''Belly'' is a 1998 American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

film written and directed by

music video director A music video director is the head of music video production. The director conceives of videos' artistic and dramatic aspects while instructing the musical act, technical crew, actors, models, and dancers. They may or may not be in collaborati ...

Hype Williams Harold Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video director, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens, New York. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Ade ...

, in his feature film directing debut. Filmed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the film stars rappers

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ...

and

DMX Earl Simmons (December 18, 1970 – April 9, 2021), known professionally as DMX, was an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s and released his debut album ''It's Dark and Hell Is Hot'' in 1998, to both critical acclaim ...

in their film debut, alongside Taral Hicks,

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half o ...

, and R&B singer

T-Boz Tionne Tenese Watkins (born April 26, 1970), better known by her stage name T-Boz, is an American singer and actress. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Watkins rose to fame in the early 1990s as a member of the girl-group TLC. She has won four Grammy ...

. A sequel, ''Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club'', was released in 2006.

Plot

In 1999

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, young street criminals Tommy "Buns" Brown and Sincere ("Sin"), along with associates Mark and Black, murder five people during a violent nightclub

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

. After celebrating with the gang, Sincere returns home to his girlfriend Tionne and infant daughter Kenya. The following morning, Tommy asks Sincere to help him sell a new form of

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and bro ...

. Sincere, who has begun having second thoughts about his life of crime, reluctantly agrees. Tommy then visits Ox, a wealthy

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

n drug lord, who agrees to obtain the heroin on the condition that Tommy repay him with a favor at a later date. In Mark's grandmother's basement, the gang convenes to discuss the nascent drug operation; one of Tommy's associates, Knowledge, will be involved in the operation. Knowledge tells Tommy over the phone that Black had been talking about robbing Sincere to get his larger share of the loot from the nightclub. Enraged, Tommy forces Black to strip naked in front of the others, firing warning shots with a handgun wildly into the floor to force him to strip naked or else the next shot would not be a warning shot. The gang begins transporting heroin from Queens to

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

, where they begin to overrun the local drug business. Big Head Rico, an Omaha dealer, informs the police of their activities. The resulting raid at their stash-house ends with Mark's death and Knowledge's arrest. Knowledge angrily realizes that Tommy will not bail him out of jail, and calls Shameek, a.k.a. Father Sha, to both infiltrate Rico's gang and kill Tommy. Shameek drinks shots that Rico spikes with some sort of powder and Shameek tells Rico that he was sent by Knowledge to look after Rico and his henchmen blowing his cover causing Rico to get up and inform his henchmen at a strip club, but is gunned down by Shameek when he tries to flee. Shameek is shot by the bartender and stumbles out of the club. He shoots at and evades the police. Tommy travels to Jamaica and repays Ox by killing Sosa, the son of a local drug lord. Back home, Tommy's girlfriend Keisha is arrested by police and later bailed out by Tionne. Tommy finds out about the raid and leaves town. Pelpa, a close friend of Sosa, finds out that Ox ordered the hit on Sosa. Pelpa sends a

hit squad The Hit Squad is an American hip hop collective of East coast hip hop artists. Originally formed in the 1990s by Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith of the rap group EPMD, the group included rap artists such as K-Solo, Redman, Das EFX, Top Quality, ...

to kill Ox in his home. Ox kills most of the hitmen before dying at the hands of a female assassin. Sincere prepares to leave the drug trade and move his family to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, planning to leave on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

2000. Meanwhile, while laying low in Atlanta, Tommy instigates an argument between Wise and LaKid, two

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

dealers, which ends with both men to drawing their guns and LaKid shooting Wise. After being arrested over the shooting, Tommy is coerced by a shadowy organization with unclear motives into

assassinating Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

a Black Muslim leader, Rev. Saviour, during a sermon on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

. Tionne comes home and finds herself confronted by Shameek and his henchmen, who had already broken into the home in hopes of finding Sincere, but were unsuccessful, so they waited until someone came home and Tionne came home and Shameek and the henchmen attempt to interrogate and demand the whereabouts of Sincere and Tommy. While Sincere talks to a friend who is his barber outside a barbershop, Black shoots him in the leg as revenge for his earlier humiliation. Sincere and his barber kill Black and his accomplice in

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...

before fleeing the scene. On New Year's Eve, Tommy confronts Rev. Saviour before his scheduled speech and points his gun at him. Saviour convinces Tommy not to go through with his mission, even though this will put his life at risk. A tearful Tommy agrees, and the two men embrace. Shameek breaks into one of Tommy's homes, (but in this case the home is Tommy's main home) where Keisha is living, in the hopes of finding Tommy there. He interrogates and assaults Keisha, who manages to turn the tables and get a hold of Shameek's gun and shoots him in the face. Sincere, now in Africa with his family, reflects on recent events and is happy to start a new life.

Cast

Production

While filming ''Belly'', the production was mired by frequent clashes between Williams and the producers, budget constraints, and cast members showing up drunk, high, or late. Much of the $3 million budget was used up on the film's opening scene, which was filmed in the former

Tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

nightclub in

. The film's costume designer, June Ambrose, recalled that Williams wanted the film's "shiny look" to "forecast what the hip-hop genre's gonna look like in the

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannus, kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

." Williams revealed that

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one o ...

was considered for the film's title role.

Release and controversy of the film

When ''Belly'' was released in the United States in November 1998, some critics condemned it for its demeaning depictions of young

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

men. Furthermore, the

Magic Johnson Theatres Magic Johnson Theatres is a chain of movie theaters, originally developed in 1994 by Johnson Development Corporation, the business holding of basketball player-turned-entrepreneur Magic Johnson, and Sony Pictures Entertainment through a partnership ...

, a

film theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

chain then owned by the former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

, banned the film from being shown on its screens due to "negative and violent depictions of African Americans."

Reception

The film was poorly received by critics, scoring a 20% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

from 20 reviews. 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. The film has since developed a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. Clayton Purdom of '' The A.V. Club'' described ''Belly'' as a "far from a perfect film, but it radiates talent, both from Williams and the musicians he captured at their commercial and artistic peak." Khris Davenport of '' Complex'' doubled down on the film's legacy and influence, writing that Williams "blazed a trail in

black cinema African American cinema is loosely classified as films made by, for, or about Black Americans. They are an example of Black film. Historically, African American films have been made with African-American casts and marketed to African-American ...

that some filmmakers are only just now starting to understand and build upon."

Soundtrack

References

External links

* *{{AllRovi movie, 174151, Belly 1998 crime drama films African-American films American crime drama films American gangster films Artisan Entertainment films 1998 independent films 1998 directorial debut films 1998 films Films about African-American organized crime Films about drugs Films set in 1999 Films set in 2000 Films set in New York City Films set in Nebraska Films set in Jamaica Films set in the future Films shot in New York City Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in Jamaica 1990s hip hop films Hood films American neo-noir films Films directed by Hype Williams Films set around New Year 1990s English-language films 1990s American films