French Montana Opens Up About The 'Sacrifice' He Made 'Being In The Streets' To Support His Mother

Rapper French Montana, who came with his family from Morocco to the Bronx, New York, had many challenges on his way to becoming a well-known rapper, many of which were rather daunting to him when he was younger.

In his new documentary, "For Khadija," the rapper has opened up about those challenges, including how he turned to selling drugs to help provide for his family.

Montana also revealed that he hopes that the documentary will inspire others and give them hope that they can rise above their circumstances.

Keep on reading to learn more.

Following years of dominating the music industry, Montana is now telling the story of his rise to the top in his new documentary, "For Khadija."

The project, which his mother inspired, focuses on the several challenges he faced before his fame, including becoming a drug dealer to help his struggling mother provide for the family after his father abandoned them.

Despite such a horrid early life, Montana insists that these challenges shaped the guy he is today.

"The greatness starts after your comfort zone," the 38-year-old told People magazine. "I knew that everything I was going to do would be out of the ordinary, and I would have to sacrifice to get where I needed to go."

He added, "Sacrificing was me being in the streets because I hated to see my mother working 12 hours for $100."

While selling drugs came with its perks, Montana said he soon experienced the cons of the lifestyle as he got shot at a time.

The incident and his passion for music made him realize that his days as a drug dealer were numbered and that he would soon have to "use whatever capital to invest in me, to start the DVDs, or start the rap career."

Reflecting further on his past, the rapper shared an incident that made him take a massive risk by selling drugs and hustling on the streets.

He said, "I walked in on her, and she was just crying and praying; she was basically crying for help, and I was just like, 'Yo, let me try and help.' And I think that was one of the moments that made me start taking chances because I knew I was doing it for the right thing."

With the documentary now available for viewing, Montana hopes his life story will make viewers believe that circumstances could change no matter how difficult the current situation feels.

"When it seems like it's impossible, there's a way you could still make it happen," he said before advising that they could learn from his mother, who depended on her "faith."

He added, "She prays, and how I did when I had to make a choice, whether I was just going to get caught up with seeing my mother sacrifice or I was going to do something about it and make a change."

Over two decades and one platinum-certified album later, Montana believes he is now the man he had hoped to be and has broken the "generation gap" he had dreamed of doing for most of his life.

Speaking in an interview with CBS News before the debut of the documentary, Montana said that the documentary highlighted the ups and downs of his life, describing it as "a real immigrant story."

"It's just a real immigrant story. I never really seen anybody make a movie like it," he said.

He continued. "We highlighted that you're going to lose more than you'll win in life. And the experience to keep going, keep going. You know, but they said many things are impossible until a fool came along and did it, you know?"

"For Khadija" premiered on Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival. Montana is also planning an official soundtrack featuring documentary participants and others who helped him in his career.