We should all celebrate the 25th anniversary of the movie, ‘Belly’ – the greatest hip-hop music video of all time

OPINION: Any detractors of “Belly,” Hype Williams’ only feature “film” in the director’s seat, are watching it wrong.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

“Belly,” the 1998 crime drama starring DMX, Nas, T-Boz, Taral Hicks, Tyrin Turner and Method Man (among others), co-written and directed by Hype Williams is one of my favorite movies. Williams, of course, is a legend in the music video directing game, having helmed landmark videos for the likes of Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Janet Jackson, Wu-Tang Clan, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Nas and on and on. If you were a hot artist in the late ’90s and ’00s, there’s a pretty good chance you made at least a phone call to see if Williams was available. To say that he is essential to the evolution and growth of hip-hop would be the understatement of the century; hip-hop continues to move into places never before thought possible because of how Williams made hip-hop look to the world. 

So you can imagine the joy so many of us who love movies as much as we love movies experienced when “Belly” dropped on November 4, 1998. I was a sophomore at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and while I cannot definitively say I saw it in theaters, I am a person who went to see “Bring It On” in theaters. So I can’t imagine a world where I wouldn’t have seen “Belly” at AMC Phipps Plaza 14, with the homies. I mean, look, it starred Nas and DMX – two of everybody’s favorite rappers of the moment – was directed by Hype Williams, and really nobody had any idea what to expect. In 1998, that is the recipe for a must-see-experience. 

Is “Belly” a good movie? Eh. That’s a hard question to answer…and for one simple reason: I don’t even know if “Belly” is a movie, so much as the greatest hip-hop video of all time. Cinematically, it was as if Williams took every single thing he ever wanted to do in music videos and put it all together for a 92-minute film. 

The opening sequence of “Belly” is one of the most visually insane (in all of the best ways) introductions to a film; with an a capella version of Soul II Soul’s “Back to Life,” Sincere (Nas) and Tommy (DMX) and crew walk into a club (to rob it) under some amazing lighting and slow motion cinematography. I mean, if *chef’s kiss* was a movie scene, it’s this one. Every Tubi movie ever created aspires to this opening sequence. 

That opening sequence highlights everything great about the movie (cinematography and music). The tone hovers over a film with a fairly flimsy script and plot that is a bit all over the place for no reason at all. And yet it works. Why? It works because the movie is basically one long-form music video. 

That first sequence lets you know what’s up, and it really carries over into all facets of the film. It’s shot like a music video of a song talking about homies in the drug game dealing with choices and circumstance. In fact, I don’t even think you NEED a real script for this movie to end up the exact same way. If all of the songs that play in the video ran simply over the visuals, I’m not sure you lose anything. I think the story plays out the same way AS a bunch of music videos strung together. 

Which, for me, makes it the greatest hip-hop music video of all time. That’s not a criticism or intent to trivialize it, by the way. I love “Belly.” I love how the music is used. Case in point, D’Angelo’s song, “Devil’s Pie,” plays over the credits, and I’m STILL riveted at how it’s used considering what we’ve just seen. Like, it just works, and that’s a testament to Williams but also the way the movie is woven together. It’s clear just how special a talent Williams is at shooting scenes with musical overlays. The scenes in Jamaica are shot with such precision and skill that they tell a story with or without any of the lines used in the script. 

That final scene is full of dialogue, and yet, I watched it with the volume off and I could entirely tell what was happening. Maybe that’s a testament to the strength of acting in the scene. Or maybe because I know I’m getting some of that music video style of action – multiple scenes in short spurts – it works perfectly. 

If you know “Belly” exists, then you know it’s a classic. You probably love it like I do, as you should. But I also think it doesn’t get enough love for its greatness as a really, really long hip-hop music video, which is the appropriate way to watch it and heightens its significance. For 25 years, “Belly” has been a classic film, and while it’s Williams’ only feature film, he created one of the most lasting, enduring films that did it all for hip-hop. 

To “Belly,” an alright movie that is the greatest hip-hop music video of all time. 

Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest), but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said: “Unknown” (Blackest).

Make sure you check out the Dear Culture podcast every Thursday on theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, where I’ll be hosting some of the Blackest conversations known to humankind. You might not leave the convo with an afro, but you’ll definitely be looking for your Afro Sheen! Listen to Dear Culture on TheGrio’s app; download it here.

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