French Montana celebrates as he officially becomes a U.S citizen

Morrocan rapper Karim Kharbouch a.k.a French Montana officially became a US citizen on Wednesday morning, after first applying in February 2017, TMZ reported. Born in Morocco, Montana immigrated to the US when he was 13 years old and lived in the South Bronx.

With his citizenship, he’ll now be able to obtain a US passport and vote in the next election.

“Officially a citizen today thank u allah,” he captioned a video of himself on his Instagram story.

He then appeared to celebrate his newfound citizenship by partying at a club.

French got sworn in Wednesday morning in New Jersey. We’re told getting his citizenship was a long process … he applied in February of 2017. In order to become a citizen you have to take the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance and, from the looks of it … French nailed it. The rapper was born and raised in Morocco, but immigrated to the U.S. when he was 13. (TMZ)

French Montana was born in Rabat, Morocco.French emigrated with his mother and little brother in 1996, when he was 13, to the Bronx in New York City. His stage name is a conflation of French (from the French protectorate of Morocco) and Montana (from the fictitious Tony Montana in the 1983 movie Scarface).

In 2002, French Montana created the Cocaine City DVD imprint as a means of showcasing his talent as an underground artist and a new voice from the New York streets. To gain a broader fan base, French incorporated interviews with major artists, as well as some up and comers. What started out as simply a medium for developing an audience quickly grew into one of the top-selling “street DVDs”.

The international success of the DVD series helped to propel French’s rap career to an entirely new level. By creating and producing Cocaine City, French Montana evolved from an aspiring rapper in the streets of the Bronx, to the newest rapper to sign with platinum-selling recording artist Akon’s record label, Konvict Music. By early 2009, French had flooded the streets with various mixtapes, including “Live from Africa”, “Laundry Man” with Evil Empire, and “In Demand” with DJ Lazy K. His frequent collaborations with Harlem-bred rapper Max B have also helped keep a steady buzz, and helped fuel the success of the duo’s latest project, the mixtape/DVD combo “Coke Wave.”

In 2009, French Montana signed a deal with Akon’s Konvict Muzik record label, but left the label in 2011 due to album delays. He was subsequently reportedly close to signing a deal with Rick Ross’s Maybach Music Group. There were also reports that he would join Kanye West’s GOOD Music label.

In December 2011, French Montana signed a record deal with P. Diddy’s Bad Boy Records.