Meaning of “Unforgettable” by French Montana

“Unforgettable” is a song by the Moroccan-born American hip hop recording artist French Montana featuring American rapper and singer Swae Lee.

Talking about this track on the social networking platform Instagram, Montana said the song’s title was inspired by a real life experience. According to him, when his family first emigrated from Morocco to the United States, they had a very difficult time adjusting to life in America. The family was on welfare and struggled a lot to make ends meet. According to the rapper, it was around that time that he made a promise to his mother that he was going to hustle very hard and make his “accomplishments unforgettable” once life gave him the opportunity to do so.

Via that same Instagram post, he went on to encourage anyone facing struggles in life to not give in. According to Montana, “the sky is not the limit” and that despite once current condition, one has the inherent power within him/herself to “do unforgettable things”. Having said these emotional and motivational words to his millions of followers on Instagram, he officially introduced his fans to the song “Unforgettable”.

A True Story

French Montana was really born in Rabat, Morocco. When he was 13, his family left Morocco for America, where they settled in a very deprived area of the South Bronx, New York City. At that time, Montana spoke only French and Arabic. The family not only had to struggle with the English language but also with serious financial issues. Two years later, his father (who had gotten so fed up of the struggles) moved back to Morocco. However, his pregnant mother remained in New York City with Montana and his younger sibling. The family ended up relying heavily on welfare in order to survive financially.

Lyrics don’t talk about Montana’s Background and Struggles

But lyrically, “Unforgettable” doesn’t really talk about Montana’s struggles or background. The lyrics basically center on having a jolly good time with women and friends while touching slightly on Montana’s immense financial prowess. In the song, the adjective “unforgettable” doesn’t refer to any memorable or remarkable accomplishments. Here, the word “unforgettable” is used plainly to describe an apparently attractive woman whom the singer wants to be with alone (“I need to get you alone”).

Montana borrows from The Weeknd’s “Wicked Games”

The famous lines in which Montana raps about a woman leaving her man at home because her love for him is gone was borrowed from Canadian singer The Weeknd’s 2012 debut single titled “Wicked Games”. Speaking with the music website Genius, Montana said “Wicked Games” was his favorite The Weeknd song.

He said the lines above were something he felt many people can relate to because “a lot of girls” sometimes abandon their guys at home to go out and have fun. According to Montana, the girls do this either because they have just ended their relationship with them or because the boyfriends wronged them.

FYI: Owing to the fact that Montana used the lines in question from The Weeknd’s song, The Weeknd is in some publications given songwriting credits on this track.

Facts about “Unforgettable”

• The song was written by Montana and 4 other songwriters, including American music producer Christopher Phyromm Washington (known professionally as C.P Dubb) and American rapper Swae Lee. The two other songwriters are McCulloch Sutphin and Jake Aujla.
• P Dubb handled the song’s production along with two other record producers: 1Mind and Jaegen.
• The song was first released on Montana’s 32nd birthday in November 2016 and featured artists Jeremih and Swae Lee. However, that version was quickly taken down from the internet as it wasn’t considered the final version. On April 7, 2017, the final version (the remixed version) was released as the first single from Montana’s second studio album titled Jungle Rules. This version cut out Jeremih’s vocals, leaving only those of Swae Lee.
• The picture on the official artwork of this track is from the real marriage ceremony of his mother and father in Morocco. In his interview with Genius, Montana said the picture is not only his favorite picture in the world but it is also unforgettable to him for numerous reasons. According to him, the picture was taken the same year he was born.
  

  This is the single’s artwork. It is the picture of Montana’s father and mother on their wedding day.

• Montana reportedly spent more than half a million dollars of his personal money on the song. He is said to have paid $300,000 just for the clearance of the sample used in the song. He reportedly spent a further $300,000 to shoot the music video.
• The music video for “Unforgettable”, which was co-directed by Montana, was shot in Kampala, the capital city of the African country of Uganda. According to Montana, he was inspired to go to Africa to shoot the video after he saw an online video of a group of kids from Africa playing and dancing barefooted. Montana said he instantly became a fan of the kids because he saw himself in them. He decided to fly to Africa to find these kids who reminded him of himself growing up in Africa and doing the exact same thing they were doing.
• “Unforgettable” peaked at the number 3 and number 2 spots on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Charts respectively, thereby making it the most successful track of Montana’s career. The track also entered the top 10 in over a dozen countries around the globe, including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and France.