Nas recalls working with DMX on the “Belly” movie in 1998.
Nas recently sat down with “Desus & Mero” for an interview on their show, where the “King’s Disease” rapper reflected on working with the late DMX on the “Belly” film in 1998. Nas praised the late “Exodus” rapper and revealed that they both cried during the filming of the movie a couple of decades ago.
“That was a great time, man. ‘Cause to come from music and go to Times Square, to the premiere and see our names on the marquee,” he said. “Growing up in New York and Times Square, 42nd Street was like the truth. Today, it’s Disney World but back then it was crazy. So, to see my name there, that was like, alright, I could quit on everything now. I did it all.”
“But It’ll never be the same because our brother’s [DMX] not here,” said Nas. “DMX, Rest in peace. We formed like a brotherhood. I didn’t have to see him. I didn’t have to call him. He didn’t have to call me. But when we saw each other, though… It was that. It was beyond. Even working on the film, we cried, man.”
In May 1998, DMX released his landmark first album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, and Belly followed half a year later to much excitement from hip-hop enthusiasts. The film’s opening shooting sequence was shot inside New York City’s famed Tunnel nightclub, and Nas commented about the chemistry between the two at the time.
He continues, “We were at the Tunnel doing a scene and I was like ‘you feel that, bro? You know what’s happening?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah,’ and he started talkin’ to me and he started crying and I’m crying.” Then Nas revealed that DMX was crying but still gave his signature grunt delivery. “I’m like, this man, his energy is somethin’ else.”
Nas then dispelled rumours that DMX didn’t get enough affection from his colleagues while he was still alive.
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“People need to understand, DMX had more love than most rappers would ever see. People said when he passed, ‘Where was the love when he was alive?’ You gotta be kidding me… He had more love than probably 98 percent of rappers would ever have. He walked through any hood, he sold millions of records, he had an incredible movie career. Kids ain’t doing that today. I wish he was still here with us, but in this life, he saw more love than 1,000 rappers put together.”
Belly is a 1998 American criminal drama film written and directed by Hype Williams, who is most known for his work as a music video director. The film, which was shot in New York City, stars Nas and DMX in their film debuts, as well as Taral Hicks, Method Man, and R&B artist T-Boz.
When Belly was released in the United States in November 1998, various critics slammed it for depicting young Black or African American guys in derogatory ways. Furthermore, owing to “negative and violent images of African Americans,” Magic Johnson Theatres, a film theatre chain owned by the former basketball star Magic Johnson, prohibited the film from being played on its screens.
The film’s critical reception (the film now has a 13 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) did not deter fans from naming Belly a hood classic. More crucially, Belly became the picture that flipped the script for hip-future, hop’s particularly in terms of how the culture and its participants went through Hollywood.
With initial sales of 251,000 copies, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot debuted at the top of the US Billboard 200 chart. This became DMX’s first chart debut at number one in the US. The album sold 123,000 more copies in its second week and fell to number three on the list. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the album four times platinum certification on December 18, 2000, for sales of four million copies in the US.
Have you watched Nas Grammy’s performance of 2022? Watch now.
In 2023, Nas returned with another new album “Magic 2“, which was another collab effort with producer Hit-Boy. This is the fifth project from Nas and Hit-Boy in the past three years, as the two previously linked up on “King’s Disease 3“, following “King’s Disease” (2020), “King’s Disease II” (2021) and “Magic” (2021).
Watch the full interview below.
