French Montana's paying tribute to all the immigrant moms who sacrifice for their children ... telling his story in his new documentary -- but, shining a light on his mom who sacrificed.
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00:00This documentary, I can't wait to watch this.
00:05Tell us about how this all intersects with immigration,
00:09because it's something that everybody's talking about.
00:12And you really had just a fascinating journey.
00:16Yes.
00:17So my mother and my father, they came from Africa
00:20when I was 13 years old.
00:24And when they came here, my father had got visas.
00:28And we overstayed the visas.
00:30And my father was trying to create an opportunity for us
00:33to live the American dream.
00:35But my father, he didn't succeed at that.
00:37He tried to open one business, second business,
00:39third business, and none of that worked for him.
00:43So my father got tired of it, and he
00:45went to go back to Africa, where he lived like a king.
00:47And he told my mother, he said, look,
00:49we could take all the kids and leave French here.
00:53My mother said, I'm not going to leave my son here
00:56and just go back with you to Africa.
00:58So he said, you know what, then you can stay with them.
01:00He felt like she betrayed him.
01:01She didn't want to leave.
01:03So he said, you can stay with them.
01:04So he left us, me and my mother, my two little brothers.
01:08None of us spoke English.
01:10We went through the struggle.
01:12She was a single mother.
01:13She worked three jobs.
01:15And when it came to me, I couldn't really get a job.
01:19I couldn't go to school.
01:21I didn't have no paperwork.
01:24So it was the only thing to do was to hustle and hit
01:26the streets.
01:28So with that being said, it was just
01:30something that happened by mistake
01:32that turned into a miracle.
01:34So my mother wasn't a citizen.
01:35And when I got her her green card and stuff,
01:39I took her back to Morocco, where
01:40she saw her sisters and brothers for the first time
01:44after 25 years.
01:45Wow.
01:47Wow.
01:48So when she said no to my father,
01:50she didn't see her brothers or sisters for 25 years
01:53that she sacrificed with me in the States
01:55for me to become French Montana.
01:57So she's the real French Montana.
01:59She's the one that sacrificed.
02:01She's the one.
02:02So it's just shining a light on a mother's love,
02:05that without a mother's love, sometimes it's like,
02:07you don't even, you know, you already don't exist
02:09if she don't have you, but you don't exist
02:11if she don't help you at all, you know?
02:13So cherish your mother if you still have one.
02:15And definitely it's a light on all mothers out there,
02:18especially all immigrant mothers that sacrifice
02:20for their kids in this country.
02:22And, you know, all mothers in one.