Former Bad Boy records rapper Shyne is speaking out amidst Sean “Diddy” Combs’ recent arrest.
As Combs was being denied bail Wednesday, the musician turned politician from Belize held a press conference to speak on his negative experience with his former boss. Shyne, whose real name is Moses Michael Levi Barrow, says the hip hop mogul “ruined” his life when he was “just a kid” with dreams to make his mother and country proud.
“I was defending Diddy and he turned around and called witnesses to testify against me and he pretty much sent me to prison,” he said in the presser. “So that is the context by which you must always describe that relationship.”
The former Bad Boy artist is referring to the 1999 New York City club shooting that ultimately landed the young rapper in jail for a decade. Three bystanders sustained gunshot wounds amid an altercation at the club where Shyne, Combs and then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were all in attendance.
Combs and Lopez reportedly fled the scene, but police later tracked them down. They were both arrested when authorities found a concealed weapon in their vehicle. Charges againt Lopez were eventually dropped while Combs was acquitted in 2001.
Meanwhile, Shyne was convicted of assault and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After he was released in 2009, he was deported back to Belize, a country he left at the age of 7.
Although Shyne says he’s not rejoicing at Diddy’s downfall now that he’s been arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, he emphasizes that the mogul “destroyed” his life. “Yes, I forgave, I moved on, but let us not pretend as if I was in Miami for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he added. Let us not lose sight of what the cold, hard facts are. This is not someone who I vacationed with and he and I enjoyed this great, intimate relationship of brotherhood. This is someone who destroyed my life.”
In an interview earlier this year, the 45-year-old politician said, “everyone knew all along that I was the fall guy.”
These days, Barrow is a Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives.
