The Real Report - Shyne on P.Diddy fallout, serving time in prison, & life after the Bad Boy era

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Think it's just that Brooklyn was just I was definitely on that. You know that's Brooklyn. Of course, yeah, I stomped down the dog. But see he come this, you know, make come on, you want to, you want to and then come this Brooklyn.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, He.

00:00:19
Speaker 3: Gets that.

00:00:21
Speaker 2: Brocket.

00:00:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the talk of New York and it's the boyle jed let me uncle murder.

00:00:41
Speaker 5: Well and right now it's the real report. We here with the infamous Shine Pop makes some nice well well bad boy in the.

00:00:48
Speaker 1: B The Elder Statesman, I don't think I'm in from its anymore. The legendary. I'm more of a legacy. The young, the young Shane, the young Shine was in from this definitely, the elder Statesman, you know, presidential rap, Prime minister. But you know brook Yeah, going on, that's right on Saturday. That's right, the whole Saturday Brooklyn and Queens. Queens and Brooklyn is really the same. But I mean where we separated, I don't know. I know Big Queen's gonna be in there too, but appreciate yeah, yeah, you know, I go back and forth. But definitely I made it a priority to be here.

00:01:35
Speaker 5: Definitely yes. I mean, you're definitely a legend. You're in the Hall of Fame my Murder, and.

00:01:42
Speaker 1: It's like when we look at your career, it's like you was eighteen years old Lincoln with P Diddy bad Boy, one of the biggest labels of all time.

00:01:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, how was that?

00:01:52
Speaker 3: Uh?

00:01:53
Speaker 1: That was a dream come true. You know, I can never forget the opportunity that I had and that many of these labels, whether it's Aftermath in the Scope, you know, the Jimmy Iveans, the Dre's, the Puffies, you know, the Russell Simmons, your Queen's brother. That really opening up for all of us as far as the entrepreneurship and the partnership corporate America to take the hip hop culture global. But that was a dream come true. I was. I was definitely infamous back then, coming off the streets, I just got shot. I was, you know, escaping the Brooklyn Vietnam. Brooklyn Vietnam we called the Brooklyn Vietnam for a reason. So coming to you know, getting discovered by Don Pooh, respect to him, that's my big brother. He's literally been getting money since eighty eight. We're opening the Brooklyn Chophouse and belize we're getting discovered by him and I guy Manny you know Manny's Nicki Minaj and Futurebody. Yes, and then them taking me to the industry. Uh, it was really Chris Lighty Okay, rest in peace, resting piece to baby Chris who lit the torch for the shine explosion that took place because initially respected my guy Mark Pitts as well because Manny Don Pooh, Mark Pitts all that Brooklyn crew. So I was moving around. I wrapped for Puff, I rapped for un Yes, yes, yes, uh, Pool's managing he was involved in Pitts's management company with b I g that Brooklyn thing and they both from Barbados, I believe, so they had that Beaijing connection. But basically, so I was moving around. I rapped for a whole I rapped for Puff, I rapped for Everybody was like yeah, yeah, you nice, but nothing really happened. Nobody was sending the agreement to my lawyer Matt Middleton at the time.

00:04:06
Speaker 4: Was you hear it back then when you was rapping for these dudes, not to cut you off that you had a biggie Bobe.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: Nobody even thought about that. They was just hearing the barstch and so again I just got shot. I'm coming off the streets. My energy was so convincing. I could sell water to a well when you hear those bars, because I'm talking about my real life and I'm so so passionate and so much conviction. Everybody just thought I was nice, right, Everybody thought I was nice. And I think proof of that is the fact that I'm still a legend to this day. And then we just sold out King's Theatre after you know, not being here for twenty five years. And I could go to LA and walk in the studio with Doctor dre Jay don't even you know, talk to people. But that's because of the legend and what the music ended up sounding like ultimately, because when you're when you first get in the studio, you gotta find your voice. When you know fifty first came out, some people might have said he sounded like he had a mace thing or whole thing because of the tone of his voice. But that but that, but that wasn't fifties fifty, and he went on to make you know, some of the greatest albums ever Fab. When Fab first came out, again, the tone of his voice, people are quick to associate you, you know, with whoever's the popular voice, right, but the baritone is still a baritone. It hasn't changed all these years longer. But now it was a dream come true. It was a dream come true. But it was Chris Lighty that made that dream come true. He hit my guy, Eric Nix, who was again a part of that Brooklyn conglomerate, and said, you know, you know, tell Sean, I keep him out. This kid, Sean, tell him come to Varick Street. That was where deaf Jam was. So I went to Barrack Street and he said, uh, all right, yeah, I've been hearing a lot about you. I want to you know, we played this dat tape for this this new producer, Swiss Beats. He played Swiss Beaks Yes, and I went in and he was just like, you're not leaving him until you signed the deal. And he told me to Leo's office. I spit for him, wrapped his head off and that was it. Literally as soon as I left the office. We didn't have any WhatsApp. Then we had that, we had the heavy phone, we had the star attack. So the star Attack was I don't even think the star tack was out yet. But anyway, the phone was ringing and it was like, yo, Puff, want you to come to California asap? And I was like right before Christmas. He said, as soon as the Christmas vacation is done, he want to fly you out to Cally so we could close the deal. So it was really Chris. And then when I went to La went to Beverly Hills Hotel. As soon as I'm walking in, Eddie Murphy's walking out of the elevator.

00:07:03
Speaker 2: I never forget.

00:07:04
Speaker 1: I never forgot. I could smell the Beverly Hills Hotel right now. And I've never been anyway outside of.

00:07:09
Speaker 2: And that's the first person you see is Eddie Murphy.

00:07:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I've never been anywhere outside of Brooklyn until this point, except for, you know, going to Belieze on vacation. So I went to the record plant, A Puff and j Lo were at the record plant. Puff was recording the Godzilla single. It was a Godzilla movie that came out and he was executive producer of the soundtrack. So he's wrapping in the booth. He comes out. He's like, yeah, listen, man, you know I know everybody after you, I told you. Then he was nice I'm telling you, now, let's sign a deal. I really don't want to chase, so I was like, yeah, let's do it. It's bad boy. I was the number one record company at the time, but I was always a shrewd businessman. I just always it was never emotional. And then coming from the streets like literally, friend's brains on your shoulder. No father watching my mother struggle. He's not necessarily heartless, but it's like, it's never any emotions, and it's always I was always thinking business. So I kept asking the lawyers because they kept hitting the lawyers. So then when I went out to California that that flood, so then they kept calling it. I'm like, well, okay, well this is what Puff saying, telling me on five times that, and I said, well, telling me on ten times that. And Russell Leo and Chris was so cold. They came to Puff's house and Mulholland Drive. He was having an event just it was I think it was Soul Trained week. Chris Tucker, all the basketball players, they're playing basketball, everybody there. They pull up. I'm like, on Puff, I'm just gonna have a word with these gentlemen. Let him know, signing with you, but thank them for their interests. I left and I never came back. I came back to get my stuff and I moved into Peninsula Hotel. I hadn't met me like a six hundred s and I was just going to Iceberg store at an Iceberg store on Melrose at that time, every day, getting fresh. And I was like, I'm going with the money, right the deal that they made. Even I ended up with a deal that no new artist has ever gotten. I don't know if it's changed now. And I left me. Eric Nicks left after like a week or two, and I moved into the Saint Regis Hotel waiting for the deal to close. Go see John McNeill, that was Chris's financial manager, collect my money every week. And then one day I just woke up and I was like, I called my Pitts. I was like, I'm signed a bad boy. And we did the deal in a few days. Because had I gone to death Jam. You gotta remember Fox had Hove, Nas, she had a team, X had d Wild Swiss had a team right, Hove had Dang bigs, be High Clark, Kent irv Gotti. Yeah, I was I wasn't ready. I needed to be developed, and I'm not sure. I'm not sure if Violator would have done that for me. I'm just not sure. And then I didn't just need to be developed. I wanted to be a superstar. I wanted to be exactly what I am now. And I felt that Puff gave me that. He gave me a ten year sentence too, and a lot of hard they can paying and tragedy, but I got what I got, that information I got. I got to be around one of the greatest eve No matter how I feel about him as a human being, as an entertainer, as an executive, he is one of the greatest ever. Oh yeah, definitely can't take nothing from that.

00:11:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just wanted to know how you felt, because it's like when you came with the hit record.

00:11:34
Speaker 3: I believe.

00:11:38
Speaker 1: Boy like that Big everything was because because because remember I think Big the Big just died.

00:11:44
Speaker 2: Around the time he died.

00:11:45
Speaker 1: He passed away in ninety seven, God Blessed Soul. March's nine ninety seven Bad Boys came out in two thousand, so about three years later, June two thousand. I'll never forget it when when from Flex broke that record.

00:12:02
Speaker 5: Right, we were still kind of Morning from Big and you and Big have a good same compacity, deep voice.

00:12:08
Speaker 1: Both from the Caribbean's from Believe.

00:12:11
Speaker 5: Definitely go from Brooklyn, Brooklyn too, and the style was similar because like y'all had the Jamaican you know, culture shit going.

00:12:20
Speaker 3: On in it.

00:12:20
Speaker 5: But when you came with that, it was like, yo, we had we had to It was like, come on, this is a fucking hit, bro.

00:12:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you gotta understand. I always use the Kobe example, but I think I used some good rap examples, like fab is one of the nicest ever period. He's in the Hall of Fame, right, forget about commercial, forget about pop straight hip hop. Fabulous will go down as one of the nicest ever. Right when you go down to fifty fifties, one of the greatest icons hip hop of music entertainment period. What he's been able to accomplish on the business and the run film a hard rock cafe. I mean, you know, it's just so much. And he's still going. He's still popping up in Vegas, you know, spitting. That's real hip hop, right. So what I'm saying is many of the greatest started with comparisons, but I think the comparisons inspire us to work hard to separate ourselves and to establish our identity. And I believe you look at Kobe. When Kobe first came into the league, Kobe was coming off the bench, Shaq was a superstar, and everybody said Kobe wanted to be Mike. But now when I think of Kobe, I think of Kobe, and Mike is my goat. But it's debatable whether Kobe is the goat, right, Yeah, yeah, I hate you, you know, but listen, respect respect to Bron. My god, I got a brother. He's from He's from Ohio, from Columbus, Ohio's name is Jeffrey Shawtenstein. Big respect to the American Eagle people. They own American Eagle and you know they're real close with with Braun. And you know, Broun got love for Sean too. Some emost respectfully, I'm MJ. But you know, respect to Bron.

00:14:24
Speaker 2: Definite respect. Three goats.

00:14:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what was the process because that was like a different kind of record to cause the baron you know what I mean?

00:14:34
Speaker 2: The beat? Who made the beat? Like what made you?

00:14:37
Speaker 1: Again? I'm always honorable, always the utmost integrity, and I give the flowers where the flowers belong. I picked every beat of the Shine album except that beat, and it was puff. They gave me that beat. That was actually the first song that I did that was a hit record. The other songs I was finding myself. I was you know, they had some controversy the other day when I was on it is what It Is, and I was really telling the story, not to degrade anyone, not to talk about my hit list. I wasn't stunting a popping style. I was telling the story of a young man who had nothing and got a million dollars and went nuts. And by me going crazy as far as just out here buying Cristal, going to the Gucci store, crashing the six hundred and just living a movie. I wasn't paying attention to my craft, and so when I was going in the studio, the results were consistent with someone that wasn't focused, with someone that wasn't working hard, when that was not exactly except what I came here for. So by the time, so the whole ninety nine I spent being output before he snitched Bridge porter a Z Frank Matthews, you know, living a life, right, Yeah, just being being a straight get super stuff right, Listen, right, yeah, so yeah, like it was so bad as I mentioned, and I was even with the boss's main which those are the things you don't do. I rap about it on the Life. You don't do that. How do you come to the label and you just taking everybody down? That was suicide. And that's the only reason I told that story. So the music reflected the lack of effort, the lack of the lack of focus. But then when I got to ninety nine, after I had that interaction where you know, somebody told me some things I didn't want to hear and it really shocked me, and it really devastated me, and I was like, you know what I'm gonna show you. I went to Puff like January. It's like listen, man, you know please, I need the Holy Grail needs you to give me the blueprint. I need an instruction manual. Let's do what we came for. And so I shadowed him the entire ninety nine until the Club New York incident happened, day in day out, just as a protege, just learning everything. And that's how we got the bad Boy record done because we were in the Hampton's working on his album Forever and you know, I did reverse wrote his I think I wrote his record on reverse. I'm near like twenty probably, yeah, oh, I mean it was. It was a movie. But that's why I stuck that jam up so crazy because it was a movie. Like you you want a private plan going back from soul training to to the to the Grammys and then back to to California. You you in the car with j Lo, You at dinner with Sally, Sally or Jesse whatever her name is, Like, it's you know, you're playing basketball with Chris Tucker. Yeah, dream dream, yeah, dream come true. Yeah. So yeah, you know, puff again. I never saw any of the things that he's accused of, and that, you know, it's none of my business. I really don't care, other than some of the things that throughout the situation were brought up that he did to me, as far as calling people to testify against me and and really working with the DA to make sure that I went to jail and he didn't go to jail. Whereas if all of us are here in Heaven forbid, anything should ever go wrong, we would just be defending ourselves and we should go to trial and say, listen, Yayo was defending himself. Murder was defending himself. Sean was defending himself. And that's what I maintained to this day. If Puff fired the gun, if Puff was the person that shot that woman, he was defending himself and he did not do that intentionally. To this day, as much as you know, I don't appreciate what he did to me. That is my position to this day. So yeah, but the point I was making is he gave me that record. He was the greatest at the time. Nobody did it like Russell did it. He took what Russell did and put it on steroids. As far as getting into pop culture and just merging pop culture with rap culture and still being hip hop.

00:20:05
Speaker 5: And at that time bad Boy ran the game. You had total over there, you had black everybody.

00:20:10
Speaker 1: And he was a resting piece to Robbie O b I, the Locks Mace and he was producing everybody was producing Missy Mary yes right, and he was keeping it hip hop. So he was pop, but he was also ghetto. And he got that from a person that doesn't get enough credit, Andre Heral. Remember Andre Heral was on that Uptown rest in Peace, hip hop corporate like he didn't make it as a rapper, but he had the rolex, you know, with the suit, and that was his thing. So you know, yeah, but he gave me that song. In the Hamptons we were working on the Forever album. Everybody was out there, Mafia was out there, everybody was out there, respecting my guys, and he gave me the He gave me the song, he gave me the beat. He was like, listen, so that beat might have been for forever. But being a genius that he was, he was like, let me get this to Sean. If Sean could you can see see if he if he could body this, That's what he told me. He said, listen, if you could body this, gone out of here. And then respectfully, he said, who's the guy that go oh. I'm like, yes, Baronon Levy and that's a that's a that is a Caribbean icon, like Barrington been singing before I was born. He was my mother's favorite and he was my favorite. So yeah, that was all puff and I went and I did what I had to do, and everybody went crazy, and respectfully, New.

00:22:02
Speaker 2: York was loving it because the whole Jamaican culture.

00:22:04
Speaker 1: But before New York got it, bad Boy was going crazy. Because I was shaky at bad Boy. When I came in, it was like I was just offending everybody. I was offending the boss, I was offending the superstar player Mace, even though me and Mace we got really close after the fact, but I was just on one. And so when people are upset with you, you can't do anything right. So everything soundtrack bullshit. I was definitely on that. You know, that's Brooklyn. Of course I stomped down the dog.

00:22:40
Speaker 3: But see.

00:22:43
Speaker 1: This, you know, come on, you want to and then come this Brooklyn nigga.

00:22:49
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.

00:22:51
Speaker 1: But but yeah, everybody was excited.

00:22:53
Speaker 3: Man.

00:22:53
Speaker 1: But the second verse, if you listen to the second verse closely, I wrote this verse for puff Nick's dragging on the floor, banging on your second to christ signists, examine it for floors pulled the Christal on the way to trial, Rico, Lord got my head hurt, spirt until they pull the curtain.

00:23:15
Speaker 3: I want a puffy going to say that.

00:23:17
Speaker 1: I wrote that for Fags.

00:23:18
Speaker 2: That was before the case too.

00:23:19
Speaker 1: What the case August nineteen ninety nine, So he never got a chance to do his verse. And when we caught the case, he was like under the bus you go, I want nothing to do with you.

00:23:33
Speaker 5: Yeah, because that was listen, yo, listen, once you got a shooting and you got Puff Daddy and j Lo did And what was that club?

00:23:41
Speaker 2: I forgot the club New York.

00:23:42
Speaker 5: Club New York was popping. That shit was like on the front of the Daily News.

00:23:47
Speaker 3: Find out during that case. So like as far as oh shit, damn Puff.

00:23:52
Speaker 1: Oh, it was from the start. It was from the start because as I said, when I say under the bus you go, literally we all got knocked. They bailed bail out like hours, and I'm sitting in the tombs and I'm calling Daddy's house. I'm calling a Puff's house. Uh, and nobody's taking my call. No one is answering me. I sat in the tombs for a week without speaking to nobody, right, but I was talking to Matt Middleton, and Manny bailed me out. My god, Manny, that's why he used my brother. To this day, funny story went out. What was your bill? Like a million half? I don't even remember whatever it was. Puff could afford to pay for it, but funny story. And then when I say, Manny's my god, to this day, when I was in the p now. Uh, Doctor Dre wanted me to do a record for a young kid by the name of the game. This is before anybody even heard of the game. They wanted me again, they said that game. And I spoke the game the other day, so I saw love. So Dre sent me the record, not sent it to me, but reached out and said, listen, we have record, but you can only do our record. You can't do a record with anybody else for this kid the game and Manny and Ron Fair said, we got a record for this young lady by the name of Keisha Cole. And I had to choose, and I chose Manny because he bailed me out. And that's a difficult choice because Doctor Drect has always been Doctor Dre and Doctor Dre will always be Doctor Dre. But I had to chose. But I had to choose to bail me out, and he's my brother to this day.

00:25:45
Speaker 5: To many, that's crazy because I know, look like you're thinking, Pete Diddy, you call him Pete Diddy, you're trying to get bailed out.

00:25:50
Speaker 1: This nigga work, respectfully, many was always getting money. Yeah, so he put one of the houses up and you know he made show I was good. Oh so yeah, when I got out, I knew. I already knew I was under the bus. The fact that Manny had to bail me out. I was cooked. And and you know when the lawyer was communicating to me, because I was staying in one of Puff's apartments and you know, listen, moved all your stuff out. I had to send my uncle and get Puff.

00:26:21
Speaker 5: You gotta think, you gotta think about kid. You gotta go back to the club and the most listen. Yeah, but I was defending him, No, no, no, I know, definish. I saw somebody.

00:26:30
Speaker 1: I saw somebody mention that the kids from Brooklyn, we're trying to get at me. No Nino Scar, the kids that were arguing with him with my guys, I saw them maybe an hour before in the club, and everybody's like, yeah, shine, we're so proud of you. We can't wait until you really, you know, get there. We know you got us and we got you.

00:26:57
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:26:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's that's ridiculous. But I don't know what happened is we're walking out, they get the arguing, money, get the flying and people start saying they gonna kill me, they gonna kill Puff because God said to me, Paul, you're gonna go with him over us, Like basically they expected that I was supposed to like kind of just disappear when the argument started. I was supposed to be like, you know what.

00:27:25
Speaker 5: Like get up my white nigga. J Lo would be nigga, and then them niggas like what I mean. It's a certain way, you know.

00:27:32
Speaker 1: When guys in the street are getting money, sometimes that's millions.

00:27:37
Speaker 5: Till this day, I carried myself like that I could be in the spot and it could be niggas.

00:27:41
Speaker 2: I don't know they temper.

00:27:42
Speaker 5: I don't know where they're from, but these niggas be to get money, niggas from the town and I'm coming move out the white nigga niggas ain't trying to hear them and escalate to a shootout.

00:27:52
Speaker 2: I know.

00:27:52
Speaker 5: Once he heard somebody got hit in the face innocent standing, Oh yeah, leaf shine up in there, call the lawyer separate the case.

00:28:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you ain't even speak to him when.

00:28:04
Speaker 1: I did not. I did not speak to him. He Remember, we're on trial together. So even when we go to court for pre trial for for everything, before we even get to jury selections, you still got to go to court to set the trial date and to do all these things no conversation. And if it wasn't for Wolf, I would have never got to release My West in Peace to Anthony Wolf Jones, my big brother. He was the one. So it was like, this is I get bailed out January. It wasn't until February, like the end of February that he said to Puff, you are going to put his album out. I don't care what we're gonna have. You're gonna have a problem with me. I'm sorry, shine album coming out. And he made sure that I got that opportunity. And so they finally called me the Bad Boy Records that was in the BMG building on Broadway and forty fifth, I believe, And so I went there and the first record they played for me that I picked was The Life that was from Nache Merrick hit Man. And then if you listen to that album and that song I'm kind of rapping about Puff, I was like it was all right until I got caught charged with a eight forty eight behind marrying Steve Gates. They started snitching, acting bizarre, driving my cars, hitting my bros, breaking the law, same people I got money to care it was on some funny thing. If I was different, I snitched. What would you do if you got millions with people and they had no love for you couldn't pay for your lawyer? Figured while I sit in the seller rock, I'd be out in ten throw the boys in the But I couldn't do it, and you wouldn't understand if you ain't been through it ruse to this. I couldn't break them death before the signer till I mean satan. I know you're waiting, you know what I mean. That's what y'all gonna get. Mac got one of the rest stories in the culture. So this is what I gotta know, because there's a difference between jail and prison.

00:30:23
Speaker 2: You know, jail is is fucking rikers Allen. You know what I'm saying.

00:30:29
Speaker 5: What jails you went to and what was your mental state coming off of having the biggest records in the world. You down with puff He didn't pay your bill? Now you blue trial or did you cop out to that team?

00:30:39
Speaker 1: I bleue trial. I took it to trial. I didn't corporate the district attorney at the time, And I just want to put in perspective everything that I say, I'm saying from a historical perspective, as far as you're sharing the information, I don't glorify Definitely not anything that I may have done as a youth. And even that night, I was defending myself and the victim said that popshotter, not me. So I always maintained that I was not responsible for injuring any of those people, and that I was defending myself. So I just you know, I went to my primary school today, PS ninety two in Brooklyn. It's the first school I went to as an immigrant fresh off the Coconut boat, and I gave a speech, and you know, I just want to make sure it's always clear that we're just sharing with the youth, so that the youth could have the benefit of our stories, that they don't make the mistakes or find themselves in the situations that we found ourselves in, because we're here to make sure that they don't have to go through what they went through. But yeah, it was the most devastating period of my life. I don't think anything was worse other than maybe being poor growing up in Brooklyn. But I think even being incarcerated was worse because you don't have your freedom and at least poverty. Yeah, it's terrible, but I have the freedom to dream. I have the freedom to pursue that and get out of property. I did the whole ten There was not a day off. I didn't get a furlough.

00:32:12
Speaker 2: What's the first person you want to.

00:32:15
Speaker 1: The first correctional facility was Clinton, Denimra Mumiyabu, Jamar Tupac Shakur old dirty bastard. That's where they send all of the sun of sam That's what they sent all of the high profile people. And so I was an admin seg my entire bid. So they have like an admin seg block for all of the mafia bosses, the guys that told on the mafia bosses.

00:32:48
Speaker 2: Because you have profile. Yeah.

00:32:50
Speaker 1: So, but then when I got to the end of my incarceration, I asked to go to general population, to go to a medium. Uh and they let me go to medium, but like a medium where you can only get in the medium if your honor and you know you're conducting yourself in a way that you want to go home. But even then it's always a risk, it's always a toss up. But I don't want to stunt that. Oh I did my bed in general pop uh No. I was in admin s. I was isolated and as I said, with the mob bosses, with some of the informants, you know, people that were high profile that that had heeneous crimes. Yeah, it was terrible. It was to go what you go through and you got to do ten and you like on top of the world like I did. It was it was devastating. But you know, the first night when I was in the tombs, I get on, I kneeled down. I pray because I've been praying since I got shot when I was fifteen or sixteen, So prayer for me is a real thing. Now. I don't pray because I'm holy. I don't pray because I am a pontiff for some you know religious figure. I pray to survive Brooklyn because Brooklyn was a war ground where I grew up from Flatbush Church Avenue, which is while performing at King's Theater is so surreal. Kingstadle was not even operable back then. King's theadter was abandoned. But anyway, I started praying from young just to survive Brooklyn. So my first night in the tombs, I knelt down and I prayed, and I said to God, you know, yeah, I think Ted's rolling down my eyes. It was a lot. I said, yeah, all right, we're here, but check this out. I was loyal to a scumbag. I'm going to be loyal to you because before I went away, thanks to woof and thanks to God, I prayed, just let me get my album out, let me do my numbers, and let me become shine. Because once I do that, then I would have accomplished my dreams and I could take care of Mama love. She'll be all right, And no matter what, my name will live forever because I would have been able to put out a classic album and etch my name in the pantheons of hip hop. And I knew I would live forever because I kept my integrity and I didn't make up a live or I didn't try to get my friends in trouble to get myself out of trouble. And as a New York kid, I knew that I would be a legend no matter what, because right right, so that was done to you growing up in New York. That meant everything. That meant everything, like you can live with yourself if you're a rodent and the rodent is not I'm not again, I'm not trying to glorify these things. It's just to this day, you're a rodent. If you get elected to the House of Representatives and you're not honorable and you break your oath of office and turn on your people, you're a rat. So that's what I mean.

00:36:27
Speaker 3: Exactly, the people.

00:36:29
Speaker 1: You got to have integrity. But I prayed to God and I said, you know what, I'm going to be loyal. You gave me everything that I asked you for. I'm an immigrant kid from Belize who was able to have my wildest dreams come true, and I thank you for that. I said that wild facing I was facing twenty five years because I blew trial, and I said, you know, I'm not gonna turn on you. All I ask is, just let me endure this. If I never sell another record, if I have to do the whole ten, just allow me to endure this. Let me not dine here, because that's what people don't understand. You go to jail. You might dine in jail. Even in ADMIN said editions ain't great. Even but even in ADMIN said, someone may send a hit. Someone that's doing life, you know, might wake up one day and not take his meds and want to offer you or you might have to take someone out. And then definitely, when I got to the medium, it was it was serious because you had guys in there doing life that you know may have given a life back, or guys in there that did thirty or had a twenty five to life and did the twenty five and now they're looking to go home. Any number can play at any time, and so I pray to God to just please allow me to endure, and I lose my mind and and that's that's that's how I left it. I said, if I never sell another record, if I'm never famous again, it's okay. I'll be loyal to you. And I kept praying. That's what I always tell people. Uh, you got to be present every day. I was present every day of my bid. I have been present every day of my life up to this day, no matter what is. And not just with prayer, but because you pray, and then you got to listen because God talks to us. So you can't pray and then do what you want to do, because then God gonna pull back and be like, all right, Champ, figure it out right, you got it.

00:38:53
Speaker 4: For you when you came home because I saw y'all hanging out, a little hanging out.

00:38:58
Speaker 3: I send y'all in the Yeah.

00:39:00
Speaker 1: You know, you know what happened. The first time I reconcile with puff, I was in Jerusalem. So if you remember, your man fifty used to get me real good with those pictures when when I had that, when I had the side curls and I had the religious but you know, we was going at it right, so it was going, yeah, it was all. So it was all, it was all, you know, all, yeah I was I was wild disrespectful but yeah, yeah, these the kick with disrespectful.

00:39:32
Speaker 3: So we was.

00:39:34
Speaker 1: But so I think we went at it while I was away, and then when I came out, I think I think that's why I lost my vocal cords, because I'm answering a question right now. But when I came out, I was on Tupac. But then I just did ten years you know, spiritual you know, enduring praying, you know it's like, And then I came out on my Tupac thing from believe I didn't even get a chance to come to the States because I got deported because I didn't want to do it.

00:40:04
Speaker 2: How did you feel like that was.

00:40:06
Speaker 5: That was devast You know it's your last day because I've seen it being locked up for ten years, little bit, little baby bit, Yeah, two years most right. I've seen like, you know, people be on their last day and I'm like where they're going? Oh I and that's waiting for How did that feel? Ten years and now you got to leave the country.

00:40:26
Speaker 1: Well, listen, my lawyers wanted me to fight for my freedom and to get a bell pending my immigration case, which I believe I could have gotten, but I would have had to stay a few more weeks. I couldn't do it. So when you asked me how I felt, I didn't want to do another day in captivity. So I told them, listen, send me to believe. I prefer to be free, and I make my way back. I make my way back. I didn't think it would take thirteen years to make my way back.

00:40:58
Speaker 3: But I thought a puff gave you a bag when you came home.

00:41:02
Speaker 1: No, no, So when you saw me, so to answer your question, when you saw me, I was in Jerusalem. So I was doing my spiritual journey.

00:41:13
Speaker 3: I was.

00:41:15
Speaker 1: Orthodox Jew throughout my entire incarceration, rapping to filling, keeping Shabbat. I didn't even use the phone through anything. On the Sabbath, I ate kolsher, I was wearing sit sits. I was doing everything because being a Jew has no race. So when people say, oh, how as a black person you didn't become Muslim, is because Muslims believe in the Five Books of Moses too. So religion is not a race. Anybody could be a Jew. You just have to practice, and you know, depending on what type of Jew you want to be. It's like Catholicism or Christianity. There's Orthodox Christians, there's anyway. When you saw me with puff, I was in Jerusalem. I was going through my spiritual journey and I just felt that forgiveness and moving on was something I did for myself. I wasn't doing that for him, and I was taking the hiatus from the industry. And when I initially came out in two thousand and now, I was going hard on everybody, on him, on fifty, on trake, on raws, I was just arguing with everybody. I was, man, it was terrible. But then I was on well listen, So so it was two thousand and twelve, I believe two thousand and yeah, twenty twelve, when I reached out to him, I just cold I just made a cold call. He actually had the same number and he answered. I was like, listen, you know, uh, let's sit down. And then when I went to see him in Paris, that's when you see me with the with the jew curls and the long robe and the high socks. I was, I was on it. Yeah, So we went. I went to the lam Maurice and we met at the lam Maurice. And the interesting thing with Pugh, he's so the Loice is like, hey, you know, I'm sorry man. You know it was the lawyers. The lawyers made me do it. But don't worry. We're gonna make everything right. And I'm like, hey, you know my brother.

00:43:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, So your question was you got a couple of minutes.

00:43:34
Speaker 1: Hold on, hold on.

00:43:35
Speaker 2: That's my question.

00:43:36
Speaker 1: Everything that's definitely hold on, hold on, So hold on. So you know, Cassie talks about in her in her lawsuit, about violence and things happening, and then you know he would spend a million half a million to you know, cover everything up. And while I was there, everybody was getting the rolex. That weekend, he was taking everybody for Rolex and he took Cassie to get you know, he blew like a half a million dollars on Cassie. So I saw that, so I'm like, Okay, my rolex is coming in the in the rye. No listen when they went, when they went to get the rolexes. I think I was late. I was late. No, no, no. I was told that my rolex was going to be sent to me, and yeah, my Rolex was gonna be sent to me and Belize, and man, when I got to Belize, just for Cassie, just hold on because I thought that I thought I was going to get the role, get the million. I thought I was gonna get my payment if Cassie getting the half from my for my ten I was saying a light one cash and then maybe one every year for the rest of my life.

00:45:00
Speaker 2: Girls before the Bros.

00:45:02
Speaker 1: No, not not for the bro.

00:45:04
Speaker 2: Girls, not for the bro.

00:45:05
Speaker 1: That not for the brother.

00:45:07
Speaker 2: I mean that's what he said.

00:45:09
Speaker 1: Not for the bro, not for the bro, not for the bro, but not for the bro that put you in a position to have your freedom so that you could spend a half a million girls. And so what I'm saying is even if it's a meal. And listen, all right, you know what, I put you on the payroll for bad Boy forever for the rest of your life. You get a hundred grown.

00:45:27
Speaker 5: But when you look at that, you you gotta know from the beginning that that nigga wasn't he what he was gonna do. You got j Lo, you and him on the front page of the daily news every fucking day. Sean is a young nigga from Brooklyn. Shoot a nigga. Yo, Let that nigga eat the case.

00:45:42
Speaker 1: But we got past that. We got past that past. I saved his life. He acknowledges that year. You know, I'm sorry. I messed up. I shouldn't have did it the way that I did it. He's free for all of the years to put himself in a position for Sarah on John, for all the things that he did. I lost ten years, and what could have been even if I wasn't a billionaire, I could have made a huntred.

00:46:08
Speaker 2: He could have gave you a million for every year and that would have been light work. But that's just how industry, do you know?

00:46:12
Speaker 1: That's how he is right? And so what I'm saying is fine. When I saw that it wasn't going that way. You know. I went on my Brooklyn thing again. Even in my religious phase, was like I was, you know, Brooklyn, I went I went nuts and I was like, man, whatever. But then I got to a point. I did get to a point. I'll tell you this. I went nuts on him. And then I got to a point like around twenty fourteen twenty fifteen, I gone back to Belize and that's when I got into politics. I got out of the religious. I'm still like, I still light a candle on Shabbat, I still wrap my ta filling every day. I still fast on you, kipor I still you know, I'm Moses. I'm gonna always be Moses, and I always apply to sciences and Moses. But I'm just about bringing people together. We talked about that in the green room. I'm the elder Statesman and I'm Moses. I'm here to bring everybody together. Moses married the Ethiopian. Moses's father was one of the biggest Apollo Theists, and he brought everybody together. So, you know, my thing. When I got to Belize and I was focused on serving the people of Belieze, I had gotten out of religion and I was focused on beliefs. BELIEVEE believes because belize has so much potential, but not the leaders that could take them to that potential. And I knew that was my calling. And so while I was going through that, I had the time in Jerusalem, which was great. I would never change that for anything, because Jerusalem is the center of the universe for Jews, Muslims, Christians, Catholics, everybody goes to Jerusalem. And when I got to a point of serving the people of beliefs before I got elected in twenty twenty, so I served six years in the community before I got elected. But I just got to a point where I was like, you know what, I need to let that go. No money, nothing, just let that go. Just let that go. Just focus on the people of beliefs and just let that go. Right. It can't help, it can only hurt. Let all of that go. Don't argue with anybody, don't have anything with anybody. Focus on the people of beliefs. And I was better off for it. But I let it go. Let it go. I didn't let it go like, yeah, maybe I'll get the million now. And so when you saw me with him at the BT Awards, he begged me to do that. He begged me to do that, and I was thinking about Belize when I did that. If you remember the performance, the biggest flag of Belieze that you ever are going to see dropped on the stage and he's like, Belize, Belize. And before the rico he was puff Daddy, one of the most famous people on planet Earth. And so using that stage to promote Belize was a no brainer. But it wasn't like, oh, it was you and your man. I wasn't that Thanksgiving. I wasn't at the Christmas party. You know, he didn't come to Belize. We wasn't wrolling like that. But when I got elected to the House of Representatives and I got my diplomatic visa, that's another thing. He didn't get me a visa. I got a diplomatic visa. But in all respect to him, when I was planning my diplomatic tour as the opposition leader of the House of Representatives in Belize, I reached out to him and to listen to any politicians, anybody that you know, let me know so I could put them on my itinerary, because I want to meet with all these people for the sake of believes so, in all fairness to him and this guy uh Corey Corey Jacobs, they put me with the a great conglomerate of musicians like Dallas Austin and Sean Garrett, along with my sister to this day, Erica I don't want to say her name wrong, Erica Thomas. I believe she was a member of the Georgia UH House of Representatives. So and so they have this thing whereas members of Catherine uh Brutin and Dallas Austin, and I think even like Shackasulu, and I think even maybe Jermaine and Michael B. Cox were part of it at one point, if not still along with you know, all these members of the Georgia House and Senate. Right, So that was great for me to meet with them on behalf of Belize and put that together. So he did put me with them. But you can't get a diplomatic visa unless you're a member of the House of Representatives and the State Department of Homeland Security don't play. I have friends in governments throughout the Caribbean that are ministers that don't get a diplomatic visa. So I had a relationship with the State Department and Homeland Security for years because I was the government's ambassador. But my Pops, who you know, him, and I have always had a shaky relationship to this day. I don't really want to get into that now that I'm gonna ease him, but he when he was Prime Minister, he refused to appoint me to the UN so that I could get the diplomatic passport and visa. And as I said, in fairness to him, the Americans let who they want to let come to their country. So if they felt, you know what, now, we're not going to give you the visa, they weren't, so nobody could get you a diplomatic visa. And now I am here on an extraordinary ability visa one because I won Grammys, sold millions of records. And the time of my deportation is sixteen years ago, so my band, I think was like ten years. So I qualify on all grounds. And then I've had a stellar record as a diplomat, meeting with Republicans with Democrats. To this day, I have friendships with Republicans. The ambassador that it just got appointed by President Trump, he's from South Carolina and I met him through a Democratic state member of the House, because when I was honored in the South Carolina Capital, I made sure to ask my Democratic friends to let me meet the Republicans because governments change, minorities and majorities change, and I wanted to be that no matter who is the President, no matter who is the House majority leader, I have a relationship for the sake of the Belizean people. And that worked because even though President Biden, I got my diplomatic visa on the President Biden, I got my old one on the President Trump right. And if President Trump asked me to come to Marrowl Logo tomorrow, I'll go on behalf of the Belizean people, just as if President Biden would have invited me to the White House of come Lord support, No, No, I support. Hakim Jeffries is my guy. He's he walred with Trump all the time. But Hakem Jefferies just gave me a proclamation for my twenty fifth anniversary of the Shine album. The Borough. President Renoso is my brother. He just gave me the key to Brooklyn on Saturday and declared April twenty fifth, Yeah declared then.

00:54:30
Speaker 5: You know, yeah, not to cut you off, man, but it's like you went through you went through being a mega stall on one of the biggest labels ever, doing ten years in prison. Right, didn't get deported, didn't turn into politicians to shout.

00:54:47
Speaker 1: To the police.

00:54:47
Speaker 5: I heard, it's a beautiful country, my paradise. The family just went there. They got beautiful beaches, beautiful land. I heard, it's like, it's beautiful. And now you're like in the government, you know, doing state stuff, Like what would you tell the kids, because you know it's still crazy stuff.

00:55:03
Speaker 1: Well, I lost my seat in the House of Representatives, which is why I returned to the stage. I lost my seat March twelfth, twenty twenty five. Last year, stole a seat from me. My own people, the people in my own political party stole the seat from me. But again, never to sit there and cry and be sad, I came up with a plan. I said, it's my twenty fifth anniversary. I got a few years until the next elections. You know what, I'm gonna celebrate my twenty fifth anniversary a shine and I'm going to return to the stage. And remember I put out the Hulu documentary again, respect the fifty and Alex who did their Reckoning documentary. I got the honorable documentary on Hulu that I put out twenty twenty four. And when I put out that documentary, I had told Disney that I was going to put out an album, the Honorable Album, but I couldn't do it because I was so focused on policy and being the leader of the opposition, the leader of the opposition and believes is the prime minister in waiting, so you're an election away from being the prime minister of a country. And I took that very serious on behalf of hip hop, on behalf of myself, but on behalf of hip hop, that I couldn't disappoint hip hop, that we get an opportunity to do something that is beyond the culture and we make the culture look bad because we're not prepared because we're not proficient. So I said, you know what, I'm going to focus and be the best political leader that I could be, and they'll come a time for the music again, if that's what God wants. And so when the opportunity came, I said, ah, you know what, I got timed. I got time today. And that's how it happened, because you know, getting to dret, I gotta fly there. I got I wait a few days until he's available. I got to come back. You know, the relationship that I developed with Dre is like as a brother, like as he's an idol, he's an icon. But it went from the first meeting was leader the leader, and then I developed a relationship with him, and I did that with every producer that's on the album. I went to see Jermaine, I went to see Swiss, I went to see Timberland, I went to see Rizard. Right. I didn't get to a Boy Wonder because he's in Canada, but I went to see hip Boy.

00:57:21
Speaker 2: Right.

00:57:22
Speaker 1: But so for the kids that are listening, you are whatever you work hard to be the teacher. The principal said today to the kids at PS ninety two, disguise the limit. I told him, no, the skies just step one. There is no limit. After you reach the sky, then you go to another planet, then you go to another planet, then you just go throughout the universe. Then you just this. There's no end to the universe. Scientifically, there's no end to the universe. There's no end to what a young person could do out there. But as you see my story, it will be difficult, it will be painful. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna cap and have you think that, Oh, just get up, brush your teeth, say your prayer, listen to your mom and your teacher. In life is going to be perfect. No, it's gonna hit you hard. It's gonna be challenges, but you you can face those challenges. You can overcome those challenges and give yourself time.

00:58:27
Speaker 4: You got these young ones out here, young boys shooting, fifteen, fifteen year old dying. Yeah, I feel like sometimes it'd be easy just for rappers and people like in opposition to go stay out of trouble just but we gotta really, I don't know.

00:58:39
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, but I lived that. I live that, and I'm living that now by even being here, I'm they could tell you I'm here by myself. Back in the days, we would have came here. No, you'd have came here. We would have thought, Oh I would I don't even think I would have came here. We would have No, I'm telling you, we weren't even made up. We weren't even made up. Everybody would have had the smokers and it'd be like, yeah, I'm in the town again. When I run in them dudes, Well, you know.

00:59:09
Speaker 2: It's so exciting.

00:59:10
Speaker 1: That's what we were doing. We were showing at each other. We were trying to kill each other back in the day.

00:59:15
Speaker 3: Definitely so.

00:59:17
Speaker 1: But this is where we're supposed to be. We deserve to grow old, We deserve to take care of our grandkids. You deserve that vacation with your family and beliez and when you get there, it's like we roll out the red carpet. We don't deserve to die early. You kids there. That is not hip hop. And that's why I'm coming back because I'm not coming back to rap about shooting anybody or killing anybody. I'm coming back to rap about this journey and my projection and developing believes and opening the Brooklyn chop House and and just doing all types of fascinating things and you know, making love to my woman and just having a great adult contemporary hip hop life world leader hic.

01:00:07
Speaker 3: Right.

01:00:07
Speaker 1: We deserve to be presidents, We deserve to be CEOs and billionaires. This idea that in order to be African, to be brown and black in America, you have to be a gangster, you have to be a gang banger. I reject that. I renounced that. That is a lie. That is not true. You need to be alive, you need to be successful, and you can be. America is the greatest country on Earth. I love Belieze, but America is a developed nation. Belieze, we're developing one day, believes will be the greatest. Belize has the greatest people because that is my home. But you guys understand, you gotta understand what I'm saying, right, I just mean as far as developed nations, you guys have so much opportunities. I pray, and that's why I wanted to be Prime Minister Belieze, and I still do so I could give the Belizeans the opportunity that you have in America. So for you young kids here in America, no no, no, no drug trafficker, gang banger, pimp, all of that that was our eraror that is like a dinosaur. You need to be alive, take advantage of these opportunities. AI is about to replace, is about to replace the human race, and you guys, if you keep thugging and bugging, gonna be the first that they make extinct. So please, And.

01:01:33
Speaker 5: It's cameras everywhere, so you can't do anything anyway. It's the real report. Mike Share subscribed we got Sean in the building. Make sure y'all check his documentary. Check out the new album he got talk them All, his life story, doing ten years in prison, hit albums, coming out and doing stuff with the government representative. It's on Sean Pope.

01:01:54
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Brooklyn. Good luck surviving the offseason football fans. At first, I was afraid. I was petrified Football's over. It's like a part of me just died inside two hundred these two foot bowls back.

01:02:15
Speaker 4: But tonight I won't just cry because I've got.

01:02:17
Speaker 5: Always to play, and that's the placement hard rock bed I we survived.

01:02:23
Speaker 4: Offered by this the midlell try before that must be twenty one plus in physically president in Florida to wage.

01:02:26
Speaker 1: Your terms of conditions apply.

01:02:27
Speaker 4: If you or someone you know as a family problem, please call one eight three three play Wise