7 News Belize

Shyne Speaks On Reconciling With Diddy
posted (April 4, 2012)
Right now you probably know more about the life and times of Shyne than you do about almost any other Belizean public figure, and that's owing to our extended interview with him.

And while some viewers have told us they cringe at the spectacle of it all, the truth is that no other Belizean has sold a million records. Andy Palacio for all his genuine greatness and hard-earned international acclaim - never even sold fifty thousand. And in the world of international pop culture, record sales are currency, as are features in the international press - and Shyne has more of that than any Belizean, his father included.

Of course, on the ground in Belize, all that celebrity doesn't count for much - people want their Cultural Ambassador to be worthy of his name and deliver something- and Shyne will be the first to admit he has failed to do that.

But -what he has recently succeeded at doing is making more international headlines. Shyne's celebrity stock went up when he publicly patched things up with American hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs at Fashion Week In Paris In early March. Tonight he talks about what caused him to bury the hatchet after an incident that led to an almost 9 year stint in prison:..

Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"The really important thing was just meeting with someone who was like a big brother to me. He was a mentor, and a role model. He thought me everything I knew about the Music business. He thought me how to be a champion. He thought me how to be undeniable. He thought me how to aspire for everything that they say that you can't do. And he thought me how to work hard. He thought me that it's really not about how talented you are, or the probability of what you're trying to do is. It's about how hard you work, until the last 'T' is crossed, and the last 'i' is dotted. So I owe a lot to that guy. I was one of the most lauded musicians in music throughout my incarceration, on the cover of the biggest magazines. I did a multi-million dollar distribution deal with Island Def Jam. So I was very fortunate, very blessed. So, if I couldn't thank him for my fortune, how could I blame him for my misfortunes? So, I can't thank God in one breathe, and then blame Diddy in another breath. It doesn't work like that. This is a water-shed moment because I was one of those kids, and I could have come out as you said, and continue that cycle. I could have abided by that street code, but I'm breaking that chain. I'm creating a new code, and that code is self-accountability. So that's what allowed me to move away from any mythological street code, because the only code I had was honor. I did what I was supposed to do. I didn't lie on another man to get myself out of trouble. I didn't talk about what another man did or didn't do to get myself out of trouble, and that was the most important thing for me, and I was rewarded for that. That's why I survived being incarcerated. So, I've been extremely fortunate, why, because I didn't sit down and blamed anybody. I didn't sit down and force the hate for Diddy, or anybody. I sat down, and I held myself responsible. I sat down and thought about how I would never make the same mistakes, to break my mother's heart. As far as the concert, I apologize to the Belizean people for my lack of discretion in whom I do business with. I apologize that their hopes and expectations were built up, and they were disappointed. I'm sure if it was promoted as a Shyne concert, the people were still going to come out, and it would have been a Shyne concert. But when you tell the people it's going to be something else, and you don't deliver on that, that's where the problem comes in. But that was not Shyne. This was not a Shyne production. I was a hired artist by someone who pathologically tells the Belizean people, they're going to do something, and doesn't do it."

Jules Vasquez
"But you put your name on the line. I did an interview with you."

Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"Again, I was a hired hand, so I'm taking for granted - because I don't deal with this. In the States, when somebody says that they are going bring special guests; they're going to bring Barrington Levi, that's what they do, because my guys in the States are on it. But that was my bad; I apologize for that because I should have known better. I should have had somebody on the ground that knows Belize in an out to make sure that everything would be as it was promoted and as was promised. And I'm going to do a free concert. I am not promising any special guests, nothing like that. Shyne is going to do a free concert when Shyne puts out his next album, and by God's grace, I get this visa to go back to the States, and to Britain and Canada, and I can become a formidable force in music, I will do 1 free concert to make up for that."

Jules Vasquez
"You are not on your A game."

Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"I was not on my A game."

Jules Vasquez
"At that time, so you are on your A game."

Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"I am on my A game, but I need to be on my triple A game."

Jules Vasquez
"Explain what - you see an artist, Americans like you use this term, 'He lost his mojo.'"

Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"Now they say you lost your swagger, Jules. Come on, Jules you got to get your young man game together, see. You might have some young man issues, but I'm there with the people. They now say that you lost your swagger."

Jules Vasquez
"Okay, so then where are you right now?"

Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"My swagger is on a thousand right now, like the Belizean say, 'Ah noh wah trick yoh, Jules, mih swagga deh pan wah thousand.' But I think even in the concert that I did, I was definitely on my A game. If you go back and look at my performance - because they curse me and everything - the nay sayers criticized me and everything, but they didn't say that my show wasn't all that. They never said that. But the bottom line is that I lost my voice. To speak truthfully, I lost my voice. Your vocal chords - this is a muscle, so the same way if I sit in this chair for 10 years, and I never move, if I get up after 10 years, I'm going to fall. I won't be able to walk. So, for 10 years, I was animalized. I was treated like a dog. Sit. Stand. Shut up. Eat. Sleep. Use the bathroom. Take a shower. So, talking, speaking, they send you to the hole for that. They don't feed you for that. Police look for anything to give you a hard time. So I'm a man with brains, and I said nothing because the police are waiting for you to say something, the informants are waiting for you to say something so that they can go tell the police what you said. So I learned to be quiet, and to mind my own business. So professionally, that was not good because if you listen to the music I put out when I first came out. I lost my voice, and I lost my energy, this passion, this conviction that I am speaking to you with now. You can't find that in my music. Tha Carter IV, that was a turning point, but I admit that the first music that were released - and nothing was released commercially - nothing was ever put for sale on ITunes. It was just me sharing my experience with my fans, and I think that I like that. I liked the intimacy of not being on my A game, and sharing that with the fans, letting them criticize me, and letting them say that they demand the old Shyne. I like that, but now, I can say with absolute certainty that they're getting the best of Shyne. As a man, I was not, and I am not a star. So, when I was incarcerated, I was 'O1A3886'. I was a number. Some of the officers that had more respect would call me Leivy, but I was a number, and what matters on the streets, and in incarceration - and really in any jungle - is your honor, your integrity, your character. Nobody cares about how much money you got. Nobody cares about how much records you sold, or who you know. That's not going to save you from getting jammed. There was no Shyne; I left that in Central Park. I left that in Manhattan. That was the last place that I lived. I left that on the Grammy Stage, on 106 & Park. When I went to prison, I knew what I was in for. When I came to jail, I grabbed a mop and a broom, and I said that I was going to sweep and mop. Please leave my cell open. Let me use the phone when I want to use it, and don't bother me. While everybody was running to him saying stuff like, 'This one is selling drugs over there; This one is doing this, or he snuck and smuggled that in, I didn't know anything. I didn't see anything, so don't ask anything. The only thing that's going to save you are a man of your word and integrity. He's an honorable me. So it wasn't Shyne the superstar, or the celebrity. It was Shyne, our brother, Shyne the general. 'I salute you for hold up your head, and not going out like a sucker'. For me, that's what got me through, just being a man, having integrity, and having honor. That Shyne thing, that wasn't going to work."

Jules Vasquez
"What you say someone got dipped, you got deported. A lot of the mainstream society's criticism against you is that you got dipped, and you didn't want to be here."

Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"Jules, we just talked about this in the conversation. I am born in Belize, and so now, when I came to Belize, I could have left the week after I came to Belize. Money, I could have gone anywhere. I could have gone to Turks and Caicos, Dubai, Paris - Paris loves everybody. I deliberately stayed in Belize to show my people love. From Currasow Street, Jules, that's where I came from; from Brooklyn, New York in the gutter, in the ghetto. I didn't grow up in Long Island, or Hamptons on West Chester. I grew up in 'Shatta' Town, Church Avenue and Frat-bush. The security guard didn't want to come to school. The teacher had the police in the classroom. It hurts me that I can't do more for my Belizean brothers and sisters. It hurt me sincerely. It really devastated me. I thought that something would have happened in my naive state of mind, and I would be able to become successful, and able to pick the brothers and sisters, and bring the men here, who can do big things. But I am fighting Jules. So, we'll be optimistic. That the Belizean people, one of their sons, who never turned his back on Belize, and we'll hope that we get a visa to go to the United States, so that we can take these things, along with NICH, the film commissioner, and we can go and present Belize and Belize's best. But I deserve a chance. I am begging for a chance."

Shyne's three interviews will be posted on our VIMEO site, and you can find a link to that at 7newsbelize.com


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