Dollars and sense

>>Breakout Ottawa MC Belly goes over the budget

by Scott C

GUT INSTINCT: Belly

Palestinian-born MC Belly settled in Ottawa before orchestrating his rise to notoriety on CP Records, alongside label-mate Massari. As CP’s new vice president and head of A&R, 22-year-old Belly’s dedication to the industry hustle is paying off. He’s just dropped a whopping $200,000 on the video for his hit single “Pressure,” as well as having scored an opening slot for Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube’s Canadian tour. The Mirror spoke to Belly over the phone from Toronto .

Mirror: How old were you when you first moved to Canada ?
 

Belly: When I first moved here from Palestine , I was about seven years old.
 

M: Did you have any prior exposure to hip hop culture before moving to Canada ?
 

B: Hip hop is relevant everywhere and has always been, and right now it’s on a larger scale than it’s ever been, but I do remember a couple of hip hop records from back home. It was a totally new thing by the time I came here and started hearing hip hop, because I was old enough to start understanding it and really start loving it.
 

M: I would guess that you have some strong opinions about American foreign policy in the Middle East.
 

B: There’s a lot of bullying going on right now in the world, but I wouldn’t say that I have a strong stance. It’s clear and everybody sees what’s going on. I’m not here to expose it because everybody already knows what’s up. I’m here to educate people about what’s going on.
 

M: So where do you start in educating people, as you say?
 

B: It’s very simple. Everybody has their own opinion about what’s going on, but you can’t make peace with war. Anybody with common sense can tell you that. The billions of dollars being spent could be used to help people. I mean, there are people starving all over the Middle East and Africa , and money is always an issue. You can’t make peace with war.
 

M: How much of where you came from goes into your music?
 

B: I rep my whole life, so there’s gonna be some stuff about growing up, the projects and the hood, social life, poverty and politics. This is the stuff that I touch on, but I never over-saturate my music with any one topic.
 

M: What does it mean to you to have the most expensive video in Canadian hip hop history?
 

B: It means we’re making history, man. I had an idea that I wanted to do, and I got my man X and my man RT to help me put my vision on the screen. People have to start taking risks up here, and that’s what we did. We’re here to prove that you can take risks and get back what you put in.
 

M: What exactly made it so expensive? You dropped 200K, right?
 

B: There’s a lot of production value behind it, most of it stuff that people couldn’t put their finger on. Like, slow-motion shots require a lot more film than regular shots. All the crazy lights and glowing stuff you see, and the body paint on 150 girls, there were just so many things—
 

M: Wait, 150 girls?
 

B: Yep (laughs).

With Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube

at the Bell Centre on Saturday,
Jan. 27, 8 p.m., $44.50–$54.50