| Belly | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Hype Williams |
| Produced by | Larry Meistrich Ron Rotholz Robert Salerno Hype Williams |
| Written by | Hype Williams |
| Story by | Nas Anthony Bodden Hype Williams |
| Narrated by | Nas |
| Starring | Nas DMX Taral Hicks Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins Method Man Hassan Johnson Louie Rankin |
| Music by | Stephen Cullo |
| Cinematography | Malik Hassan Sayeed |
| Editing by | David Leonard |
| Studio | Big Dog Films |
| Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | November 4, 1998 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $9,639,390 (US and Canada)[1] |
Belly is a 1998 film, the film directorial debut of music video director Hype Williams. Filmed in New York City as an urban drama, the film stars rappers DMX and Nas, alongside with Taral Hicks, Method Man dancehall artist Louie Rankin, R&B singer T-Boz. Besides starring in the film, Nas also narrates and collaborated with Hype Williams on the screenplay.
Contents |
The movie begins when Tommy (DMX) and Sincere (Nas), along with fellow crew members Mark and Black, rob a nightclub. After dropping Black off, the others go to Tommy's house to hide out for a while. Their noise wakes up Keisha (Taral Hicks), Tommy's girlfriend, who is trying to sleep. Sincere says that he too is tired, and he and Mark leave soon after. Sincere returns to his house, where his wife Tionne (Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins) and baby Kenya wait. Back at Tommy's house, Tommy learns of a new, potent form of heroin that is making its way to America.
After a passionate night with their women, Tommy and Sincere meet early in the morning and Tommy tells Sincere about the new drug, and also how much money they could make if they got involved with Tommy's friend Ox, a drug lord who is receiving shipments. Reluctantly, Sincere agrees.
The duo, along with some of their friends from the neighborhood, start transporting drugs (hidden in their car bumpers) from Queens to Omaha, and begin to take over the drug scene there. This is met with jealousy from a local drug dealer named Rico (Tyrin Turner), who informs the police of their activities. This results in a raid at their stash-house, in which Mark is killed and another accomplice, Knowledge is arrested. Knowledge calls back home from the local jail and is told by Keisha that Tommy isn't there, nor should he have called home since the FBI had placed wire taps on their phone. Knowledge gets angry that Tommy won't come to bail him out, and calls up Shameek (Method Man), to not only infiltrate Rico's gang and to kill Rico, but to handle Tommy.
Meanwhile, Tommy goes to Jamaica with Ox, and kills the son of a drug lord there, as a favor to Ox. When the deceased's family finds out that is was Ox who ordered the hit, they send a hit squad to kill him in his home, and Ox is able to kill them all before a femme fatale swoops down from his top floor and slits his throat.
While this is going on, Sincere has been trying to get out of the drug game and move his girlfriend and child to Africa, despite Tommy's jokes that he was getting soft for wanting to leave. They make plans to leave on New Years, 2000. However, now Sincere is suspicious of Tommy; since the Omaha incident, Tommy has been on the run and was caught in Atlanta, GA. Sincere feels that Tommy would give him up to save himself. This was not the case. Tommy was chosen by federal agents to assassinate a black Muslim leader, Rev. Saviour, (Dr. Benjamin Chavis) who had been preaching against the government.
On New Years' Eve, Tommy confronts the leader in his study before he was to make a massive speech of hope and points his gun at him. The leader convinces Tommy not to go through with his mission, even though it was betraying the government and now putting his life at risk.
At the same time, Shameek visits Keisha's home, in the hopes of finding Tommy there. Sha slaps Keisha around, but Keisha is able to grab his gun right before he was going to kill her. Instead, she turns the gun on him.
Sincere, having known everything that was going on, and surviving an attempt on his life too by his old friend Black, takes that moment to get out of New York as his family starts life over in Africa.
The film was poorly received by critics, scoring 13% on Rotten Tomatoes.[2] Although it was generally praised for its highly stylized "noir-like" visual design and cinematography, it was criticized for what was seen as a weak plot.[1] However, it remains much more popular with hip hop audiences, and also with dancehall reggae fans due to cameos by Jamaican entertainment personalities Mr Vegas, Sean Paul, Skyjuice, Bogle and Louie Rankin playing the part of Ox. It was re-released on DVD in November 2003 in a black package. The scene in which the Jamaican drug lord's house is raided is heavily influenced by the 1983 film, Scarface.
In 2006, DMX mentioned that a sequel is in the works called Beast. However, a film called Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club has already been released, starring rapper The Game. No one has confirmed as to whether or not that this is the true sequel to Belly.
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. R&B | |||
| 1998 | Belly
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5 | 2 |
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