On the golf course, Rapper Belly talks with Ebro Darden about the process of making ‘Mumble Rap 2,’ the first album of his final three and 12th mixtape. He tells Apple Music how taking up golf has improved both his mental health and rapping ability, working with Rick Ross, linking with Gucci Mane and what makes him great, how he measures success, how he measures success, getting Gil Scott-Heron on the project, retirement, immigration struggles, his Palestinian heritage, and more.
Belly Tells Apple Music How Taking Up Golf Improved Both His Mental Health and His Rapping Ability…
I didn’t know I needed it until I started golfing. Just having those two, three hours in the morning and by the time I’m done, everyone else is getting to the studio and getting to work. So it’s perfect for me. I could use that. I get out whatever aggression and anger that this place brings out of me. Because it is calming, but at the same time it’s frustrating. And then I get to the studio and I let it all out. So it’s perfect.
Belly Tells Apple Music About Working with Rick Ross…
Legendary. Working with Rosey for me was awesome. Making a song with him, that was the first time. Early on, I would get in debates with people about how nice Rosey’s pen was. I’ve always been such a big fan of what he does lyrically and just his whole aura and demeanor. Honestly, when we got on set, it was just jokes, man. He’s one of the funniest human beings alive. And he’s accidentally funny too. I think he knows, right…Big inspiration for me, for sure.
Belly Tells Apple Music About Linking with Gucci Mane and What Makes Him Great…
I mean, me and Gucci worked together before, probably more than a decade ago. And then now it was just… No, I tell you this all the time. If I hear somebody on a record, I can’t do the second verse. It f***s me up. Because even if I write it, I’m writing it in their cadence and s**t. So I kept hearing Gucci on that one and we were like, “Yo, let’s just reach out. See what he says.” He was like, “Whai, come on, send that through, bro.” He sent that s**t back in two minutes. I was like, “G###### bro.” And it was a fire Gucci verse. Same thing. I’ve been a fan of Gucci for so long. He’s got like 150 projects. No one works harder than Gucci in the world. Super respect for him.
Belly Tells Apple Music How He Measures Success…
That’s a bigger accomplishment for me than sales or numbers or any of that. Having the respect of people that I respect and look up to people that inspired me, circle them back and being like, “Yo, you’re dope.”
Belly Tells Apple Music How He Was Able To Get The Late Gil Scott-Heron on the Project…
We had put Gil Scott-Heron there as a placeholder until I figured out the hooks. I just love his words. His poetic approach to s**t is incredible to me. Even when he just speaks, it’s poetic. So it was just a placeholder in there, kind of just to inspire me to come up with something. And then we were like, “Yo, this sounds perfect for this.” His estate or his people, whoever was graceful enough to let us use it and actually cleared it for us to use it on the album.
Belly Tells Apple Music Why He Chose Hit-Boy To Executive Produce The Project…
A lot of times it’s hard to get that s**t that makes you want to rap. And I think Hit-Boy, he really be inspiring me with the s**t he plays, man. He hits that play button and it’s on. It was like a no-brainer for me. Like you said earlier, he was the perfect choice to go with. There was some stuff he had already that was perfect. There was other joints that, he would play me a sample or a top line and then we would build it out on the spot. So it was dope. It was the type of creative process, it’s like a dream process for a rapper, you know what I mean?
Belly Tells Apple Music Why He Announced That ‘Mumble Rap 2’ Would Be The First of His Final Three Albums…
Once you see somebody play golf, their retirement is inevitable, at that point. It’s coming. This will inspire you to retire. And really, for me, just creatively, I think it’s time for me to start branching out into other things. I want to feel like it’s ready. Every time I really feel like, okay, this is strong enough to be one of the last two, it’s going to come out.
Belly Tells Apple Music About His Palestinian Heritage…
I’m an actual Palestinian. If you come and wake up in my house and you see me, you’re going to be like, “Oh no, he Palestinian. He’s definitely.” All the traditions are still there for me. So it’s all going to leak out into my music naturally and be that.
Belly Reveals That When He Released His Album ‘Immigrant’, He Didn’t Have Proper Documentation to Be in the Country…
It’s actually funny because the last album I put out was called Immigrant. And then I lost my papers here. I didn’t have any papers. My Canadian Visa, I couldn’t go back because of the pandemic. It ran out. They didn’t go back on any of their rules. They were like, “No, you’ve got to be here.” I was like, “I’m not traveling in the pandemic. It’s not happening.” So I lost my access, really, to here. I was out here for I think two or three years working on my papers. So when I put out Immigrant, I had no papers here. And it was something I wasn’t trying to talk about because it was-It was legal s### going on, it was crazy, man. It really went to lawyers and all that kind of s### before I ended up with my green card and the right to kind of live here. You know what I’m saying? But before that, it was rough. So I got a line on “American Nightmare” where I say, “Put out an album called Immigrant. I’m in the country with no papers,” and that is the realest line. I want to say I got my papers now, but when I wrote that line it was true. So that’s why I want to bring it up. No cap in these raps.