Sean Paul Reveals How DMX Cast Him In His Movie Belly

DMX was one of the greatest rappers in the world. After his sad demise to a drug overdose, the rapper’s legacy still carries on. After his death, the rapper’s last album Exodus was released on May 28th, 2021. With many celebrities and artists remembering the rapper after his sad passing, Sean Paul has some stories of his own.

Sean Paul appeared in an interview with HipHopDX to talk about various things. Paul specifically talked about the shocking opportunity he received to work with DMX on a song. He also talked about his appearance in the movie “Belly,” which happened very early on in his career.

Paul explained that he didn’t want to go to an annual dance event his DJ and brother were going to. After he knew that DMX was going to be present, he felt bad to have passed up the opportunity. However, his luck smiled back at him as he got to fulfill his wish right after the event

I went to sleep upset. The next morning, I woke up with a phone call from Tony Kelly. My phone was ringing, you know, one of those early cell phones, and he’s like, ‘Yo, come to my studio now to do a song with DMX and Mr. Vegas.’ I was like, ‘Yes sir!’ I immediately just ran and left my house. Reached over there, X wasn’t there. It was me, Vegas and the riddim basically. Tony left us in the room and said, ‘You just build something for it.’ He said, ‘Hype Williams is shooting a movie and wants a song to put in the movie, so let’s do this.’ I was like, ‘Alright, wicked.’

Paul then explained that he spent many hours working on the song with Mr. Vegas. After they were satisfied with the stuff they’d made, DMX came in and checked out the music. He OK’ed it, and then went on to drop some bars over it to final the right way to go at it.

We did this song ’til like 4 in the evening and then about 5 or so, we thought, ‘Yeah, this is a dope song.’ Then DMX rolls in. I’m like, ‘Yo, woah, wassup.’ They played the track and he was like, ‘Hmm, alright, okay. Well, this is what I got.’ And he starts [rapping], ‘Here comes the boom, here comes the boom.’

Sean Paul added that the song that they were centered on was more for the ladies. However, they quickly figured out that they had to match DMX’s gangsta energy, and worked in that direction. Paul had only hoped to meet DMX a day prior, and after they worked on the song, he found himself invited on the set of ‘Belly.’ Paul showed his gratitude to the rapper and thanked him for the early chance he got from the rapper.

I was getting more calls like, ‘Yo, they’re gonna shoot a video and they might put you in the movie, just come along.’ I was like, ‘Wow.’ We actually did reach to the stage part of Belly and they were like, ‘Just go up there and sing the song a couple times.’ I was kinda like, so where’s DMX now?’ And he wasn’t there, but they were like, ‘This is just a scene where they’re gonna show a dance-off but we’re putting this song in the movie.’ I was crazy happy. There were a few days out there, just kinda pre-prep and that kind of stuff. X came out there, he was chilling in the tour bus, it was like a bus outside. I remember he called my brother “Farm” because the first time he met my little brother, he came through with a pound of weed. It was good days and just exciting for me as a young artist to be put on such a platform. That was one of the biggest things to happen to me back in the day there. So big up Hype Williams, big up Tony Kelly, big up Vegas and big up the dog. R.I.P. DMX.

DMX has a lot of appreciation in the world of rap and hip-hop. Jay Z boycotted Grammy Awards out of his love and respect for DMX. Def Jam contributed over $35k for DMX’s funeral. However, the battle for DMX’s estate has been intensely raging, as multiple parties are in conflict over it.

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