Belly On 'People's Party With Talib Kweli'

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

"People's Party With Talib Kweli" is also available to give a listen via Spotify | SoundCloud | Google Play | Apple | Luminary