New Jay Z & Roc Nation Signee Belly Explains Deal

Belly and longtime friend The Weeknd collaborate on the single “Might Not,” a song that should raise the Canadian rapper’s profile.

A new deal with Jay Z’s Roc Nation should help, too.

After co-writing six of The Weeknd’s songs, including “The Hills,” Belly had generated a significant buzz among music industry insiders.

“I think I just got the right ears with it to the point where Jay Z was interested and heard it and invited me over,” Belly says during an interview with Billboard. “And we had a conversation and that was that, you know? A man’s handshake, that’s all it takes sometimes.”

Even though he’s become more prominent through his work with longtime friend The Weeknd, Belly has released material before, including his The Revolution album in 2007 and the Up For Days project in May. He says that the time in between releases helped him.

“I’m somebody who really likes to, rather than rush things, take a step back and look at the bigger picture,” Belly says. “And for me, I knew that to come over here and to play in the big leagues, per se, it was going to take a lot more than to sit around and keep making the same type of music I was making before. I felt like I needed to experience more in my life, I got out more and traveled and did things, I wrote a lot more, did songwriting for a bunch of people. And it led me back and that’s where I’m at right now.”