Jungle Rules

Jungle Rules
Studio album by
French Montana
ReleasedJuly 14, 2017
Recorded2016–2017
Genre
Length64:19
Label
Producer
French Montana chronology
MC4
(2016) 		Jungle Rules
(2017) 		Coke Wave 4
(2019)
Singles from Jungle Rules
  1. "Unforgettable"
    Released: April 7, 2017
  2. "No Pressure"
    Released: April 7, 2017
  3. "A Lie"
    Released: August 15, 2017[2]
  4. "Famous"
    Released: November 28, 2017[3]

Jungle Rules is the second studio album by Moroccan-American rapper French Montana. It was released on July 14, 2017 by Coke Boys, Bad Boy and Epic Records.[4] The album succeeds his mixtape MC4 (2016), which was originally intended to be his second studio album. It features guest appearances from Future, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, Quavo, T.I., Swae Lee, Marc E. Bassy, Chinx and Max B, among others. Production derives from frequent collaborator Harry Fraud, as well as Scott Storch, Detail, London on da Track, Mike Will Made It and others. The album was supported by the singles "No Pressure" featuring Future and "Unforgettable" featuring Swae Lee.

Jungle Rules received generally positive reviews from critics. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 52,000 copies in its first week. In October 2017, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Background

The title Jungle Rules was originally announced on August 25, 2015, in the midst of Chris Brown's "One Hell of a Nite Tour" which ran between August and September which the rapper co-headlined.[5][6] The title was shelved, however, when in October the mixtape was released under the name Coke Zoo.[7][8] On June 12, 2017, Billboard attended a documentary screening and listening party hosted by French Montana in New York City.[9] The event featured previews of tracks expected on the upcoming sophomore album.[9] In a subsequent radio interview with Angie Martinez, he confirmed having completed recording three upcoming projects, including one being a collaboration, and the other his next album.[10] The title Jungle Rules was revived following his performance at the 2017 BET Awards, where the name and release date was revealed for July 14.[4] The track listing was revealed on July 5, 2017.[11]

Singles

The joint lead singles "No Pressure" and "Unforgettable" were released on April 7, 2017 for streaming and digital download. The latter peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest-charting single as well as the first top 10 single of his career as lead artist to date.

"A Lie" featuring The Weeknd was sent to rhythmic radio as the album's third official single on August 22, 2017. It peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Famous" was sent to rhythmic radio as the album's fourth official single on November 28, 2017. The two remix versions of the song featuring HoodCelebrityy and Adam Levine, were both released on February 9 and August 24, 2018, respectively.[12][13]

Promotional singles

On July 11, 2017, "Jump" featuring American rapper Travis Scott, was released as a promotional single.[14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic68/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Exclaim!9/10[17]
Pitchfork6.5/10[18]

Jungle Rules received generally favorable reviews from critics upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 68, based on 8 reviews.[15] Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork commented that "Jungle Rules doesn't answer any of the questions that have circled French Montana his entire career, chiefly: Can he be a leading man and can he be as interesting on wax as he is in the day to day? He has evolved quite a bit since Excuse My French, coming up with moments of sharpness, but he is still limited in what he can do. His music flattens the showy life he lives. If there's a case to be made for his vibrance, it isn't this."[18] Riley Wallace of Exclaim! gave a positive review, stating French Montana "delivers a cohesive cover-to-cover platter of flame emojis that traverse his range".[17] Neil Yeung of AllMusic wrote: "In the end, with enough highlights that could constitute a tighter and more effective track list, Jungle Rules suffers from lengthy playlist aspirations and not enough focus."[16]

Commercial performance

Jungle Rules debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with 52,000 album-equivalent units, of which 16,000 were pure album sales in its first week.[19] On June 11, 2020, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over a million units in the United States.[20]

Track listing

Jungle Rules track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Whiskey Eyes" (featuring Chinx)
4:44
2."Unforgettable" (featuring Swae Lee)
3:53
3."Trippin"
Ben Billions2:56
4."A Lie" (featuring The Weeknd and Max B)
3:46
5."Jump" (featuring Travis Scott)
Nova3:41
6."Hotel Bathroom"
3:51
7."Bring Dem Things" (featuring Pharrell)
3:16
8."Bag" (featuring Ziico Niico)
  • Kharbouch
  • Sherwin Charles
  • Nico Burrell
Ziggy on the Keyboard3:37
9."Migo Montana" (featuring Quavo)
London on da Track3:38
10."No Pressure" (featuring Future)
3:27
11."Push Up"
3:02
12."Stop It" (featuring T.I.)
Scott Storch3:05
13."Black Out" (featuring Young Thug)
Beat Billionaire3:38
14."She Workin" (featuring Marc E. Bassy)
3:07
15."Formula" (featuring Alkaline)
  • Alkaline
  • Lee Milla
3:54
16."Famous"
4:04
17."Too Much"
Alex Lustig2:56
18."White Dress"
2Epik3:43
Total length:64:19

Track notes

  • ^[a] signifies a co-producer
  • ^[b] signifies an additional producer
  • ^[c] signifies an uncredited producer
  • "Unforgettable" originally featured a guest verse from Jeremih

Sample credits

  • "Jump" contains a sample of "Headlock", written and performed by Imogen Heap.
  • "Bring Dem Things" contains a sample of "Last Hope's Gone", written by Paul Butterfield, Jim Haynie and David Sanborn, and performed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band; samples of "Mingus Fingus No. 2", written and performed by Charles Mingus; and a sample of "Take Me to the Mardi Gras", written by Paul Simon, and performed by Bob James.
  • "Bag" is a remix of "That Bag", written and performed by Ziico Niico.
  • "Formula" is a remix of "Formula", written and performed by Alkaline.
  • "White Dress" contains a sample of "Aeorien", written by Francisco Vidal, and performed by Fran Soto featuring Aeralie Bringhton.

Credits and personnel

Performance

  • French Montana – primary artist
  • Chinx – featured artist (track 1)
  • Swae Lee – featured artist (track 2)
  • The Weeknd – featured artist (track 3)
  • Max B – featured artist (track 3)
  • Travis Scott – featured artist (track 5)
  • Pharrell Williams – featured artist (track 7)
  • Ziico Niico – featured artist (track 8)
  • Quavo – featured artist (track 9)
  • Future – featured artist (track 10)
  • T.I. – featured artist (track 12)
  • Young Thug – featured artist (track 13)
  • Marc E. Bassy – featured artist (track 14)
  • Alkaline – featured artist (track 15)
  • Fe – background vocals (tracks 1 and 18)
  • Fernick Gibbs – background vocals (track 3)
  • Rick Steel – background vocals (track 3)
  • The Kid Daytona – background vocals (track 7)
  • Dafina Zeqiri – background vocals (track 16)
  • Terik Morris – speaker (track 15)
  • Rico Love – background vocals (track 17)

Production

  • Puff Daddy – executive production
  • French Montana – executive production
  • Rick Steel – executive production, production (track 1), additional production (track 14)
  • Ben Billions – production (tracks 1 and 3)
  • C.P Dubb – production (track 2)
  • Jaegan – production (track 2)
  • 1Mind – production (track 2)
  • Harry Fraud – production (tracks 4 and 7)
  • Nova – production (track 5)
  • Floyd Bentley – production (track 6), co-production (track 10)
  • Frank Dukes – production (track 6)
  • Ism – production (track 6)
  • Ziggy on the Keyboard – production (track 8)
  • London on da Track – production (track 9)
  • J Holt – production (track 10)
  • Murda Beatz – production (track 11)
  • Scott Storch – production (track 12)
  • Beat Billionaire – production (track 13)
  • Nic Nac – production (track 14)
  • NightxNight – production (track 14)
  • Alkaline – production (track 15)
  • Lee Milla – production (track 15)
  • DtownThaGreat – production (track 16)
  • Rico Love – production (track 16)
  • Alex Lustig – production (track 17)
  • 2Epik – production (track 18)
  • Shaun Lopez – additional production (track 1)
  • DaHeala – additional production (track 4)
  • DannyBoyStyles – additional production (track 4)
  • Masar – additional production (track 4)
  • DanjaHandz – additional production (track 16)
  • DaviDior – additional production (track 14)
  • Pharrell Williams – co-production (track 7)
  • Detail – co-production (track 10)
  • CuBeatz – co-production (track 11)

Technical

  • Emerson Mancini – mastering (tracks 1, 3-9, 11-18)
  • Dave Kutch – mastering (track 2 and 10)
  • Jaycen Joshua – mixing (tracks 1-11, 13-18)
  • Fabian Marasciullo – mixing (track 12)
  • Ell – recording (tracks 1-4, 7, 9-12, 14, 15, 17, and 18)
  • Rick Steel – recording (tracks 1-8, 10, 14, and 18)
  • Floyd Bentley – recording (track 4)
  • Harry Fraud – recording (tracks 4 and 5)
  • Masar – recording (track 4)
  • Shi Kamiyama – recording (track 4)
  • Jaydawn – recording (track 7)
  • Evan LaRay Brunson – recording (track 8)
  • Bijan – recording (track 11)
  • Shawn Jarrett – recording (track 13)
  • John Shullman –recording (track 16)
  • David Nakaji – engineering assistance (tracks 1-11, 13-18)
  • Maddox Chim – engineering assistance (tracks 1-11, 13-18)
  • Raul Barcena – engineering assistance (track 1)
  • Sean Klein – engineering assistance (track 1)
  • McCoy Socalgargoyle – engineering assistance (track 12)

Design

  • Ben Swantek – art design and photography
  • Koury Angelo – photography

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[40] Platinum 80,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[41] Gold 10,000^
Poland (ZPAV)[42] Gold 10,000‡
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[43] Gold 10,000‡
United States (RIAA)[44] Platinum 1,000,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b "Jungle Rules - French Montana | Overview | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  2. ^ "Top 40/Rhythmic-Crossover > Future Releases". AllAccess Music Group. July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  3. ^ "Top 40 Rhythmic Future Releases". All Access. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Lindsey India (June 26, 2017). "French Montana's Jungle Rules Album Drops Next Month". XXL. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  5. ^ @FrencHMonTanA (August 25, 2015). "JUNGLE RULES‼️" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 27, 2017 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ @FrencHMonTanA (August 29, 2015). "#onehellofnight #junglerules #newtape..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 27, 2017 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "Ready For A Fetty Wap And French Montana Mixtape?". MTV.com. October 12, 2015. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015.
  8. ^ "Sanaa Lathan unveils French Montana and Fetty Wap's CokeZoo mixtape cover". HipHopVibe. October 16, 2015. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Carl Lamarre (June 13, 2017). "French Montana Screens New Documentary Project: Unforgettable, Previews Weeknd, Max B & Pharrell Collaborations". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  10. ^ "French Montana Talks Iggy Azalea, Snipe Squad Commandments + His Smash Hit Unforgettable". Power 105.1. June 14, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  11. ^ "French Montana Reveals 'Jungle Rules' Tracklist". HipHop-N-More. July 5, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  12. ^ "French Montana – Famous (Remix) featuring HoodCelebrityy". iTunes Store. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  13. ^ "French Montana – Famous (Remix) featuring Adam Levine". iTunes Store. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  14. ^ "French Montana - Jump (Feat. Travis Scott)". Rap Dose. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  15. ^ a b "Reviews and Tracks for Jungle Rules by French Montana". Metacritic. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  16. ^ a b Yeung, Neil. "Jungle Rules – French Montana". AllMusic. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  17. ^ a b Wallace, Riley (July 18, 2017). "French Montana Jungle Rules". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
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