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Talib Kweli & Belly On The Mixtape Era, Drake, Eminem, Nas, Wu-Tang, Weeknd | People’s Party Full

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In this episode of “People’s Party With Talib Kweli,” Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with Palestinian-Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer:

BELLY

Here’s what we 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.

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