You haven’t done an interview since 2004s Godfather Buried Alive press campaign. What are your feelings today, looking back at that project and all the craziness that surrounded it?
GF was just something for the die-hard Shyne fans, something to hold on to until it’s really time for me to touch the streets. I read some things (weiterlesen…)
In the aftermath of the trial, you were quoted in a couple of newspaper articles. You seemed very upset with the things the main-stream media was writing about your son.
They were saying that he was a gun-toting brother. They were saying he was reckless, (weiterlesen…)
XXL: You appeared on Politically Incorrect recently. Bill Maher really came down hard on you and you held your own. Do you feel that his attitude represents the mainstream view (weiterlesen…)
VIBE: How did this idea for a Brooklyn supergroup come about?
SHYNE: I knew Inga [Foxy] since we was in high school. Jay-Z is someone who I have a distinct level of respect for, musically. I spoke to Inga and Jay-Z (weiterlesen…)
Right before the interview starts, one of the Bad Boy reps gives me the ground rules: Don’t talk about the trial, don’t talk about any crime-related issues, don’t talk about any “beefs” the artist has with anyone. “If any of these topics come up, the interview will be terminated.”
It reminds me of comedian D.L. Hughley’s bit about his mother taking him to the supermarket and serving up the rules before they enter. “Don’t look at shit, don’t touch shit and you ain’t getting shit!”
I sit in the hotel lobby for about 20 minutes before the rep lays down the law in preparation for my interview with Jamal Barrow, better known as rapper Shyne. (weiterlesen…)
Soul Train: What’s the message that you hope people get from your music?
Shyne: I mean, my music, I just touch on, I touch on the current events, you understand? Right now it’s not necessarily a message. You know, I really talk about what I’ve seen and what I continue to see. I read, I pay attention. I’m a result of the struggle that’s goin’ on in America with the underclass and the inner-city kids, you understand? I really talk about that pain, that sufferin’, that joy. And I try to talk to them about readin’ and going to school. You know, when I speak and I’m workin’ on my new record, I’m gonna talk about that. You know, how even though there’s a lot of people to blame, you understand, sooner or later, you’re gonna have to forget about them and just take it upon ourselves to handle our handle, you know what I’m sayin’? (weiterlesen…)
A: I kinda wanted to take it back. Obviously, everyone remembers the trial. Every newspaper cover and news report was on it. Everybody knows there was a shooting at club New York, and you were the only one sentenced. Even the prosecutor said that there was more than one person in the club with a gun that night, and you got such a heavy sentence. I just was wondering how you feel.
S: Yeah I mean there was a few people that the prosecutor said had ratchets on them. More or less, I was defending myself man, you know? Tried by 12 or carried by 6. I’d rather be tried by 12. Somebody was gonna pop my top off that night. So if I didn’t let that thing go, I might not be here talking to you. So I was defending myself. There’s no proof that I shot anybody. As far as those charges are concerned, I am innocent. Nobody don’t get no 10 years for gun possession. You get probation for that so I’ve already paid my debt to society 5 times over. I was just defending myself that’s what that was about. (weiterlesen…)