''Jungle Rules'' is the second studio album by Moroccan-American rapper

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...

. It was released on July 14, 2017 by

Coke Boys Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...

, Bad Boy and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. The album succeeds his mixtape '' MC4'' (2016), which was originally intended to be his second studio album. It features guest appearances from

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

, Travis Scott,

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

Quavo Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), known professionally as Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He is best known as the co-founder and former frontman of hip hop group Migos. Quavo is the uncle of late fellow Migos m ...

, T.I.,

Swae Lee Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American singer and rapper. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Swae Lee is one half of the hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd with his brother Slim J ...

, Marc E. Bassy,

Chinx Lionel Du Fon Pickens (December 4, 1983 – May 17, 2015), better known by his stage name Chinx (formerly Chinx Drugz), was an American rapper. He was a member of The Rockaway Riot Squad alongside fellow slain rapper Stack Bundles. Chinx later joi ...

and

Max B Charley Wingate (born May 21, 1978), better known by his stage name Max B (short for Max Biggaveli), is an American rapper and singer. He is best known for his solo ''Public Domain'' and ''Million Dollar Baby'' series of mixtapes, and introduc ...

, among others. Production derives from frequent collaborator

Harry Fraud Rory William Quigley (born January 26, 1987), known professionally as Harry Fraud, is an American record producer. Primarily a hip hop producer, Fraud began producing at an early age and began interning at a recording studio after graduating hig ...

, as well as

Scott Storch Scott Spencer Storch (born December 16, 1973) is an American record producer and songwriter. He started off as a keyboardist for the group the Roots. Early life Storch was born on Long Island, New York. He was raised in South Florida and Phila ...

Detail Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film * ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film * ''The Detail'', a Canadian television series * "The Detail" (''The Wire''), a television epis ...

London on da Track London Tyler Holmes (born March 27, 1991), known professionally as London on da Track, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He is a frequent collaborator of fellow Atlanta rapper Young Thug and has also worked with Kodak Black, ...

, Mike Will Made It and others. The album was supported by the singles "No Pressure" featuring

and "

Unforgettable Unforgettable may refer to: Film * ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta * ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film * ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film * ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...

" featuring

. ''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 Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA).

Background

The title ''Jungle Rules'' was originally announced on August 25, 2015, in the midst of

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

'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 ''Coke Zoo'' is a collaborative mixtape by American hip hop recording artists French Montana and Fetty Wap. The mixtape was announced in early October and released on October 26, 2015 by Coke Boys, RGF, Maybach Music Group and 300 Entertainment ...

''. On June 12, 2017, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' 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 Angela Martinez (born January 9, 1971) is an American radio personality, rapper, singer, and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice of New York" during her two-decade tenure at New York City station HOT 97 (WQHT), she left that position in 2014 to join ...

, 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 Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

, 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 "

" 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 "A Lie" is a song recorded by Moroccan-American rapper French Montana featuring Canadian singer the Weeknd and American rapper Max B. The song was written by French Montana, the Weeknd, Rory Quigley, Jason Quenneville, Danny Schofield, Charly Win ...

" featuring

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 Tina Pinnock, (born July 4, 1991) known professionally as HoodCelebrityy, is a Jamaica, Jamaican dancehall singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Portmore, Jamaica, Portmore, Jamaica, Tina migrated to The Bronx, New York City at the age of 12. ...

and

Adam Levine Adam Noah Levine (; born March 18, 1979) is an American singer and songwriter. He serves as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, of which ...

, 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 A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

Critical reception

''Jungle Rules'' received generally favorable reviews from critics upon release. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 68, based on 8 reviews. Sheldon Pearce of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' 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! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' 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 AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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 unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s, of which 16,000 were pure album sales in its first week. On June 11, 2020, the album was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

(RIAA) for combined sales and

s 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 Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. In 2009, he signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings. Jeremih's commercial debut single, "Birthday Sex", ...

Sample credits * "Jump" contains a sample of "

Headlock A grappling hold, commonly referred to simply as a hold that in Japanese is referred to as ''katame-waza'' ( "grappling technique"), is any specific grappling, wrestling, judo, or other martial art grip that is applied to an opponent. Grapplin ...

", written and performed by

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...

. * "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 Buttefield Blues Band; samples of "Mingus Fingus No. 2", written and performed by

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

; and a sample of "

Take Me to the Mardi Gras "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the fourth single from his third studio album, ''There Goes Rhymin' Simon'' (1973), released on Columbia Records. Smooth jazz keyboardist Bob James made an ...

", written by

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

, 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

– primary artist *

– featured artist *

– featured artist * Travis Scott – featured artist *

– featured artist * Ziico Niico – featured artist *

– featured artist *

– featured artist * T.I. – featured artist *

– featured artist * Marc E. Bassy – featured artist *

Alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...

– 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 Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wiscon ...

– background vocals

Production

Puff Daddy Puff may refer to: Science and technology * Puff, a small quantity of gas or smoke in the air ** Puff, a light gust of wind ** Exhalation ** Inhalation * Puff model, volcanic ash tracking model developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks * PUF ...

– executive production * French Montana – executive production * Rick Steel – executive production, production , additional production * Ben Billions – production * C.P Dubb – production * Jaegan – production * 1Mind – production *

– production * Nova – production * Floyd Bentley – production , co-production *

Frank Dukes Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...

– production * Ism – production * Ziggy on the Keyboard – production *

– production * J Holt – production *

Murda Beatz Shane Lee Lindstrom (born February 11, 1994), known professionally as Murda Beatz, is a Canadian record producer. He has produced hit singles like " Butterfly Effect" by Travis Scott, "Back on Road" by Gucci Mane, "Nice for What" by Drake, "Moto ...

– production *

– production * Beat Billionaire – production *

Nic Nac Nicholas Matthew Balding (born July 5, 1989), professionally known as Nic Nac, is an American record producer and songwriter from El Cerrito, California. He first started out in the group Go Dav in the early 2000s, and is currently in the group ...

– production * NightxNight – production * Alkaline – production * Lee Milla – production * DtownThaGreat – production * Rico Love – production * Alex Lustig – production * 2Epik – production *

Shaun Lopez Shaun Lopez is an American music producer, composer, and musician. Life and career Shaun is a founding member and guitarist for post-hardcore band Far. After a number of local releases, including their first demo tape, '' Sweat A River, Live ...

– additional production * DaHeala – additional production *

DannyBoyStyles Danny Schofield, known professionally as DannyBoyStyles (and previously known as Styles), is a Grammy award-winning record producer, engineer, songwriter, and composer. He produced all ten tracks on the Weeknd's album ''Kiss Land'' and won a Gram ...

– additional production * Masar – additional production * DanjaHandz – additional production * DaviDior – additional production * Pharrell Williams – co-production *

– co-production * CuBeatz – co-production

Technical

* Michelle Mancini – mastering * Dave Kutch – mastering *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is a mix engineer and music producer who owns the revered Canton House Studios in Studio City, California. Joshua started his mix career in 2005 when he became partners with his mentor Dave Pensado and formed The Penua Project. Joshu ...

– 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 Scott Storch