For other uses, see
Belly.
Belly is a 1998 movie, the feature film debut of music video director Hype Williams. Filmed in NYC as an urban drama, the film stars rappers DMX and Nas, alongside with Taral Hicks, rappers Method Man and Vita, dancehall artist Louie Rankin and R&B singer T-Boz from TLC. Besides starring in the film, Nas also narrates and collaborated with Hype Williams on the screenplay.
Plot
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 T/Tionne (Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins) and baby Kenya wait. Back at Tommy's house, Tommy learns of a new, potent drug 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 began to take over the drug scene there. This is met with jealousy from a local neighborhood drug dealer named Rico (Tyrin Turner), who tips off the police of the activities. This results in a major shoot-out at their location, in which most of Tommy's crew is killed, except for their friend Knowledge. 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 Father Sha (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 killed the son of a drug lord there, as a favor to Ox. When the deceased's family found 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 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, Father Sha 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 one of his old friends, takes that moment to get out of New York as his family starts life over in Africa.
Reception
The film was mildly received by critics. Although it was generally praised for its highly stylized "noir-like" visual design and cinematography, it was criticized for what seen as a weak plot.[1] However, it remains much more popular with hip hop audiences, and was released on DVD in 2004 in a "special edition" package. The scene in which the Jamaican drug lord's house is raided is heavily influenced by the 1983 film, Scarface.[citation needed]
Possible sequel
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. Most people[who?] say no to the idea, but no one has heard any developments on the Beast film.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on November 3, 1998 through Def Jam Recordings. It was a success, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and spawned one charting single, DMX, Nas, Method Man and Ja Rule's "Grand Finale". Dancehall/reggae artist Sean Paul's song "Here Comes the Boom," was also on the soundtrack.[1]
References
- ^ LaSalle, Mick (Nov. 4, 1998). "A Clumsy Film Debut, Williams' `Belly' Flops". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Richberg, Chris and Williams, Houston (Jun. 12, 2006). "DMX Talks 'Beast' Sequel to 'Belly'. AllHipHop.com: Daily Hip-Hop News.
External links
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