"Belly Dancer" is a song by Canadian rapper

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall ( ), is a Canadian rapper and record producer. Often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", he has been regarded as one of the country's most prominent ...

featuring American singer-songwriter

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

, who produced it with

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American musician and record producer. Alongside childhood friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in 1992, with whom he has produced numerous hit records for variou ...

The Neptunes The Neptunes were an American record production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provided backing vocals and music video appearances on the duo's productions, while H ...

. Released on March 25, 2003, it was originally the first single from the former's unreleased album, ''Firestarter Vol. 2: The F-Word Theory''.Kardinal Offishall - Man on Fire
Exclaim!. Accessed on November 30, 2008.

Background

The song was inspired by

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

, who was in the studio while the song was recorded.Kardinall Offishall Interview (April 28, 2003)
Newrealm.com. Accessed on November 30, 2008. The single briefly appeared on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' charts, and a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was shot by

Little X Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian music video director. Having trained under Hype Williams, Lutz has been credited for directing over a hundred music videos spanning various genres si ...

on May 7, 2003, in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. However, the video remains unreleased, because Kardinal's label at the time,

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

, was absorbed into

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

, leaving the single without promotion. In an interview, Kardinal stated that he does not like the song, and "it was the first thing I did that wasn't from the heart."Kardinal Offishall - Session Transcript
Red Bull Music Academy. Accessed December 3, 2008.

Track listing

12" single

A-side # "Belly Dancer" (Radio Edit) (featuring

) # "Belly Dancer" (Instrumental) B-side # "Belly Dancer" (Album) (featuring Pharrell Williams) # "Sick!" (Album) (featuring

Bounty Killer Rodney Basil Price OD (born 12 June 1972), known as Bounty Killer, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay. AllMusic describes him as "one of the most aggressive dancehall stars of the '90s, a street-tough rude boy with an unrepentant fl ...

) # "Sick!" (Instrumental)

Chart positions

References

2002 songs 2003 singles Kardinal Offishall songs Pharrell Williams songs MCA Records singles Song recordings produced by the Neptunes Songs written by Chad Hugo Songs written by Pharrell Williams Songs written by Kardinal Offishall Dancehall songs {{2000s-hiphop-single-stub