Shyne Recalls Being Offended After Diddy Offered Him $50K After 10-Year Prison Bid

Shyne reflects on the $50,000 payout Diddy gave him after he served a 10-year prison sentence for their involvement in a nightclub shooting.

Shyne is opening up about the $50,000 Diddy gave him after the former Bad Boy artist served a 10-year prison sentence in connection with the 1999 nightclub shooting they both were involved in.

In his new Hulu documentary, The Honorable Shyne, the Belize native opens up about his true feelings regarding the New York City nightclub shooting, an incident for which Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted while Shyne (born Moses Michael Levi Barrow) served time as the sole convicted party.

The documentary showcases Shyne sharing his side of the story, including his decision not to cooperate with authorities or implicate Diddy. Meanwhile, Diddy appeared to work closely with his legal team, with several witnesses testifying against Shyne, ultimately leading to him taking the fall for a shooting where he wasn’t the only one who fired a weapon.

The “Bad Boy” rapper-turned-Belizean politician recently appeared on The Breakfast Club to promote his documentary and discuss his current relationship with Diddy. After his release from prison in 2009, Shyne revealed that it took three years to reconnect with Diddy. When they finally spoke, Shyne admitted he anticipated millions in financial compensation for staying loyal and refusing to implicate the Bad Boy founder.

“There wasn’t an instant forgiveness. I got out in 2009,” Shyne said. “There wasn’t an attempt at reconciliation until 2012 when I went to Paris to meet him. That was the first attempt of forgiveness, but I was still in a place of, ‘He owe me. He owes me his life.’”

“He’s a billionaire. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have been a billionaire. If I would have cooperated with the district attorney, he’d have went to jail, and heaven knows what would have happened to his career. So that’s worth at least a couple million dollars out of the billion that you’re worth.”

What made the $50,000 payout even more insulting to Shyne was witnessing Diddy spend $500,000 on a shopping spree for his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, before offering him the comparatively small sum.

“He probably gave me, like, 50 racks, and I’m like, ‘You can’t be serious.’ That’s 10 years? Fifty racks?” Shyne recalled.

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Shyne, now the Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives and head of the Belize United Democratic Party, also recounted his anger when Diddy attempted to visit him early in his incarceration at Rikers Island before his transfer to the Clinton Correctional Facility in Upstate New York.

“He came to see me once, and I think I tried to spit in his face in Rikers Island,” Shyne recalled. “I didn’t even want him to come see me. I didn’t even know he was coming to see me. They just brought me down in the lawyer’s office.”

The documentary chronicles Shyne’s journey toward forgiveness and moving on from the past. However, old wounds were reopened amid Diddy’s recent controversies, including a lawsuit filed by producer Rodney Jones, who alleges Diddy boasted about firing a gun during the 1999 Club New York incident and expressed disdain for Shyne. Additionally, Natania Reuben, a victim of the shooting, has come forward, accusing Diddy of being the one who fired the shot that struck her in the face.

“You know, there’s so many things that I said so long ago about Diddy,” Barrow told CNN recently. “Nobody would listen, nobody would believe. And it makes the wounds that I’ve, by the grace of God, been able to heal and the accomplishments that I’ve been able to achieve even much more significant.”