Belly

Ahmad Balshe (April 7, 1984) is a Palestinian-born Canadian rapper and producer. Born and raised in Ottawa, he played drums in a couple of local punk bands before debuting as an MC with the independently-released mixtapes Death Before Dishonor: Vol. 1 and 2 in 2005. A third installment of the Death Before Dishonor series saw the light in 2007 as well as his studio debut The Revolution, which contained the Top 10 single “Pressure.” The album achieved gold status in Canada and won Rap Recording of the Year at the 2008 Juno Awards. In 2011, Belly dropped two collaborative mixtapes: Belly & Kurupt The Lost Tapes 2008 with Tha Dogg Pound’s Kurupt and The Greatest Dream I Never Had with DJ Drama. Following a three-year hiatus, the rapper returned in 2015 with the mixtape Up for Days, his first release after signing with Roc Nation and XO. A star-studded affair, it featured guest spots by Travis Scott, Juelz Santana, French Montana, and The Weeknd, who would bring Belly on board as a co-writer on his full-lengths The Beauty Behind the Madness (2015) and Starboy (2016). In the subsequent years, he released the mixtapes Inzombia (2016) and Mumble Rap (2017), and issued his second album Immigrant in 2018, reaching Number 31 on the Canadian Albums Chart. Preceded by the single “Better Believe” featuring The Weeknd and Young Thug, his third album See You Next Wednesday arrived in 2021.