Jay-Z speaks on the rumors about him playing DMX’s character in Belly.
In a conversation talking about Hype Williams’ bodies of work, the Brooklyn native clarified the truth behind the rumors and said that he was not supposed to play that character. “That’s a rumor. Again, because of how guarded I was, I hated acting,” Jay said.
“This is why I don’t act, because I would get in my way. I would be thinking, ‘No, I don’t wanna do something that I ain’t gonna look cool.’ But you know, I was young and immature. Or I was young mentally.”
He added, “You know, if you see our own movies, I was in for like 30 seconds and I wasn’t even speaking. I had no idea how Nas did that because I felt like he was in the same place as me. But he did it, and he made it work. But I never was meant to be in Belly. I don’t even know where that came from.”
Jay-Z has had some movie roles since Belly. He was in the 2002 movie State Property, where he played the role of “mild-mannered hustler.” He also made an appearance in the movie, Paper Soldiers.
The media mogul continued the conversation and revealed how he was mad with Hype Williams giving him a $1.8 million quote of a video during a time he was paying $20,000 for music videos.
“He said the number, and I think it was, like, $1.8 million or something. And I was like, ‘Hype, come on, bro.’ Like I got mad at him. Like are you trying to play me? You think I’m dumb?”