French Montana Concedes Drake Could 'Probably' Beat Him in Head-to-Head Hits Battle; Water Declares It Is 'Likely' Wet

If there’s any self-care mantra I can offer to anyone right now, it’s to believe in yourself the way French Montana believes in himself.

The “Unforgettable” rapper, in an interview with DJ E Rock on 92.3’s The Bassment (h/t Complex), maintained, once again, that his catalog could stand next to most of hip hop’s greats—with some possible exceptions.

“I feel like I could go against anybody,” French told E Rock. “I know Drake probably got me. JAY-Z got me. But besides that, it’s whatever. It’s open game.”

French acknowledged that Snoop Dogg could have a possible edge on him, “when his thing bang.”

“It’s like Dr. Dre and all that respect to him,” French said.

In a time when it’s hard to physically come together, French has been a great unifier: legions of hip-hop heads rallied online to roast the 35-year-old Moroccan-American rapper after he said he could go for “hit for hit” with Kendrick Lamar.

Yes, the same Kendrick who won thee Pulitzer Prize.

The all-caps aficionado was roundly rebutted by Twitter, to say the least, but French is nothing if not delusional unflappable. Though, to be fair, he also hedged his initial proclamation a touch, telling 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.”

(For what it’s worth, the “hits” claim is also easily refutable, as Root contributor J’na Jefferson recently investigated. And by investigated, we mean Googled.)

Is French Montana trolling at this point? Probably, which in French Montana speak, means “you bet your ass.” But let’s be real, without concerts, award shows or red carpets, the quickest way for an entertainer to generate press during quarantine is to launch himself into hypothetical Verzuz battles. I would never dream of knocking a not-so-young man’s hustle, and I will not begin today. After all, as French himself told DJ E Rock, this isn’t really about winning. It’s about getting in the fight.

“You can put me against anybody. If I take the L, I take the L,” he said. “I’m not scared to lose. This is about me believing in myself.”

French Montana, for your unshakeable confidence and stretching a quarter’s worth of hits into a dollar’s worth of press, I salute you. But I probably still won’t bump your music like that.