Born in Palestine and raised in Canada, 27-year-old rapper and mogul Belly has fought long and hard to get where he is today. Although you may not have heard of Belly here in the states, please believe that, in Canada, he is no stranger to a dedicated work ethic resulting in enormous success. His first album, The Revolution, was certified Gold in Canada and led  to his first Top 10 single “Pressure,” featuring Ginuwine. Belly also earned consecutive MuchMusic Awards for Best Rap Video in 2007 and 2008. That same year, he won his first Juno Award, which is the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy, for Hip-Hop Recording of the Year. In 2011, he released two mixtapes, Sleepless Nights, hosted by DJ Ill Will, and the more recent The Greatest Dream I Never Had, hosted and presented by DJ Drama. On the heels of his newest mixtape hitting the Internet last month, Belly has begun setting the master plan in motion to crossover from one side of the border to the other, the result of which should be a huge reception for his sophomore follow-up, due sometime next year. AllHipHop.com spent some time with Belly recently to talk about The Greatest Dream I Never Had, what the success of other Canadian artists like Drake and The Weekend mean to him personally, his Palestinian roots, and much more. Check out the exclusive interview below: AllHipHop.com: What’s going on, Belly? Belly: Not much, man, just kicking it at the crib in Toronto right now. AllHipHop.com: Nice. Well, first things first, you recently released The Greatest Dream I Never Had which was your seventh mixtape that dropped a couple of weeks ago. Now that the public has had some time to digest it, how do you feel the response has been based on the feedback? Belly: The best out of anything I’ve released, for sure, since the album dropped out here in ’07, since The Revolution. I haven’t really seen people react like this. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s been an amazing response, and I have such an amazing fan base of loyal fans, but this one is over the top. It’s not just the fans that appreciated it; it was even people who never liked me before. They heard this, and they see me in a whole new light. AllHipHop.com: Do you believe it’s your best work? Belly: I just make music, man. I don’t know. I’m the worst judge of my own music so, to me, everything is personal and everything is something I did so, you know, I look at it all the same. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRU_9PzBYw&w=560&h=315] AllHipHop.com: When you’re working on new music, do you find yourself trying to top what you did the last time, or is it more in the moment, creating music based on what’s happening with you at that exact time in your life? Belly: Yeah, it’s definitely about being in the moment. I love music to the point where I can get inspired by it in any form. I might hear a little melody in a movie or something and just run off that. It might spark a whole new project just based on that one sample; that one melody that might have inspired me. That’s what happened with this tape [The Greatest Dream I Never Had]. I did “Purple Drugs” first, and when I did that, I knew I had to do a whole project of music like this. I loved where I was going with it. AllHipHop.com: I saw that you also handled some of the production on the mixtape. Belly: Yeah, I was right there throughout the whole production process, but like, not to take anything away from Da Heala and Danny Boy Styles, man – those guys are geniuses, and it ended up where they just kind of split the production duties and nobody had no egos. It was just real smooth, man. Definitely the best experience of working on a project was this. AllHipHop.com: Is that something that you started doing recently, or have you been producing your own stuff for a while? Belly: Yeah, I think I always made it a point to have at least one production by myself on each project, and then somewhere along the way, it just faded away and I focused more on the writing and my own music. But yeah, it’s dope. I think production is like the foundation, so being back involved with the that has been amazing for me. AllHipHop.com: Some of the hottest producers right now are all from Canada. What’s in the water? Belly: [laughter] Oh, man, I think Canada’s got it right now with producers. Boi-1da, T-Minus, Arthur McArthur, Tone Mason, Da Heala, Danny Boy Styles. I think it’s right here right now. AllHipHop.com: The Greatest Dream was also presented by DJ Drama. How’d you two link up in the first place, and will we ever get a Belly-fied Gangsta Grillz? Belly: I’ve known Drama forever. Drama’s just someone who’s always held me down, and there’s never something I’ve asked him to do that’s he wasn’t down to do. I think it was in like ’07 or something like that, I had a shot a video with Ginuwine. Hulk Hogan was in the video, it was crazy like a circus, and I flew Drama down and he appeared in the video, so we’ve been homies ever since. Every time I hit him about something, he’s always down to work so Drama’s that dude, man, very influential cat. And maybe, man, maybe one day. People are getting The Greatest Dream I Never Had, and I already know what my next two or three projects are going to be. I’m already working on those, so maybe a Gangsta Grillz after that, definitely. AllHipHop.com: What can you tell me about those projects that you already have in the works? Are those mixtapes or your next album? Belly: I mean, it depends; as far as the album goes, I’ve been working on my […]