪</i>

1570
01:27:44,275 --> 01:27:46,412
<i>♪ Many days
I wasn't livin' right ♪</i>

1571
01:27:46,413 --> 01:27:48,793
<i>♪ Beat the charge up
for my blessings ♪</i>

1572
01:27:48,896 --> 01:27:50,620
<i>♪ When I walk,
I shine so bright ♪</i>

1573
01:27:50,724 --> 01:27:51,758
[song fades out]



