TORONTO, Canada (Top40 Charts/ CP Records) - Hip hop recording artist
Belly is busier than ever in the days leading up to the release of his debut album The Revolution. After seeing his first video for "
Pressure" featuring
Ginuwine soar to number one on MuchMusic's Countdown,
Belly traveled to
Detroit to participate in the
Detroit Hip Hop Summit on Financial Empowerment alongside hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, and yesterday released his underground video for "History of Violence."
After 13 weeks on the MuchMusic Countdown, Belly's video for top ten debut single "Pressure," featuring R&B superstar and Grammy Award winner Ginuwine achieved number one status on April 4, 2007. The stylish clip, based on Belly, the film starring Nas and DMX, features cameo appearances from Hulk Hogan and his daughter, singer Brooke Hogan (co-star of the hit reality series Hogan Knows Best), Mad Linx (host of BET's Rap City), and DJ Drama (T.I.'s DJ and Aphilliates frontman). The video, directed by award-winning directors RT! and Toronto native Little X, was the highest budget hip hop video created in Canadian history. Belly's latest single "Don't Be Shy" featuring Nina Sky has already cracked the Top 40 in its first week on the charts.
Hot on the heels of his number one video, Belly flew to Detroit to take part in the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit on Financial Empowerment's "Get Your Money Right" seminar on April 14. The tour, now in its third successful year, brings together the powerful combination of hip hop stars and Chrysler Financial experts to speak to students and community members about the importance of financial literacy.
Topics covered at the Detroit Summit included the basics of banking, home ownership, repairing bad credit and understanding credit scores, entrepreneurship, vehicle financing and more. Belly sat on the panel to speak and give advice alongside Russell Simmons, Ciara, Remy Ma and Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick, among others. For more information on the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, check out www.hsan.org.
Today Belly disseminated a provocative and at times unsettling underground video for the song "History Of Violence" to fans and critics alike, exclusively via youtube.com, as the horrific and frequently unsettling images and the rough quality of the video's film are less suited to traditional outlets such as MTV and MuchMusic and much more well-fitted for the streets and the underground. The video depicts the types of graphic conditions and situations Belly himself grew up around in Palestine, before he moved to Canada at the age of seven, conditions that are still a way of life for so many citizens around the world currently living in the midst of war and atrocities. Be one of the first to witness Belly's underground video "History Of Violence."
Belly has three classic mixtapes under his belt to date: Death Before Dishonor: Vol.1 by Kool Kid; Vol.2 hosted by DJ Kay Slay; and Vol.3 hosted by DJ Big Mike. Together, they have sold over 60,000 copies in North America. He also wrote three top ten singles for labelmate Massari, all of which went on to worldwide success: "Be Easy," "Rush The Floor" and "Smile for Me." In addition to his duties as a recording artist, Belly is the Head of A&R and Vice President of his label, CP Records. His debut LP The Revolution is set for release on CP Records/Fontana North in early 2007.
Belly recruited many of hip hop and R&B's finest to work alongside him for The Revolution, including Fabolous, Scarface, Nina Sky, Ginuwine, Mario Winans, Kurupt, Massari and Monique. Belly's debut double album The Revolution is out June 5, 2007, on CP Records/Fontana North.