Twenty-six years ago, Shyne stood on the brink of disappearance, facing a 25-year prison sentence that threatened to erase both the man and his career. This piece follows that journey, from the explosive June 2001 XXL Magazine exclusive, where he first broke his silence , to my 2012 encounter with him in Paris, where, he spoke with rare clarity about his position. Sit Back relax.

Lire la suite: The Day I Met Shyne in Paris: from XXL’s Magazine Truth to a Life Rewritten.

First time I heard about Shyne ? Year 2000. I will never forget that. I’m reading in the library in college (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and my boy Berry comes through. We’re talking about the usual stuff, but with us it always comes back to music. That’s what we (already) live for. Berry drops it on me: « Yo, Bad Boy got a new rapper. He sounds like Biggie. He got this big record called ‘Bad Boyz.’ » He’s hyped. Then he hits me with the joke: « You’re gonna love it plus the Unc’ singing the hook looks just like you. » Berry’s a funny guy : I don’t look like Barrington Levy, no disrespect to the legend. « Bad Boyz » was insane. Shyne came through with so much charisma in the video. Yeah, his voice was husky like Big’s but the presence, man. The presence was everything. His style on the vidéo ? Jordan 13s on his feet, the grills, the crisp white tee…. The whole vibe was just too much. It was perfect. That was it. I jumped on the Shyne train right there.

June 2001. XXL Magazine hits the stands with an exclusive interview. Shyne’s on trial, facing up to 25 years in prison talking with writer Rodd Mc Leod for and laying it all out. Raw. No filter. By that time, I’d been following The Source magazine for about five years through my cousin in London. But XXL? That was another level ! Elliott Wilson’s editorials were fire and every single issue was a bomb. The writing was sharp, the whole vibe was just different. This issue in particular was scorching. The journalist Peter Noel came through with seven detailed pages breaking down exactly what happened that night at Club New York. Not some quick recap : a full forensic breakdown of how everything went sideways. Who was there. What went down. The chaos. The politics. Everything.

Rodd Mc Leod’s interview with Shyne? That was the real story. Shyne was basically saying he got set up by Puffy. His own co-defendant, his supposed « big homie », threw him under the bus in court. Worse, Shyne was staring down the barrel of 25 years and instead of hiding behind lawyers, he was telling XXL the truth as he saw it. That magazine issue became essential reading. For me it show what real journalism looked like in the hip-hop space. XXL was documenting a moment when a young rapper’s life was literally being decided in a courtroom, and they had the guts to put it on the cover.

2012. I’m freelancing in Paris, writing for Booska-P the #1 French HH media back then. There was a rumor floating around the city : Shyne, Diddy’s former protégé, the voice behind “Bad Boyz.” he’s in Paris. Not for a random appearance or a fashion detour. No : he’s been here for months and… he’s now Jewish. Fair enough, whatever makes him happy…. I asked a close friend of mine (a well-connected party promoter) if it was true. She confirmed it, then casually gave me Shyne Po’s French number. Wow. I call. He picks up :

“Wassup kid?”

So New York ! So Brooklyn. It takes me back to when Big Noyd ( from Mobb Deep) called me “Son” during an interview in Queens. We set up an interview in a studio. The day comes, and Shyne walks in. He’s wearing Lubavitch payot, the long sidelocks framing his face. Tzitzit hanging at his waist, visible. On his feet? Fresh black Timberlands. And on his wrist a heavy AP Royal Oak. But what really hits me is his voice. Suddenly, I’m back in 2000, in Brussels. Shyne had just released his mixtape Gangland on Datpiff and wanted to promote it. We talk about the music but I had to talk about the incredible interview for XXL. “When I did that interview, I was on trial and I was facing 25 years,” he said, the memory still vivid. “You know what I’m saying? People like to rewrite history. They want to go back and change what happened, but at the end of the day, something went down (a very unfortunate situation) and three people got hurt.”

Then the conversation shifted @ 9′ 53 » He started talking about rappers, about authenticity, about the difference between living something and just performing it. When asked about the contradiction between violent lyrics and real-life actions, Shyne flipped the argument when I brought up Murder Inc., “Ja Rule was making pop records. Ashanti too. Just like The Killers,” he said. The comparison was intentional. Why does a rock band called The Killers exist without people questioning them, while Black rappers face constant judgment? “Actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger kill people on screen all the time. So what? We do the same on records. And if something happens in real life, why is that suddenly connected? That logic only shows up with Black artists.”

2026. Shyne is finally back where he belongs : on stage, behind a microphone. That May 2 performance in New York wasn’t just a concert it was a full-circle moment. Me ? I went from enjoying « Bad Boyz » in Brussels as a fan to interviewing the man himself a decade later, to finally watching him rebuild his life brick by brick. The writers from XXL (Peter Noel and Rodd Mc Leod) captured his defiance and now Shyne is writing the final chapter himself.