Ahmad Balshe

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Ahmad Balshe, known as an artist under the name Belly, is a Palestinian-Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. He was born in Jenin in 1984. When he was seven, his family fled violence and poverty via Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan to Ottawa in Canada, where he grew up. After a series of mixtapes his debut album The Revolution appeared in 2007, which won a Juno Award in Canada for best rap recording. On tracks such as History of Violence he rapped about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war in Iraq.

Music and breakthrough

From 2011 Balshe co-wrote music for his fellow Canadian The Weeknd. He has credits on all of his studio albums, including six tracks on Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), such as The Hills and Earned It, and nine on Starboy (2016). In 2015 he signed as an artist to The Weeknd's label XO. His mixtape Up for Days, with the single Might Not, came out on XO and Roc Nation. For the album After Hours (2020) he co-wrote Blinding Lights, which Billboard declared in 2021 to be the greatest Hot 100 hit of all time. His own albums Immigrant (2018) and See You Next Wednesday (2021) followed, and 96 Miles from Bethlehem (2024) is about what it means to be Palestinian.

Influence

Balshe is an example of the behind-the-scenes writers who help shape today's big hits. Blinding Lights has five writers, including Max Martin; Balshe is one of them. He also sang on and co-wrote 6 Inch by Beyoncé, and in 2016 he was named songwriter of the year in Canada.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2007The Revolution
• 2015Up For Days
• 2016Another Day in Paradise
• 2016Inzombia
• 2017Mumble Rap
• 2018Immigrant
• 2021See You Next Wednesday
• 2023Mumble Rap 2

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 12: The Hit Factory^NL Reader