French Montana: I fell in love with Indian culture from what I saw in the Bollywood movies

Moroccan-American rapper French Montana had his first visit to India recently and he is in awe of the country. “My visit to India has been great.

I love the culture here. When I was a Moroccan kid, I fell in love with Indian culture from what I saw in the Bollywood movies back in the day. It feels great to be here and see the people. It’s overwhelming to see that I have so much love out here,” French Montana says.

Ask him what sets the Indian fans apart and he says, “They just love so wholeheartedly. They are more intense with what and whom they love, and they’re not scared to show their love. They also have a lot of fun and they are happy for you. They love their artistes, and I’ve seen it first hand; it was great.”

During his visit, French released his song Rolla Rolla, which marks his first collaboration with Egyptian actor-rapper Mohamed Ramadan and Jasmine Sandlas. Opening up about mixing the Indian and Middle Eastern musical styles together, he says, “I loved it because it shows that music is the only language that everybody speak worldwide. You could grab somebody from Egypt, Morocco or India, and they all come together to make a song. I love that we all come from different cultures, but music brings us together as one culture.” He also raves about his collaborator Mohamed: “He’s in full character when he’s on stage and when he’s making music. And it’s a great thing that our first collaboration happened to be on this song.”

French also shares that Indian music has influenced him. “Back in the days of watching Indian movies and seeing how they mix the music with the with the films, I’ve been in love with it since day one. There are many Indian artistes that I’d love to work with, and this is just the beginning of something great,” he states.

At the closing ceremony of Women’s Premiere League, French and Mohamed had their first live performance in India and the Moroccan-American admits that it was “very special” for him. “Performing in front of that many people for the first time, I loved it. I want to tell my Indian fans I love you all. This is the first of many performances and we will be coming back to give back for all the love that we have got,” he ends.