Former Bad Boy artist Shyne called in to New York radio station Hot 97 yesterday (June 4) from the Clinton Correctional Facility granting his first interview since being sentenced to prison in 2001 for his involvement in a 1999 club shooting.
The incarcerated rapper told radio personality Angie Martinez he expects to be released from jail early next year pending appeal. He also maintained his innocence in the shooting, for which he was sentenced to 10 years for the charges.
“There’s no proof I shot anybody,” Shyne contended. “As far as those charges, I’m innocent. You don’t get 10 years for gun possession. You get probation.”
He explained the prosecution admitted there was more than one person who shot a gun during the melee, which stemmed from an antagonist approaching P. Diddy with a wad of cash and throwing it in the music mogul’s face. But the rapper has remained tight-lipped regarding the details. “I’m not a rat,” he told XXL in a past interview.
Many Hot 97 callers recorded questions for Shyne and the consensus felt Diddy turned his back on his protégé during the trial, opting to defend himself.
Diddy has denied the public’s outcries claiming that he gave his former protégé ample counsel and that Shyne declined to use famed defense lawyer Johnny Cochran with him.
There was a time, early in the trial, I had offered my defense team. Shyne decided to use his own. I felt Johnny Cochran could help,” the rapper/actor said in the July 2004 issue XXL. “I had no decision in his style of defense.”
Shyne was demure regarding the topic, instead telling listeners that he has moved on.
“I moved on. I’m so blessed, you dig? And so many things are happening for me,”
Shyne said before he told listeners he would address the topic in detail only once more.
He has already talked with VIBE, which will feature the interview with Shyne in an upcoming issue, but the rapper said he would call back to Hot 97 on August 10—the day his new album is scheduled to be released—and speak on Diddy for the final time.
“This the last time I’ma talk about it,” he explained. “I’ll put my heart on my sleeve, which is something I normally don’t do.”
In December 1999, Shyne accompanied P. Diddy and his then girlfriend Jennifer Lopez to Club New York, a midtown nightclub located in Manhattan. While in the VIP section of the club, a group of men approached Diddy and taunted the Bad Boy CEO by tossing a wad of cash at him. An argument ensued and Shyne pulled out a gun and fired shots in the air, which caused everybody to flee the club and allegedly injured three patrons.
Shyne was acquitted of attempted murder, but convicted on assault and weapons charges. Diddy was cleared of all charges, including attempting to bribe his driver to take the rap for an illegal weapon.
During his radio interview, Shyne told Martinez he had a gun with him because he had been shot at just one month earlier. The rapper said carrying a gun in the club saved his life. “Somebody was going to get their top popped off,” he said of the incident at Club New York. “If I didn’t have my ratchet it probably would’ve been me.”
Shyne has since parted ways with Bad Boy Entertainment and has recently ended a bidding war for his services by signing with Def Jam Records. The Brooklyn-bred artist will release his new album August 10 via his Gangland Record Corp imprint. The album is untitled at this time.
