French Montana opens up on ‘being in the streets’ to help out struggling mom

Popular rapper French Montana is opening up on his struggle before his rise in Hollywood as a rapper. The singer reflects on turning to the streets to sell drugs as he desperately tried to help his struggling mother Khadija, after whom he named his new documentary.

Montana’s documentary, For Khadija, will make its debut on Friday at the Beacon Theatre in New York City during the Tribeca Festival. 

The film chronicles the rapper’s incredible journey to stardom, as well as his mother’s unwavering devotion to raising her three sons after Montana’s father deserted the family.

The Unforgettable rapper faced numerous obstacles, such as being undocumented and being rejected from university scholarships.

To assist his struggling mother and support his family, he even resorted to dealing drugs. However, Montana believes that these challenges helped shape him into the person he is today.

“The greatness start after your comfort zone,” Montana told PEOPLE. “I knew that everything I was going to do was going to be out of the ordinary and I would have to sacrifice to get where I needed to go. Sacrificing was me being in the streets, because I hated to see my mother working 12 hours for $100.”

After taking his mother back to Morocco for the first time in more than two decades, Montana began working on this documentary in 2017. He hopes that it will demonstrate to viewers that “miracles do happen.”

“You just got to let go, man, and have faith,” the rapper says.