This is a bittersweet week for the family of slain MC Chinx. After waiting more than two years for justice, two alleged murderers were arrested late last year and the preliminary court proceedings in their cases started on January 16.

Ironically, the same day, French Montana, one of Chinx’s closest friends, had just arrived back in New York City for a week of promotion and performances. That night, he took time to reflect.

“How I feel about that whole situation? I feel happy for his family to get that closure,” French said in Brooklyn before rehearsing for a Tonight Show performance. “For his wife, for his mother, for his family to get a closure. That’s what I feel happy for. For a mother to know who did something to her child. That was the most important thing. For [his wife] Janelli, for everybody to know what’s going on with it. When it’s in the air [without answers], everybody is going through stressful times.”

Interview | French Montana reacts to arrest of Chinx suspects, reveals friendship with JAY-Z, and mo

Chinx was fatally shot in his hometown of Queens on May 16, 2015 in the early morning after leaving a Brooklyn lounge. Police allege that Quincy Homere, 32, and Jamar Hill, 26, were lying in wait for him to leave the lounge, followed him to Queens, and then opened heavy gunfire on his car. Chinx was killed on the scene.

“He was at that tip of the iceberg where he was about to take off,” French said of his fellow Coke Boys’ career. “It’s sad because that was his moment. Knowing the same thing that happened to Stack Bundles, happened to him, like it seems like a cycle. Everybody that’s about to blow wants to keep it so real and stay here and do this and do that, but sometimes growing comes with elevation and changing your life with your status and with your progression [to get to] where you’re trying to get to. You don’t go to Marcy [Projects] and see JAY-Z posted on the block. Sometimes you gotta step back to take two steps [forward]. It’s just a sad moment. It took a piece out of all of us. I feel like all of us lost a piece of us when it happened. So when [the arrests] came, I felt happy for his family.”

Homere and Hill’s cases have been adjourned until February 14 according to the Queens District Attorney. It is expected for Homere to retain the services of a new lawyer. A start date for the murder trail has not been set yet.