Shyne – XXL Magazine JUNE 2004

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 of hip-hop?

His attitude represents the White, Anglo-Saxon ignorance and disease that exists in the world—people that claim America was discov¬ered even though people was already living here. There’s a continuity in his behavior. It doesn’t disturb me because I know that igno¬rance exists. And I thank God that I have the power to enlighten the people rather than just let them be bombarded with his ignorance.

One thing a rap star needs to do to suc-ceed financially is to maintain credibility. Rappers rap about being tough and it sounds great on wax. Then you get out to a club and there’s people there who try to test you. How do you deal with that?

I don’t understand why you are using the club situation, dawg. People try to test me any¬where. Here’s what I’m tryin’ to say, dawg: I’ma keep it real with you if you keep it real with me. Ask me the shit you want to ask me, and we get to the meat. I’m at a point in my life where I don’t play no games; it is what it is. So if you want to ask me what went down in the club, you do that. Other than that, a nigga get tested anywhere, man. A nigga get tested at the air¬port; a nigga get tested walking to the store.

Do you feel that when you were with Puffy, or now that you’re a well-known recording artist, people try to test you more often?

I don’t really put myself in the position, play¬boy. I keep it all the way real. I had two inci¬dents being in this industry. One was when I got shot at in front of Daddy’s House [record¬ing studio, in November 1999] and another one was in the club that night. Other than that I been cool. I keep it quiet, man. A lot of these rap niggas be living the life and they get caught up in the hype. I’m really not with that. I don’t have nothing to prove to nobody. I’m just a cool nigga, man.

It seems that more than one gun was fired in Club New York that night. Why do you think you’re the only one who’s been indict¬ed for attempted murder and assault?

That’s just how they be livin’, playboy. Them kids don’t come to play. You get caught up in they backyard, they gonna jam you. The DA can charge you with anything. If he had an inkling he could have charged me with mur¬der. Anybody can get indicted on anything, keep it all the way real. And the DA ain’t come in there with good will.
Two shots fired from the burner I had—I did have a gun. But that don’t mean I tried to kill nobody. Niggas was bustin’ at me. Niggas tried to kill me. I was just tryin’ to defend myself and I still ain’t even aim at nobody. I just shot up in the sky, like, “Yo man, let me get up out ‘chea.”

You fired twice?

Yeah. Yeahhh! I mean, niggas is sayin’ they heard seven shots. That means, yoo, it was two more guns fired, and I didn’t even fire first. All these people claiming that as soon as they heard the shots they got hit, so that means somebody else hit ‘em, man. And the ballistics experts is talkin’ ’bout, “Yo, it could be a .40-caliber that hit these people.” You know, the fragments in honey’s [Natania Reuben's] face could add up to a .40-caliber. And they sayin’ that she didn’t get hit with a direct shot, ’cause if she did she’d've died.

Whose ballistic expert was that?

The DA’s ballistics expert and my ballistics expert.

Witness David Cubiiette said that a man standing next to Matthew “Scar” Allen—the man arguing with you and Puffy—fired his gun toward the ceiling. Did you see that?

Yeeeeah!

Do you know who that was?

I ain’t gonna get into all that, playboy. I don’t remember, it was a long time ago, but some¬body tried to kill me up in there that night.

Well, why don’t you walk me through it? The way it’s been reported, you, Puff and Jennifer and Wolf were leaving the club

Yeah, I mean, playboy, I’ma keep it real with you. My codefendant is a snitch. He’s a rat. I’m not a rat. I’m not gonna sit up here and break everything down, ’cause I ain’t get on the stand and break everything down. Even though Puff called a witness to testify against me that the faggot-nigga knew was lying.

Which witness was that?

He knew this bitch was lying, Puff.

Which witness was that?

[Club bouncer] Cherise Myers. This bitch talk¬ing about she pulled him down to the ground. That’s a lie. In her statement to the police, she ain’t say that. The police asked her, “Why did¬n’t you go break the shit up?” She was like, “Yo, I couldn’t get over there ’cause it was 20 people pinning me to the wall.” You under¬stand? Then she get up on the stand and talk about she was right next to Puff, and she tapped Puff and said, “Let’s get out of here.” That’s when she seen me fire. So if that ain’t a lie, then I don’t understand.
Not only did she not give that statement to the police when the shit first jumped off, but Puff’s own witnesses contradicted her. They was asked—yo, this bitch was 6’1″, like 250—and nobody seen her over there. Nobody. All the witnesses he called? Nobody seen her over there. None of the DA witnesses, none of my witnesses.

Has anyone stood up in court and said she’s lying?

In my closing arguments, my lawyers are gonna prove that she’s a liar. The DA done proved she’s lying. The bitch claims she fell on [Puff] when the shots went off and all the security niggas are saying Wolf was on top of him! On the realla, I never seen that honey up in there. Bitches don’t even be in the club, they be at the do’, searchin’ other hoes. I never seen her over there. And then they show the phone records of [Puff's] niggas callin’ her, getting at her.

Has all this come out in court?

Yeeeeah! Nigga, the phone records, that nigga’s a rat. He’s a rat, and he payin’ niggas $20,000 a month on some publicity shit, got these crackers workin’ for him, throwin’ salt in the game like he’s just this innocent nigga, and I’m not saying what duke did, ’cause I’m not a rat. I ain’t gonna go his way. All these niggas is dick-ridin’ on the radio stations, on TV, like, ain’t none of this going on, ’cause fuck me. I’m just some wild violent nigga that just came in the club and shot shit up—with two shots. Shot shit up.

Let me ask you. At the moment that— what caused you to pull your gun?

Whadda you mean, what caused me to pull my gun?

What happened?

They fired at me, man. Somebody tried to shoot me.

Okay. But you don’t know the name of that person?

Dawg—

It was the person standing next to Scar?

Playboy, you gotta respect my gangsta, man. I already told you I ain’t get up on the stand and start talking. I ain’t gonna start testifying to you. Dawg, don’t believe me, nigga. The evidence is there. They got two .40-caliber bullets in the ceiling; they got three .40-caliber shells on the flo’. So don’t take my word for it. You got David Cubilette telling you, you got [witness] Tavon Jones telling you. And you got the evidence there, dawg. The club owner came on the stand and was like, ain’t never been a shootout in the three years he had at that club. So them bullets came there that night. And they said Puff had a nine, so it wasn’t his burner.

Is that what you had, a nine?

That’s what they caught me with, dawg.

It’s been reported that when you left the club you bumped into a police officer and they took the gun from you. Is that accurate?

Yeah, they snatched me up. They grabbed me outside the club.

How does it feel when you are sitting in the courtroom and people are testifying that you shot your gun?

I was defending myself. I’m a little bit heated right now, watching niggas just rattin’ and watching niggas lie. Ain’t one nigga come up in the courtroom and just told the truth, ya know what I’m sayin’? Ain’t one nigga come up in there and say, “Yeah, he pulled out his gun, he fired in the air after them kids shot at him.” Ain’t one nigga do that. You know, I could take that. I take responsibility for having a burner. The only reason I had a burner was ’cause I just got shot at.

The month before, at Daddy’s House.

And I got shot when I was 15.1 got my whole shoulder ripped up. That’s in your magazine. You understand? And you come up in this game—a nigga that left that warfield—I’m up in here thinking shit is sweet. Like, I’m just gonna make my little records, man, mind my business and I’m cool. ‘Cause after I got shot at 15, it was like, I ain’t gonna go nowhere, I’ma stay in the house, man, ’cause my moms is about to go depressed and I’ma just write these songs and I’ma get my little diploma, and I’ma walk right. That was my M.O. I’m thinkin’, “Ah come on, man, Puff Daddy. Niggas is sellin’ millions of records, makin’ money. Nobody ain’t got time for no drama; niggas is easy.” I’m going to the studio every day, minding my business, writ-ing my songs. I ain’t even rolling withmy niggas from Brooklyn. I’m just happy to be here. And then that shit happened and that shit just devastated me, dawg. That put me in a state of shock. I had made a promise to God: “I’m good, man. If it mean me carrying a burner or getting myself back in any more problems, I just ain’t gonna go outside.” Then I’m in the rap game, thinkin’, “Not here. Not here. Not niggas livin’ on Park Avenue.”

But we’ve seen, unfortunately, what’s happened to so many other rappers…

Not so many, just Big and ‘Pac. Those is two isolated incidents, it ain’t like 10 niggas done died from murder. It was only two niggas.

I mean, putting aside rap, it’s just the sad truth: Rich people aren’t immune. You could have any kind of success. I mean, Marvin Gaye was killed by his own father

— That’s real, dawg.

Kurt Cobain killed himself. Violence seems to be something in America we can’t escape.

I’m glad you made that point, ’cause like nig¬gas is lookin’ at me, man. I tell them little niggas out there, “You don’t need no burner, man. You don’t need to end up in the position I ended up in. Go the other way. It ain’t worth having your moth¬er up in there broken up.” And that’s why I was so fucked up, dawg, ’cause I never went looking for trouble, man. I wasn’t that little nigga out there wildin’ out, dumbin’ out, like, “Yeah yeah yeah. I got something to prove, man.” I was in juvenile homes since I was 11, man. I was car¬rying and doing all that shit: 10, 11, 12. I was in the fuckin’ kitchen with my cousin cuttin’ up crack when I was nine, nigga. When New Jack City first came out. So I’m here thinking, “Yo, I got a record deal. I’m straight. I’m clean. I could just sit back, go to the studio and live my dream.” So when that shit happened I’m like, “Yo, what the fuck?” Like, “Damn, what I gotta do?” I yelled out, “I don’t want to die neither.” Here come your life right here: Nigga can’t go to the studio no more ’cause niggas shot at you, so what you gonna do? I ain’t got no paper. I can’t afford no security guard. You understand?

I understand. But in light of what you’re saying, what made you go out to Club New York that night?

Did you just feel like everything was gonna be OK? It was the day after Christmas, everybody was like, “Yo, we goin’ up in there.” I don’t know what’s gonna happen, man. That shit fucked me up, dawg. You don’t understand when a nigga… I don’t know if you under¬stand, dawg. It’s one thing when you live by the gun, you die by the gun. But it’s another thing when you’re living by your pen, and then niggas is tryin’ to get at you.

Don’t you think it’s probably just jealousy?

Whatever it was, dawg, when it happened, you ain’t thinkin’ about all that. You thinkin’ about survivin’, dawg. I went back to square one. I went back to when I was on the block and the nigga I had beef with lived right next door. And when I had to walk outside every day, how it had to go down. I went back to sitting on the corner and the nigga passed by, and my man just looked at him funny and said whatever, and the nigga came back 10 minutes later with a Tec-9—we like 13, 14, ya under¬stand?—and blasted the nigga right in front of me, murked the nigga. This nigga sittin’ up, having convulsions on the flo’, dead. I’m like, “Oh shit, we back here? I thought I left that.” I’m thinkin’ ’bout when I was lying there in the fuckin’ pool of blood, my shoulder ripped off, taking myself to the hospital, you understand? I’m like, “Yo, how we got back here?”

You had that flashback in front of Daddy’s House or in Club New York?

I had that flashback up until the incident hap¬pened. I was scared to death, man. When you on the war ground it’s like you immune to it. But when you ain’t been there so long and you left it alone, you caught off guard.

Does it make you feel like fame is worth it?

I wasn’t even famous! I wasn’t even famous then! In an idealistic world I would’ve been able to sit down and figure it out and come to a conclusion: “Hey, I’m gonna get over it, and suck it up.” But in the real world, dawg, niggas get traumatized. Niggas get devastated, man. Yo dawg, I pray every night, dawg. And I pray to God for them people who got hit, man. God bless those people. Nobody deserves to get hit. But yo, it wasn’t my burner. As I sit up in here and talk to you, playboy, can’t nobody with right mind, and rationale, say it was my gun that hurt them. The nigga Scar, he snitched too. He said I was standing right in front of him. It was a 15-shot magazine and two shots came out of my gun, dawg. They got my gun with 13 still in the clip, and two out, with two shells. When you try to kill somebody, you ain’t firing two shots, dawg.

So you were firing warning shots?

Yo, the nigga bust at me, and I just went into a state of shock like, “Oh, a nigga about to die, man.”

It was pure reaction—

Yeeeah! And it wasn’t even nobody to aim at because after he bust, everybody was on the flo’. That was just reaction, like, “Yo, what the fuck?” Bom-bom in the air, let me get up out here, man.

The security guard, Hassan Mahamah, testified that he saw you fire three times, twice into a group of people. That’s not accurate?

Don’t take my word for nothing. Right? Don’t take my word. If I fired into a crowd, listen you gotta just—it just can’t—

If you fired into a crowd, it wouldn’t be ricochets that hit people.

Exactly, and just listen to me, playboy. Everything can’t work for everybody. It can’t be, this nigga say one thing and that nigga say one thing and, “Hey, we just use it, what¬ever work to hang Shyne.” Something gotta be the truth, man. I was right in front of him, niggas was arguing. The DA’s own witnesses said the nigga was screaming, telling me he gonna kill me. So we right there. Ain’t no crowd to bust into, the nigga’s standing right in front of me. Let’s say I missed him. Let’s say my aim is that fucked up like that nasty bitch Lil’ Kim said, and I missed the nigga right in front of me. Niggas at the other side of the bar would’ve got hit—not somebody that was to your north, up by the stairs, and then some¬body behind me, to your left. You under¬stand? Those were ricochets, dawg. That ain’t no three shots fired into no crowd.

The security guard also testified that Wolf grabbed you and yelled, “What is wrong with you?”

That’s bullshit! How he the only one who seen that? How nobody else ain’t see that?

I just want your reaction. I’m just telling you—

That’s my reaction.

Did you see somebody throw money in the air?

Like I said, dawg, I don’t want to go into all that…

You don’t want to tell me if Puffy had a gun.

Yeah, I’m not going into all that, playboy. I could’ve got up on that stand and been a bitch, like he was a faggot, you understand? ‘Cause what he did, he dry snitched. Rather than him get up there and say, “Oh, Po did it,” he got somebody to say, “Oooh. Po did it.” But love is love, that nigga gonna die a thou-sand deaths, you understand? He gonna suf¬fer, and I’ma live forever. But the bottom line with [Hassan Mahamah], man. This nigga, peep his whole shit, now. On his police report? He tell the police he see two niggas with burners. But he ain’t see the gunman’s face. Now he get up on the stand, it’s only me bustin’. And he said I ran. In a crowded club where niggas is sayin’ it’s a thousand niggas up in there… How the fuck am I running in a crowded club, dawg? You’ve been in clubs before, nigga. You can’t even walk, nigga.
Don’t trust me, nigga. Distrust me all the way. I’ma be like the prosecutor; I’ma prove my case to you, dawg. We might not even be able to finish this shit tonight ’cause I’ma bust the shit down so thoroughly for you. Lemme show you how nasty this nigga Puff is. The nigga settled nigga wasn’t up in there tryin’ to kill nobody, man, with no two shots fired in the sky. Even their own DA witnesses, some of them said I was pointin’ in the sky. Even the nigga Wardell said Jennifer hopped up in the car, like, “I can’t believe Shyne shot up in the air.” Even the bitch-ass man Puff that got his wit¬ness to snitch, she was like, I shot up in the air. They got the bullet marks in the sky, man. Look at the NRA, man. White folks infuckin’ Arkansas and Westchester got burners just to protect they homes, protect themselves, man. That’s all right in the Constitution, man. All a nigga wanna do is defend himself, so I don’t think that make me a killer. That don’t make me a bad person. I just know them jurors look at me, and they know I wasn’t in there tryin’ to kill nobody, man. They know that, man.
[Pause] I pray, man. I pray, son. Sometimes I wake up, and I be like I’m ’bout to go crazy, son. Nothin’ don’t seem… it seem like the world is spinnin’. I don’t know whether to turn left or right, son. And I kneel down, and I clasp my hands, dawg, and I close my eyes, and I talk to God. And I become a warrior, son. Warrior. After I make it through this, man, I’ma be alright. Even if it’s in the next life; even if it’s in eternity, I come back to this hell. God is with a nigga, man. If I make it through this, and I talk to them real niggas out there, whatever they doin’—I’m not here to judge niggas, but I’m here to let niggas know: God is real, man. God be havin’ me sit there tellin’ my lawyers what to say even though they knuckleheads.

What are your impressions of Justice Solomon, and how he’s handled this trial?

He just under pressure. Whatever the DA say, the judge do, dawg. Like, cat be wantin’ to do the right thing, but the DA get up and start puttin’ that nigga under pressure and, like, the DA done tried 17 cases with this nigga. So they know each other, man.

Well, Bogdanos asked for Puffy to be put in jail for 30 days for violating the gag order…

Well, he don’t go overboard, but I’m talkin’ ’bout the critical shit, man. If we make an objection and the judge is about to rule in our favor, like, he knew he’s supposed to take that attempted murder [charge] out. He know them niggas ain’t proved that I attempted to kill nobody.

Did anybody tell you to take a plea, maybe for assault?

Nobody coulda told me to take that, playboy. They coulda made me plead to reckless endangerment. If that faggot-nigga Puff wasn’t in this, man, niggas woulda been alright. But it’s all that high publicity, all eyes on niggas. They gotta play for this camera, man.

What’s your impression of the media coverage?

It’s all about Puff. Niggas is actin’ like I’m not sittin’ here facin’ 25 years. They actin’ like I’m not the nigga charged with attempted murder, wrongly. And they don’t even know if it was my gun that hit them people. And ain’t nobody talkin’ ’bout that in the press. Them niggas is more talkin’ about, “Well, Puff was playin’ with his son in the snow.” That’s what they puttin’ on the front page. That shit is crazy, son. I might get my life snatched from me, man.

What do you do when you are home at night? Do you watch TV? Are you writing rhymes?

I did 10 songs. Needless to say I’m leavin’ Bad Boy. So I stopped recordin’. I did like 10 new joints, 10 new heaters. But I just pray, man. I pray in the mornin’ when I wake up. And I go home and I pray to God that I was able to stand there lookin’ my enemies in they eyes and not fold. Look at the jurors in they eyes and not fold. Look at the judge, and just be a man about this. Even talkin’ to you right now, dawg, I thank God that I wasn’t no coward and I ain’t get up on that stand and testify against niggas to save myself. I’d rather die with honor, man. I just pray that God have mercy on a nigga. ‘Cause nobody don’t control this, man. Whatever God wanna happen is gonna happen, man. If that nigga want me to suffer, I’ma suffer. I just ask the nigga that he let me endure like Jesus did when he was on that cross.

What would be dishonorable about get¬ting on the stand and telling the truth?

You just not supposed to get up there and burn niggas, man

They were ready to burn you. And you were ready to shoot back.

You know, it’s one thing to defend yourself, as far as you could die. But it’s another thing to start rattin’ people out.

Every single one of those people hasn’t been afraid of going up on that stand or—

I don’t live my life by what other people do, dawg. And I don’t think that’s a fair compari¬son. I got a choice not to start rattin’ on niggas. Somebody’s tryin’ to kill you, you really don’t. I got a choice, dawg, and that’s just how I wanna live my life.