Confidence is something either you have or you don’t, and it takes time to develop it for yourself. Sometimes, it presents as overconfidence, which can pop up in places it’s not always welcome. Take rapper French Montana, for example. His overconfidence, although admirable, came in the form of a tweet sent out on Tuesday night. He wrote that he can rap with the best of them, namely Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning emcee, Kendrick Lamar.
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“IF WE JUST TALKING ABOUT ANTHEMS, !! ME VS KENDRICK HIT FOR HIT !” the “Unforgettable” spitter proclaimed, referencing a Complex live-streamed interview where he was asked which rapper he thinks he could face off against. “I BELIEVE I CAN GO NECK TO NECK !! I BEEN MAKING HITS FOR A LONG TIME ! IT AINT MY FAULT I BELIEVE IN MYSELF. HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION ? HOW MANY TIMES I GOTTA PROVE MYSELF BEFORE I GET MINE.”
“I mean, honestly, I could go against anybody,” he stressed in a recent interview with Complex. “You could put somebody like Kendrick Lamar next to me on the same stage at a festival, I might outshine him. Not that I’m a better rapper, or whatever it is, it’s just that I got more hits.”
First of all, stop yelling at me French, it’s still early. Secondly, let’s look at the facts, shall we?
According to the Billboard Hot 100, K. Dot has two No. 1 hits (“HUMBLE” and “Bad Blood,” a song he rapped two verses on which belongs to some serpentine pop star), and eight Top 10 hits (including “F**kin’ Problems” with A$AP Rocky and Drake and “All The Stars” with SZA, which was nominated for four Grammys and an Oscar for Best Original Song). 48 of his songs and features, respectively, have touched the top 100.
French Montana—who is featured on The Root’s “Replay, Revisit, Reject” weekly song list in the “reject” pile thanks to his ghastly new song “That’s a Fact”—has had zero No. 1's on the Hot 100, and two Top 10’s: “Unforgettable” with Swae Lee (which, let’s be real, we enjoyed for the chorus and the beat), and “Loyal” with Chris Brown, which I honestly forgot he was on until I looked at the chart. He’s logged in just 17 entries in the top 100 since his career began.
Clearly, French does not have more hits than Kendrick. Numbers don’t lie, check the scoreboard. Jay-Z said that and you know who worked with Jay-Z? Kendrick Lamar Duckworth.
Confidence is key—and I’m confident that French should have just sat there and ate his food. French is correct in his assertion that he has more party songs in his collection than Kendrick and that Kendrick makes more thought-provoking albums. However, having popular party songs does not always mean you’ll have a more successful festival set. If you’ve made something that touches someone, they’re going to react positively, regardless if it’s an upbeat or lyric-driven song.
Plus, have you SEEN Kendrick Lamar perform? He is absolutely magnetic. He’s got energy and synergy inside his D.N.A. I’ve never seen French perform, so I can’t judge how hype he gets the crowd, but I liked “Pop That” even though his verse is the weakest.
Well, Twitter came with the jokes and sassy remarks as Twitter does at times like this. Even Young Thug had something to say. Take a look at some of the replies.
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