Jungle Rules (2017)

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. 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 favorable reviews from critics. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 52,000 copies in its first week. In June 2020, the album was certified platinum 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. The title was shelved, however, when in October the mixtape was released under the name Coke Zoo. On June 12, 2017, Billboard attended a documentary screening and listening party hosted by French Montana in New York City. The event featured previews of tracks expected on the upcoming sophomore album. 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. 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. The track listing was revealed on July 5, 2017.

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.

Promotional singles

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

Critical reception

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. 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." 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". 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."

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. 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.

Credits and personnel

Design

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