Belly

Origins

Belly was born Ahmad Balshe on April 7, 1984, in Jenin, Palestine, and moved with his family to Ottawa at age seven. He started out in the mid-2000s with a string of mixtapes, beginning with Death Before Dishonor: Vol. 1 in 2005, and built an Ontario following before signing to the independent Capital Prophets label.

Breakthrough

His debut album The Revolution came out in Canada in June 2007. Lead single "Pressure," featuring Ginuwine, reached No. 10 on the Canadian Singles Chart and won a MuchMusic Video Award, and follow-ups including "Don't Be Shy" with Nina Sky kept him on video countdowns. The album went gold within about a month and won the 2008 Juno for Rap Recording of the Year, while "Ridin'" took Best Rap Video at the MMVAs.

Songwriter and XO Years

Belly's second act was behind the scenes. Starting with Echoes of Silence in 2011, he has a writing credit on every studio album by The Weeknd, including "The Hills," "Earned It" and "Blinding Lights." "Earned It" earned him a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song, and he won the Juno for Songwriter of the Year in 2016 and again in 2021. He also co-wrote and sang backing vocals on Beyoncé's "6 Inch." In 2015 he signed with XO and Jay-Z's Roc Nation, and "Might Not," with The Weeknd, went platinum in the U.S. and triple platinum in Canada. He stayed active as an artist too: the mixtapes Up for Days (2015) and Mumble Rap (2017) kept his own catalog moving, and singles like "4 Days" with YG (2018) and "Better Believe" with The Weeknd and Young Thug (2021) reached a wider audience. He also co-wrote "Poison," a 2021 release pairing The Weeknd with vocals Aaliyah recorded before her death. Albums followed with Immigrant (2018), See You Next Wednesday (2021) and 96 Miles from Bethlehem (2024).

Legacy

Belly bridges two eras of Canadian rap: he was a Juno-winning star when the scene was mostly homegrown, then helped write the songs that took Toronto's sound worldwide. His music often addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and he pledged proceeds from 96 Miles from Bethlehem to relief in Gaza and the West Bank.