On November 9, 2013, French Montana unveiled the original cover art for "Mac & Cheese 4" but had not specified whether it would be an album or a mixtape. The rapper had recently released his debut album Excuse My French earlier that year. On January 8, 2014, in an interview with Rolling Stone, he announced that MC4 would be his sophomore album dropping sometime later in the year. On June 29, 2014, in an interview with MTV News at the 2014 BET Awards, French revealed that his second album would be dropping in November, and would include appearances from the likes of Kanye West, will.i.am and then-fellow Coke Boys members Lil Durk and Chinx. On December 8, 2014, French announced that he and longtime record producer Harry Fraud would be releasing a collaborative EP titled Mac & Cheese: The Appetizer, on December 16, 2014, to serve as a prequel to the upcoming album. Following delays, on December 19, French released Mac & Cheese: The Appetizer, consisting of seven tracks, with Harry Fraud On May 8, 2015, French released his twentieth mixtape, Casino Life 2. On October 26, 2015, French and Fetty Wap released their collaborative mixtape, Coke Zoo. French announced that his second album was pushed back for to an unspecified release sometime in 2016. On February 19, 2016, French released his twenty first mixtape, Wave Gods.
The album was set to be released on August 19, 2016, however, French tweeted a couple days before the original release that the album was pushed back for "sample clearance issues". However, the album was leaked in its entirety on August 19, 2016, on its original release date and two months before its new release date, due to Target unofficially releasing the album on CD despite the push back, which some people managed to get a hold of the album and release it on the internet as a leak, which was heavily bootlegged. Later on August 24, 2016, the CEO of French's main label, Epic Records, L.A. Reid, later stated that French's statement that he posted on Twitter was false, and the album was delayed because of the lack of hype for it, and Reid wanted to add hype by pushing it back.
Original cancellation and revival as a mixtape
French cancelled the project on October 6, 2016 because of the unofficial Target release, the album's leak and some "sample clearance issues" on tracks like "I'm Heated" and "2 Times". However, he also mentioned that a couple of the songs on the album will appear on his next mixtape. Despite the cancellation, the album has re-appeared on the iTunes Store for purchase as previously scheduled, but was again removed hours later. However, on November 5, 2016, Montana unexpectedly released the album as a mixtape instead and premiered it on Drake's Beats 1 radio show, OVO Sound radio later that night.
