Palestinian-Canadian rapper Ahmad Balshe, who goes by Belly, was famous in his adopted homeland for years before he helped contribute six songs to his friend the Weeknd’s 2015 breakthrough release, “Beauty Behind the Madness.”

“Madness” helped change everything. Belly, who had moved from his native Jeninin the Palestinian territories to Ottawa, Ontario, at 7 years old, had released one album (2007’s “The Revolution”) and a handful of mixtapes but had yet to break through worldwide. He had grown increasingly comfortable with the idea of a career spent solely behind the scenes, as a producer and a writer, until “Madness” made him a hot commodity.

By the end of 2015 he had signed a record deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation (he has since contributed a track to Beyonce’s “Lemonade”). He’s currently supporting the Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) on tour and working on an official sophomore album, “Glorious,” tentatively set to drop this summer. In a phone call from the road, he talked about his new start, his new boss and his longtime friendship with the Weeknd.

The following are excerpts from that conversation:

On whether he missed being a performer

Not really. For me, I think, my fans are the ones who brought me back into this. Having people who stuck around for my hiatus, I guess you could call it, the people who stuck around and always supported me and were still reaching out to me on social media, asking me for music years later. I kind of just did something for them, and that snowflake ended up being an avalanche.

On Jay Z as a boss

When I came back, I put out a project that was strictly for the fans that had stuck around all those years. It got the attention of Jay Z, he personally wanted to meet me and talk to me about the music, and talk about what I had planned, and we took it from there, and it became a record deal. That’s not really what I was going for (laughs).

On Jay Z as a role model

Jay Z was an icon to me growing up. Still is. He’s my favorite rapper alive, he’s someone who I admire in every facet of life, not just music business-wise. The way he conducts his family life, everything about him is the epitome of what you want to end up being, what you aspire to one day. When I knew he was listening, it was already enough.

On why he rarely goes back to Ottawa, where his former home was once the target of a police raid

It’s hard for me to go back. For a long time, I felt like there was a vendetta against me from the police, from the government, from authoritative figures. I would go outside and get pulled over five times trying to go downtown, for no reason, no criminal record, nothing like that. I felt like the best move for me was to go to Toronto. When cops pull my over in Toronto, they want to take a picture. That’s the difference. In Ottawa, they want to ruin my life. They tried to relate me to everybody I grew up with, tried to pigeonhole me in the same category (as) my homies. We all grew up in the same struggles. I was blessed to find music. They figured I was doing a bunch of criminal (misdeeds), but I wasn’t.

On his friendship with the Weeknd

What Abel did for me, I’m forever indebted for the shot he gave me. That’s all a grown man can ever ask for, is a shot. What you do with it is up to you. Some people drop the ball, other people hit the three with the game on the line when the buzzer’s going off. I look at us like, when we work together, we’re a unit. The whole team is a unit.

On his new album

I’m working on an album called “Glorious.” It is the best body of work I’ve ever sat down and really been this proud of, me just as a person and an artist. I’m in a much better place, coming out of a lot of different dark times I used the music to get me out of. A combination of that, and being able to work with legends, guys I grew up idolizing. Doing sessions with Pharrell, Timbaland, working with young legends like the Weeknd. That’s what I’ve got to look forward to now.