Is French Montana Black? 'Nappy' Twitter Controversy Comment Sparks Questions About Race

Rapper French Montana’s response to a random Twitter’s user’s post that was critical of him landed the chart-topper in a world of controversy Thursday morning. The Grammy Award nominee used some racially charged language after a user questioned the rapper’s relevancy.

It was not immediately clear what exactly prompted “chill bill” to post the critical tweet. However, what was abundantly clear was the fact that those words obviously got under Montana’s skin. Less than an hour after the tweet was posted, Montana had some choice words for “chill bill,” who is a black female. Some Twitter users took umbrage at the rapper’s characterization of “chill bill”’s hair as “nappy,” a term that is seen as extremely disrespectful to black women and borderline racist.

It was reminiscent of radio “shock jock” Don Imus, who ended up losing his decades-long job after he called a women’s college basketball team “nappy headed hoes” in 2007. CBS News characterized the word “nappy” as a “racial slur.”

Some Twitter users wondered if Montana had the right to use that type of language since, they said, he is not black. While Montana clearly identifies with black culture, he was born and raised in Morocco, where, like in the U.S., skin color is a big deal. Moroccans can be both white and black, but the culture is decidedly Arab.

After he was pulled over by police in September, he told the officer who approached his car window, "Black lives matter… Black lives matter, brother."

When a different Twitter user called the rapper "anti-black," Montana defended his post, which garnered nearly 9,000 likes and more than 7,000 retweets, by saying that that he was born in Africa, his son was black and that he doesn’t discriminate.

While people stuck up for Montana’s right to defend himself, others lambasted him as racially insensitive.

The rapper is a practicing Muslim who has previously been outspoken on President Donald Trump as well as the Islamic State group.

Ironically, there has been no uproar over the rapper’s use of the N-word throughout his lengthy career. But after Montana started dating A-list women, such as reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and rapper Iggy Azalea, both of whom are white, he has increasingly gotten flak from the black press.