Jungle Rules

''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.

Track listing

Track notes
* signifies a co-producer
* signifies an additional producer
* 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
* Swae Lee – featured artist
* The Weeknd – featured artist
* Max B – featured artist
* Travis Scott – featured artist
* Pharrell Williams – featured artist
* Ziico Niico – featured artist
* Quavo – featured artist
* Future – featured artist
* T.I. – featured artist
* Young Thug – featured artist
* Marc E. Bassy – featured artist
* Alkaline – featured artist
* Fe – background vocals
* Fernick Gibbs – background vocals
* Rick Steel – background vocals
* The Kid Daytona – background vocals
* Dafina Zeqiri – background vocals
* Terik Morris – speaker
* Rico Love – background vocals

Production

* Puff Daddy – executive production
* French Montana – executive production
* Rick Steel – executive production, production , additional production
* Ben Billions – production
* C.P Dubb – production
* Jaegan – production
* 1Mind – production
* Harry Fraud – production
* Nova – production
* Floyd Bentley – production , co-production
* Frank Dukes – production
* Ism – production
* Ziggy on the Keyboard – production
* London on da Track – production
* J Holt – production
* Murda Beatz – production
* Scott Storch – production
* Beat Billionaire – production
* Nic Nac – production
* NightxNight – production
* Alkaline – production
* Lee Milla – production
* DtownThaGreat – production
* Rico Love – production
* Alex Lustig – production
* 2Epik – production
* Shaun Lopez – additional production
* DaHeala – additional production
* DannyBoyStyles – additional production
* Masar – additional production
* DanjaHandz – additional production
* DaviDior – additional production
* Pharrell Williams – co-production
* Detail – co-production
* CuBeatz – co-production

Technical

* Emerson Mancini – mastering
* Dave Kutch – mastering
* Jaycen Joshua – mixing
* Fabian Marasciullo – mixing
* Ell – recording
* Rick Steel – recording
* Floyd Bentley – recording
* Harry Fraud – recording
* Masar – recording
* Shi Kamiyama – recording
* Jaydawn – recording
* Evan LaRay Brunson – recording
* Bijan – recording
* Shawn Jarrett – recording
* John Shullman –recording
* David Nakaji – engineering assistance
* Maddox Chim – engineering assistance
* Raul Barcena – engineering assistance
* Sean Klein – engineering assistance
* McCoy Socalgargoyle – engineering assistance

Design

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

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control

French Montana albums
2017 albums
Bad Boy Records albums
Epic Records albums
Albums produced by Cubeatz
Albums produced by Detail (record producer)
Albums produced by Frank Dukes
Albums produced by Harry Fraud
Albums produced by London on da Track
Albums produced by Mike Will Made It
Albums produced by Murda Beatz
Albums produced by Pharrell Williams
Albums produced by Scott Storch