With a career that dates back to the mid-aughts, Belly has cemented his name as one of the best lyricists in the game. Jay-Z’s extended his praise in the past, even inking the Canadian rapper to a Roc Nation deal. Belly previously traded bars with Nas on “Die For It” alongside his XO labelmate, The Weeknd. However, one collaboration that undoubtedly deserves all of its replay value is Nipsey Hussle’s “Double Up” off of Victory Lap alongside Dom Kennedy.
During a recent interview with HotNewHipHop, Belly reflected on his relationship with Nipsey Hussle, who once likened the Canadian artist to Einstein during BET’s Rate The Bars segment. The respect was undoubtedly mutual between the two. Belly explained how their first few sessions together largely consisted of them praising each other’s pen and running records back. “He just loves the sport, he loves the art of it, you know? It’s a shame we lost him as early as we did but you could see in the short span he was here, the type of mark he left on the world,” he reflected. “Being a part of his project, for me, was legendary… Nipsey’s somebody that won’t be forgotten. I think about Nipsey at least once a day, if not multiple times a day.”
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Victory Lap undoubtedly served as Nipsey’s magnum opus and it’s hard to deny that it stands as a bonafide classic, if not for the years of labor that led to its release. Belly, of course, features on the project, joining a list of guest features that includes Kendrick Lamar and YG. Unfortunately, it marked their only collaboration together but it certainly holds sentimental value to Belly. “We actually weren’t in the studio together for that one. His team sent me that and I think his birthday was coming up or something and they were like, ‘Yo, we want to surprise him with this feature,’ and they sent it to my team. I just knocked it out and sent it to them. And I guess they played it for him and he loved it.”
In another segment of our interview, he also shed light on the possibility of his anticipated Jay-Z collaboration surfacing in the near future. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there are any concrete plans to drop the record on any of his future projects. “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think that’s gon’ be the case,” Belly explained. “Just the fact I was able to get in the studio with Hov and just be in there and just to have him pull up to a couple of sessions – that’s a life-long dream for me right there.”
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