Shyne recently sat down with Max Glazer for an in-depth Red Bull Radio interview in which he discussed a number of topics including his Bad Boy days, NYC’s link between rap and reggae, and the Notorious B.I.G.
“The moment in time that defined me was the “Bad Boyz” video, but the song definitely was an undeniable song. I think I’m old timer status now but back in our time, we called that a banger, a missile. I’d never forget – with all the questions and associations and even criticisms, that I had to be the greatest thing ever, but I could never be greater than B.I.G. I don’t think anyone could, certainly coming from New York, coming from Brooklyn – it’s blasphemy. Not even Jay, you know – HOV, Jigga, Jay Z – the king, that’s B.I.G. I had to come with the best record, the best video, the best everything. There was so much pressure. It’s like if I was playing for the Bulls if Michael Jordan is dead and you’re a part of the team. It’s like Kobe and Shaq. I don’t know how to describe it but there was tremendous pressure to be great out the gate.”
Nearly 20 years after his involvement in a nightclub shooting with P. Diddy and Jennifer Lopez, which resulted in a ten-year prison sentence, Shyne has since been deported to his home of Belize, where he chopped it up with Max Glazer for his first interview in nearly a decade. During their discussion, Shyne also speaks on his involvement in Belizean politics, his conversion to Orthodox Judaism, the halcyon days of New York City hip-hop and why his life is a "story book."
"When you talk about the pressure, that was nothing in comparison to growing up in the community of Brooklyn where every day could be your last day, every step could be your last step. Bullets walking to the train station. Your mom is doing menial jobs to put food on the table, coming home at 11 o’clock at night on the D train – you’ve got serial rapists, serial killers on the news. Women found dead, murdered. There’s nothing that could shake me growing up under those circumstances. That’s why my life is a story book: I was destined to face every obstacle, every challenge that I ever did because I was conditioned due to the circumstances. When you survive Flatbush, Church Avenue, there’s nothing after that that could shake you. Even being incarcerated, I was already conditioned in the jungle of Brooklyn. The fact that I made it off the streets, that I survived to put out an album and sign a record deal, that was a miracle in and of itself for Afro-Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, who are destined to die or go to jail. I was shot when I was 15. Whatever I was facing at 19 as a recording artists was nothing I was facing at 12, 13, 11."
You can check out the interview in it's entirety via the Facebook post below.