In this episode of "People's Party With Talib Kweli", Talib Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with Palestinian-Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer:
BELLY
Here's what they got into:
- Being born in Palestine's West Bank and his family's move to Ottawa, Canada
- The concept of borders only being lines drawn on a map by people in power
- Art being the most effective vessel in expressing his views
- His father's struggles and how his incarceration impacted Belly and his family
- Leaving home at 15 to pursue music and how his parents reacted
- Wikipedia's claims of Belly being a drummer in a punk band
- Some of the biggest misconceptions that Americans hold about Canadians
- Love for Eminem and his mainstreaming the complex rhyme schemes of the times
- Belly became a student of the game as he became more ambitious
- His approach of just going with the vibe when it comes to creating in the studio
- What Sal and XO Records have done for Belly's growth as an artist
- A huge break in getting on DJ Kay Slay's 'Death Before Dishonor Vol. 2'
- How much DJ Drama and Kay Slay have meant to the Mixtape movement
- How touring with Snoop and Kurupt led to some great collaborations
- Inspiration from Drake and the challenges of breaking through as a Canadian emcee
- Discussion about songs from Belly's 2015 release 'Up For Days'
- Spending 13 hours at the airport when trying to enter the states after 911
- Germany calling Talib an anti-Semite and cancelling his shows
- The genius of The Weeknd and how loyal he's been to his friends that he came up with
- Discussion of Belly's 2016 album 'Another Day in Paradise'
- 'Inzombia' outlining Belly's struggles with insomnia
- "Re-Up" and "Might Not" addressing the perils of drug addiction
- Talib and Belly both having been labeled as unapproachable and mean
- Belly telling Talib he came off as frosty when they first met
- Why Belly chose to title his 2017 release 'Mumble Rap'
- Notable bars from Belly's song "Lullaby" as well as "Come Down Is Real"
- What it was like meeting Jay-Z and eventually being signed to Roc Nation
- Demanding his flowers on his latest release 'See You Next Wednesday'
- A dream came true in being able to have Nas featured on "Die For It"
- "Requiem" and it's references to the film "Requiem for a Dream"
- How much the Wu-Tang Clan impacted Belly growing up
- Raekwon being in Toronto often and his dropping into the studio
- How Belly would approach a Verzuz battle
- Wanting to explore new lanes of creative expression outside of music
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