Joe and Jada - The Real Report - Shyne on P.Diddy fallout, serving time in prison, & life after the Bad Boy era

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

This week Shyne joins Yayo and Murda as he reflects on his journey from Brooklyn roots to linking with Sean "Diddy" Combs and joining Bad Boy Records, breaking down pivotal career moments, the influence of figures like Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and Chris Lighty, and how the label blended hip hop with Jamaican culture. He revisits industry what-ifs like potentially signing to Def Jam Recordings, speaks candidly about his legal battles, time served, and the realities of incarceration, and opens up about his relationship with Diddy before and after prison, including unresolved tensions and public apologies. The conversation also touches on his mindset during his sentence, life after release, and relocating to Belize.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the Outer. My Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until Karma made her pay for it. All right, Sophia, tell me about how we started this story. She moved in for two weeks, lasted five days, left a mess, and then pressed her ear against their bedroom door and burst in screaming. When kicked out to a hotel, she called her son-in-law's workplace, pretending his partner had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She faked a medical emergency? And, spoiler, that was just the beginning.

To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Joey Dardano, and on my new podcast, Hope From a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumb. as people you know. Listen to help from Hippocrite Wednesdays on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness

Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown if you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I think it's just that Brooklyn boo. I was definitely on that Brooklyn. I could see that. That's Brooklyn. Of course.

That's how you have the attitude. I stomp down the door. But see. I was like, oh, here come this. You know, base fly haul of me. How am all you want to? How's all you want to? And then here come this Brooklyn.

You know what I'm saying? He didn't get stabbed. Right. Shut the fuck the fuck. Oh. Brooms! Roel! What you do you get movies with?

Ow! Oh! Bram! Yo, Brimble! Oh, come to get a... All right. Got my video. I guess.

I don't want you. That's out. My time. My time. You know, my fucking. Yeah, it's the Talk of New York. And this is the boy Laird-Jellini, Uncle Murder.

Whoa. And right now it's the real report. We're here with the infamous Sean. Poe, make some notes. Whoa. Whoa. Yeah. Bad boy.

Yeah. The elder statesman, I don't think I'm infamous anymore. The legendary, I'm more of a legacy. Yeah, there you go. The infamy. The young shine, the young shine was infamous. Definitely. The elder statesman, you know, presidential rap prime minister, but, you know.

Brooklyn. What's going on? Good to be here. Sean, I appreciate you to be here. Brooklyn in the building. That's right. I know I'm going to see you on Saturday. That's right.

Yeah, we're in the building. The whole Saturday. We're in the building. Queens of Brooklyn is really. the same, but I mean, where are we separated? Yeah, we neighbors. We neighbors. We need us.

I know Big Quinn is going to be in there too. We're going to be here. We're going to be here. Yeah, yeah. You know, I go back and forth, but definitely, I made it a priority to be here. Definitely. Yes.

I mean, you definitely are a legend. You're in the Hall of Fame in my book and murder and to the culture. Amen, amen, amen. And it's like, when we look at your career, it's like you was 18 years old, linking with P. Diddy, Bad Boy, one of the biggest labels of all time.

Yeah. How was that? That was a dream come true. You know, I can never forget the opportunity that I had and that many of these labels, whether it's aftermath, Enterscope, you know, the Jimmy I. The Deans, the Drays, the Puffies, you know, the Russell Simmons, your Queens brother that really opened it up for all of us. as far as the entrepreneurship and the partnership,

corporate America, to take the hip hop culture global. But that was a dream come true. I was definitely infamous back then coming off the streets. I just got shot. I was, you know, escaping the Brooklyn, Vietnam. Brooklyn, Vietnam. We called the Brooklyn, Vietnam for a reason. So coming to, you know, getting discovered by Dompu,

respect to him. That's my big brother. He's literally been getting money since 88. We're opening the Brooklyn Chop House in Belize. But getting discovered by him and my guy, Mani, you know, Mani's Nicki Minaj and Future. Kisha Cole, everybody, yes.

And then them taking me to the industry, it was really Chris Lighty. Okay. Rest in peace. Rest in peace. Rest in peace to baby Chris who lit the torch.

for the shine explosion that took place because initially, respected my guy Mark Pitts as well because Manny, Don Poo, Mark Pitts, all that Brooklyn crew. So I was moving around. I had rap for Puff. I rap for Un...

Yes, yes, yes. Poole was managing... He was involved in Pitts' management company with B-I-G. That Brooklyn thing, and they both from Barbados, I believe. So they had that Bayesian connection. But basically, so I was moving around.

I rap for hove, I rap for puff, I rap for un. Everybody was like, yeah, yeah, you're nice. But nothing really happened. Nobody was sending the agreement to my lawyer Matt Middleton at the time. Was you hearing back then when you was rapping for these dudes, not to cut you off that you had a biggie bob? Nobody even thought about that. Okay.

They was just hearing the bars. All right, got you. And so again, I, I just got shot. I'm coming off the streets. My energy was so convincing I could sell water to a well when you hear those bars

because I'm talking about my real life and I'm so passionate and so much conviction. Everybody just thought I was nice, right? Everybody thought I was nice. And I think proof of that is the fact that I'm still a legend to this day. And then we just sold our King's Theater

after not being here for 20, 25 years and I could go to LA and walk in the studio with Dr. Dre. Dre. Jay don't even, you know, talk to people. Definitely. But that's because of the legend and what the music ended up sounding like. Ultimately, because when you first get in the studio, you gotta find your voice.

When, you know, 50 first came out, some people might have said he sound like he had a mace thing or a whole thing because of the tone of his voice. But that, but that wasn't. But that wasn't, 50's 50, and he went on to make, you know, some of the greatest albums ever. Fab. When Fab first came out, again, the tone of his voice, people are quick to associate you, you know, with whoever's the popular voice, right? But the baritone is still a baritone. It hasn't changed all these years longer.

But no, it was a dream come true. It was a dream come true, but it was Chris Lighty that made that dream come true. He hit my guy, Eric Nix, who was in. getting a part of that Brooklyn conglomerate and said, you know, tell Sean, I keep hearing about this kid, Sean, tell him come to Varick Street. That was where Def Jam was. So I went to Varick Street and he said, all right, yeah, I've been hearing a lot about you. I want to, you know, play this debt tape for this new producer, Swiss Beets.

He played Swiss Beets. Yes. And I went in and he was just like, you're not leaving him until you sign the deal. He told me to Lear's office. I spit for him, wrapped his head off. And that was it. Literally, as soon as I left the office, we didn't have any WhatsApp then. We had the heavy phone. We had the StarTack. So the Star Tack was real. I don't even think the Star Tack was out yet. But anyway, the phone was ringing. And it was like, yo, Puff wants you to come to California, ASAP. And I was like, right before.

Christmas. He said as soon as the Christmas vacation is done, he want to fly you out to Cali so we could close the deal. So it was really Chris. And then when I went to L.A., went to Beverly Hills Hotel. As soon as I'm walking in, Eddie Murphy's walking out of the elevator, I'll never forget. I never forget. I could smell the Beverly Hills Hotel right now. And I'd never been anyway outside of... And that's the first person you see is Eddie Murphy. I mean, he was like, what the fuck the fuck? Yeah. And I've never been anywhere outside of Brooklyn. until this point, except for, you know, going to Belize on vacation. So I went to the record plant of Puff and J-Lo were at the record plant.

Puff was recording the Godzilla single. It was a Godzilla movie that came out. He was the executive producer, the soundtrack. So he's rapping in the booth. He comes out. He's like, yeah, listen, man, you know, I know everybody after you, I told you then, you was nice. I'm telling you now.

this sign of deal. I really don't want to chase. So I was like, yeah, let's do it. It was bad boy. That was the number one record company at the time. But I was always a shrewd business man. I just always, it was never emotional. And then coming from the streets, like literally friends' brains on your shoulder, no father, watching my mother's struggle. He's not necessarily heartless, but it's like,

It's never any emotions. And it's always, I was always thinking business. So I kept asking the lawyers because they kept hitting the lawyers. So then when I went out to California, that flood. So then they kept calling. And I'm like, well, okay, well, this is what Puff is saying. Telling me you want five times that. And I said, well, tell me you one, 10 times that.

And Russell, Lear, and Chris was so cold. They came to Puff's house in Mahalind Drive. He was having an event. Just, it was, I think it was Soul Train Week. Chris Tucker, all the basketball players are there playing basketball. Everybody there, they pull up. I'm like, on Puff, just going to have a word with these gentlemen. Let them know, signing with you, but thank them for their interests.

I left and I never came back. I came back to get my stuff and I moved in the Peninsula Hotel. I had them rent me like a 600 S and I was just going to Iceberg store at an iceberg store on Melrose at that time every day getting fresh and I was like, I'm going with the money, right? The deal they made even I ended up with a deal that no new artist has ever gotten. I don't know if it's changed now. And I left me, Eric Nix left after like a week or two.

And I moved into the St. Regis Hotel, waiting for the deal to close. Go see John McNeil. That was Chris's financial manager. Collect my money every week. And then one day I just woke up. And I was like, I called my own pits. I was like, I'm a sign a bad boy. and we did the deal in a few days.

Because had I gone to Def Jam, you got to remember Fox had Hove, Naz, she had a team. X had D, Y, Swiss. They had a team, right? Hove had Dane, Biggs, Bihar, Clark Kent, Irv Gotti.

Yeah. I wasn't ready. I needed to be developed. And I'm not sure. I'm not sure if Violator would have done that for me. I'm just not sure. And then I didn't just need to be developed. I wanted to be a superstar.

I wanted to be exactly what I am now. And I felt that Puff gave me that. Gave me a 10-year sentence too and a lot of heartache and pain and tragic. But I got that information. I got to be around one of the greatest ever, no matter how I feel about him as a human being, as an entertainer, as an executive,

he is one of the greatest ever. Oh, yeah, you definitely can't take nothing from that. I just wanted to know how you felt because it's like when you came with the hit record, Barron Levy, I believe. Barrettin Levy. Barrett and Levy. Oh, bad boy.

Like that beat, everything. Because remember, I think Big, did Big just die around that time? He died not too long ago. Big passed away in 97. In negative. God bless his soul, March 97. Bad Boys came out in 2000, so about three years later, June 2000. I never forget it when Funk Flex broke that record.

Right. And we were still kind of mourning from Big and you and Big have a good, same comparison voice. Same baritone. Deep voice. Both from the Caribbean. He's from Jamaica, I'm from Belize. Definitely. And you come in.

From Brooklyn, Brooklyn. Brooklyn too. And the style was similar because like y'all had the Jamaican, you know, culture shit going on. And when you came with that, it was like, yo, we had to, it was like, come on, this is a fucking hit, bro. Yeah. And you got to understand, I always used the Kobe example, but I think I used some good rap examples. Like Fab is one of the nicest ever. Period.

of fame, right? Forget about commercial, forget about pop, straight hip hop, fabulous will go down as one of the nicest ever, right? When you go down to 50, 50's one of the greatest icons or hip hop of music, or entertainment, period, what he's been able to accomplish on the business and the run, film, hard rock cafe, I mean, you know, it was just so much. And he's still going. He's still popping up in Vegas, you know, spitting. That's real hip-hop, right?

So what I'm saying is many of the greatest started with comparisons, but I think the comparisons inspire us to work hard to separate ourselves and to establish our identity. and I believe you look at Kobe. When Kobe first came into the league, Kobe was coming off the bench, Shaq was a superstar,

and everybody said Kobe wanted to be Mike. But now when I think of Kobe, I think of Kobe. And Mike is my goat, but it's debatable whether Kobe is the goat. Yeah, right? Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I hear you. You know, but listen, respect, respect to Braun, my guy.

I got a brother. He's from Ohio, from Columbus, Ohio. His name is Jeffrey Schoenstein. Big respect to the American Eagle people. They own American Eagle. And, you know, they're real close with Braun. And, you know, Braun got love for Sean, too. So most respectfully, I'm MJ.

But, you know, respect to Braun. Definitely respect all of them, like three goats. So what was the door process? Because that was like a different kind of record to come to the Baron Levy. You know what I mean? The beat, who made the beat? Like, what made you? Again, I'm always honorable, always the utmost integrity.

And I give the flowers where the flowers belong. I picked every beat of the Shine album except that beat. And it was puff that gave me that beat. That was actually the first song that I did that was a hit record. the other songs I was finding myself. I was, you know, they had some controversy the other day when I was on, it is what it is. And I was really telling the story not to degrade anyone,

not to talk about my hit list. I wasn't stunting a popping style. I was telling a story of a young man who had nothing and got a million dollars and went nuts. And by me going crazy as far as just out here buying Cristow, going into Gucci store, crashing the 600 and just living a movie, I wasn't paying attention to my crap. And so when I was going in the studio, the results were consistent with someone that wasn't focused, with someone that wasn't working hard, someone that was not exactly, except what I came

him for. So by the time, so the whole 99, I spent being Alpo before he snitch, Rich Porter, A. Z. Frank Matthews, you know. Living the life. Living the life, right? Chasing bread. Yeah, just being, being a straight ghetto movie superstar, right? But listen, right?

Yeah. So, yeah, like it was so bad. as I mentioned, and I was even with the boss's main, those are things you don't do. I rap about it on the life. You don't do that. How do you come to the label and you're just taking everybody down? That was suicide and that's the only reason I told that story.

So the music reflected the lack of effort, the lack of focus, but the music, But then when I got to 99, after I had that interaction where, you know, somebody told me some things I didn't want to hear and it really shocked me and it really devastated me. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to show you. I went to Puff like January. It's like, listen, man, you know, please, need the holy grail.

Need you to give me the blueprint. I need the instruction manual. Let's do what we came for. And so I shadowed him the entire 99 until the club New York incident happened. day in, day out, just as a protege, just learning everything. And that's how we got the bad boy record done because we were in the Hamptons working on his album forever. And, you know, I did reverse, wrote his, I think I wrote his record on reverse.

What's in 1920 at this point? I'm near, like 20. like 20. Probably a 20. You and the Hamptons were puff. Yeah. Oh, I mean, no, it was, it was a movie, but that's why I stuck Death Jam up so crazy because it was a movie. Like, you, you want a private playing, going back from Soul Train to the Grammys and then back to California. You, you in the car with J-Lo, you had dinner with Sally, Sally or Jesse, whatever her name is. Like, it's, you know, you're playing

basketball with Chris Tucker. Yeah. Dream, dream, yeah, dream come true. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, Puff, again, I never saw any of the things that he's accused of. And, you know, it's none of my business. I really don't care other than some of the things that

throughout the situation were brought up that he did to me as far as calling people to testify against me. and really working with the DA to make sure that I went to jail and he didn't go to jail. Whereas if all of us are here, and heaven forbid anything should ever go wrong, we would just be defending ourselves.

And we should go to trial and say, listen, Yeo was defending himself, murder was defending themselves, Sean was defending himself. And that's what I maintain to this day. If Puff fired the gun, if Puff was the person that shot, that woman, he was defending himself

and he did not do that intentionally. To this day, as much as, you know, I don't appreciate what he did to meet, that is my position to this day. So, yeah, but the point I was making is he gave me that record. He was the greatest at the time. Nobody did it like Russell did it.

He took what Russell did and put it on steroids. Of course, yes, definitely. as far as getting into pop culture and just merging pop culture with rap culture and still being hip hop. Man, at that time, Bad Boy ran the game. You had Total over there. You had Black Rock, rest in peace.

And he was, rest in peace to Robbie O, B.I. Big, Big, the Lox, Mace. And he was producing everybody. He was producing Missy. Mary. Mary, SWV. He didn't take nothing away from Puff. Yes, right.

And he was keeping a hip hop. So he was. pop, but he was also ghetto. And he got there from a person that doesn't get enough credit, Andre Harrell. Remember Andre Harrell was on that Uptown, rest in peace,

hip hop corporate. Like he didn't make it as a rapper, but he had the Rolex, you know, with the suit, and that was his thing. So, you know, yeah, but he gave me that song in the Hamptons. We were working on the Forever album. Everybody

was out there. Mafia was out there. who's out there, respect to my God sees. And he gave me the song. He gave me the beat. He was like, listen. So that beat might have been forever. But being the genius that he was, he was like, let me get this to Sean.

If Sean could. He could see if he fuck with it. He just got that laying in the chamber. If he could body this, that's what he told me. He said, listen, you could body this. gone out of here. And then respectfully, he said, who's the guy that go,

oh, jib-d-doo-doo. I'm like, yeah, it's Barrington Levy. Dangerous. Yeah, that's a, that is a Caribbean icon. Like Barrington been singing before I was born. He was my mother's favorite, and he was my favorite. So, yeah, that was all puff. And I went and I did what I had to do.

And everybody went crazy. And respectfully... New York was loving it because the whole Jamaican culture... But before New York got it, Bad Boy was going crazy. Oh, of course. Because I was shaky at Bad Boy. When I came in, it was like I was just offending everybody.

I was offending the boss. I was offending the superstar player, Mace. Even though me and Mace, we got really close after the fact. But I was just on one. And so when people are upset with you, you can't do anything right. So everything sound trash. You think it's just that Brooklyn bullshit?

You was just on that, that's Brooklyn. I can see that. That's Brooklyn. Of course. That's how you have the attitude, man. I stomp down the door. Definitely. Come up and you go there's like, oh, here come this, nigger.

You know, Mace Fly, Harlem nigger. Come all you want to. How's all you want to? And then here come this Brooklyn, nigger. You know what I'm saying? But yeah, everybody was excited, man. But the second verse, if you listen to the second verse closely, I wrote the second verse for Puff. Ninks dragging on the floor.

Banging on your second of Christ, scientist examining for flaws. Porta Cristair on the way to trial, Rico law got my head hurt, squirt until they pulled the curtain. I wrote that for him. That was before the case too, right? The four. The case. August 1999. So he never got a chance to do his verse.

And when we caught the case, he was like, under the bus you go, I want nothing to do with you. Yeah, because that was, you know, listen, you know, listen, once you got a shooting and you got Huff Daddy and J-Lo there, and what was that club? I forgot the club New York. Club New York was popping. That shit was like on the front of the daily news. We didn't find out during that case, though, like as far as, oh shit, damn, Puff Switching South. Oh, it was from the start. It was from the start because, as I said,

when I say under the bus you go, literally we all got knocked. They bail out like hours, and I'm sitting in the tombs. And I'm calling Daddy's house. I'm calling Puff's house. And nobody's taking my call. No one is answering me. I sat in the tombs for a week. without speaking to nobody.

Right. But I was talking to Matt Middleton and Manny bailed me out. My guy, Mani, that's why he's my brother to this day. Funny story. What was your bail? Like a million, half a million at the time?

I don't even remember. Because it was a crazy shoe. Whatever it was, Puff could afford to pay for it. Oh, yeah, definitely. But funny story. And then when I say Mani's my guy to this day, when I was in the Pinaw, Dr. Dre wanted me to do a record for a young kid by the name of the game.

This is before anybody even heard of the game. They wanted me. Again, they said that game, and I spoke to game the other day, so it's all live. So Dre sent me the record, not sent it to me, but reached out and said, listen, we had record, but you can only do our record. You can't do a record with anybody else for this kid, the game. and Manny and Ron Fair said we got a record for this young lady

by the name of Keisha Cole. And I had to choose, and I chose Manny because he bailed me out. And that's a difficult choice because Dr. Dre has always been Dr. and Dr. Dre will always be Dr. Dre. But I had to chose... Shelter Dre, but you had to choose...

I had to choose my God to bail me out. And he's my brother to this day. No, Shelter Mani. That's crazy. I know, Manny's looking like you thinking P. Diddy, you calling P. Diddy. You're trying to get bailed out. This, this nigger worth 20, 30, 4 billion. Respectfully, Manny was always getting money.

Of course. Yeah, so he put one of the houses up and, you know, he made sure I was good. When you got out, did you finally- Oh, so, yeah, when I got out, I already knew I was under the bus. All right. The fact that Manny had to bail me out, I was cooked. And, you know, the lawyer was communicating to me because I was staying in one of Puff's apartments and, you know,

said, listen, moved all your stuff out. I had to send my uncle to get my... He moved, puff moved your shit? He had his... You got to think about this, Mert. You got to go back to the club. We ain't the most... Listen.

Yeah, but I was defending him. No, no, no. I know you was defending him. I saw somebody mentioned that, oh, the kids from Brooklyn were trying to get at me. Oh, Nino, Scar. The kids that were arguing with him were my guys. I saw them maybe an hour.

before in the club and everybody's like, yeah, Sean, we're so proud of you. We can't wait until you really, you know, get there. We know you got us and we got you. They all know me and you know that's true. That's a fact. Yeah, so that's ridiculous. But I don't know what happened is we're walking out. They get to arguing, money get to flying and people start saying they're going to kill me.

They're going to kill Puff. Because Scar said to me, Paul, you're going to go with him over us? Like basically they expected that I was supposed to like kind of just disappear. When the argument started, I was supposed to be like, you know what? You know, puff was like, get out my way, nigga. We got jail with me, nigga. And then them niggas like, what? Yeah.

I mean, it's serving away, you know, when you're from the streets. Because guys in the street are getting money too. Yeah, sometimes that's like. They get millions, millions a week, millions of day. And until this day, I carry myself like that. I could be in a spot and it could be niggas. I don't know they're tempted. I don't know where they're from.

But these can niggas be to get money, niggas for. from the town and I'm coming, move out the way, nigga. Like, niggins ain't trying to hear that. You don't want to hear that. And it escalate to a shootout. I know once he heard somebody got hit in the face, an innocent boste, oh yeah, leave shine up in there, call the lawyer separate the case.

You know how that shit. Yeah. So you ain't even speak to him after when you got bailout after you got bailout? I did not speak to him. Remember, we're on trial together. So even when we go to court for pre-trial, for everything before. before we even get to jury selection,

you still gotta go to court to set the trial date and to do all these things, no conversation. And if it wasn't for Wolf, I would have never got to release my album. Rest in peace, Wolf. Rest in peace to Anthony Wolf Jones, my big brother. He was the one, so it was like,

this is I get bailed out January. It wasn't until February, like the end of February. that he said to Puff, you are going to put his album out. I don't care what. You're going to have a problem with me. I'm sorry. Shine album coming out.

And he made sure that I got that opportunity. And so they finally called me to Bad Boy Records that was in the BMG building on Broadway and 45th, I believe. And so I went there. And the first record they played for, for me that I picked was the life. That was from the Shay Merrick hit men.

And then if you listen to that album and that song, I'm kind of rapping about Puff. I was like it was all right till I got caught, charged with an 848. By I'm marrying steel gates. They started snitching, acting bizarre, driving my cars, hitting my brawls, breaking the laws, saying people I got money, took care was on some funny,

took care it was on some funny thing. If I was different, I snitch. What would you do if you got millions with people and they had no love for you? Couldn't pay for your lawyer. Figured, why I sit in the cell a riot. I'd be out in 10, throw the boys in the pot, but I couldn't do it.

And you wouldn't understand if you ain't been through it. It's rules to this. I couldn't break them. Death before this honor. Until I meet Satan. I know he's saying. I know you wait. You know what I mean?

That's what y'all gonna get May 2nd. Yeah, May 2nd. And Sean got one of the realest stories in the culture. So this is what I got to know, because this is a difference between jail and prison. You know, jail is fucking Rikers Island. Prison is Attica. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. What jails you went to and what was your meant to state coming off of having the biggest records in the world, you down with Puff, he didn't pay your bail. Now, you blew trial or did you cop out to that, you blew trial? Oh, no. I blew trial.

I took it to trial. I didn't cooperate the, the district attorney at the time. And I just want to put in perspective, everything that I say, I'm saying from a historical perspective, as far as you're sharing the information, I don't glorify anything that I may have done as a youth.

And even that night, I was defending myself. And the victim said that puff shodder, not me. So I always maintained that I was not responsible for injuring any of those people and that I was defending myself. So I just, you know, I went to my primary school today, PS-92 in Brooklyn. It's the first school I went to as an immigrant,

fresh off the coconut boat. And I gave a speech. And, you know, I just want to make sure it's always clear that we're just sharing with the youth so that the youth could have the benefit of our stories that they don't make the mistakes or find themselves in the situations that we found ourselves in

because we're here to make sure that they don't have to go through what they went to. through. But yeah, it was the most devastating period of my life. I don't think anything was worse other than maybe being poor growing up in Brooklyn, but I think even being incarcerated was worse because you don't have your freedom. And at least poverty years terrible, but I have the freedom to dream. I have the freedom to pursue that and get out of poverty. I did the whole 10. There was not a day off. I didn't get a furlough.

What's the first prison you went to? The first correctional facility was Clinton Denimore, Mumi Abu Jamar, Tupac Shakur, Oh Dirty Bastid, that's where they sent all of the son of Sam. That's where they sent all of the high-profile people. And so I was an admin seg, my entire bid. So they have like an admin seg.

block for all of the mafia bosses, the guys that told on the mafia bosses. Yeah, because you have profile at this. Yeah, so J-Lo. But then when I got to the end of my incarceration, I asked to go to general population to go to a medium and they let me go to a medium, but like a medium where you can only get in the medium if your honor and you know you conducting yourself in the way that you want to go home but even then it's always a risk it's always a toss-up but i i don't want to stunt that oh i did my bid in general pop uh no i was in admin se uh i was isolated and as i said with the

the mob bosses with some of the informants, you know, people that were high profile that had the heinous crimes. Yeah, it was terrible. It was terrible. I mean, to go what you go through and you got to do 10 and you're like on top of the world, you were the biggest label to do 10.

Like I did a little bit. It was devastating. But you know, the first night when I was in the tombs, I get on, I kneel down, I pray. Because I've been praying since I got shot when I was 15 or 16. So prayer for me is a real thing. Now, I don't pray because I'm holy.

I don't pray because I am a pontiff or some religious figure. I pray to survive Brooklyn because Brooklyn was a warground. I grew up from Flatbush Church Avenue, which is why performing at King's Theater is so surreal. King's theater was not even operable back then. King's theater was abandoned. But anyway, I started praying from young just to survive Brooklyn. So my first night in the tombs, I knelt down and I prayed and I said to God, you know,

yeah, I think tears rolling down my eyes. It was a lot. I said, yeah, all right, we're here. But check this out. I was loyal to a scumbag. I'm going to be loyal to you. because before I went away, thanks to Wolf and thanks to God,

I prayed just let me get my album out, let me do my numbers, and let me become shine. Because once I do that, then I would have accomplished my dreams and I could take care of Mama Love. She'll be all right. And no matter what,

my name will live forever because I would have been able to put out a classic album and etched my name in the pantheons of hip hop. And I knew I would live forever because I kept my integrity and I didn't make up a lie or I didn't try to get my friends in trouble to get myself out of trouble. And as a New York kid, I knew that I would be a legend no matter what. Keep it on. Because of course. Right? Of course, I know rap. Right? Right. So, so, so, so, so Even though some sucky shit was done to you. Growing up in New York, that meant everything.

That meant everything. You couldn't live with yourself if you were a rodent. And the rodent is not, I'm not, again, I'm not trying to glorify these things. It's just to this day, you're a rodent if you get elected to the House of Representatives and you're not honorable and you break your oath of office and turn on your people. You're a rat. Yes. So that's what I mean.

Street shit and you're doing street shit and you're doing on your people. your people, you're a role. You got to have integrity. But I prayed to God and I said, you know what, I'm going to be loyal. You gave me everything that I asked you for. I'm an immigrant kid from Belize who was able to have my wildest dreams come true. Yep. And I thank you for that.

I said that while facing, I was facing 25 years because I blew trial. Thanks. and I said, you know, I'm not going to turn on you. All I ask is just let me endure this. If I never sell another record, if I have to do the whole 10, just allow me to endure this. Let me not die in here, because that's what people don't understand. You go to jail.

You might die in jail. Even in admin say. The conditions ain't great. But even in admin SEG, someone may send a hit. Someone that's doing life, you know, might wake up one day and not take his meds and want to off you. Or you might have to take someone out. And then definitely when I got to the medium, it was serious because you had guys in there doing life that, you know, may have given a life back. or guys in there that did 30 or had a 25 to life and did the 25 and now they're looking to go home.

Any number can play at any time. And so I pray to God to just please allow me to endure and I lose my mind. And that's how I left it. I said, if I never sell another record, if I'm never famous again, it's okay. I'll be loyal to you and I kept praying. That's what I always tell people. You got to be present every day. I was present every day of my bid.

I have been present every day of my life up to this day. No matter what is. And not just with prayer, but because you pray and then you got to listen. Because God talks to us. So you can't pray and then do what you want to do because then God going to pull back and be like, all, champ, figure it out. Right?

You got it? Did Puff look out for you when you came home? No, because I saw y'all hanging out a little bit. I'm not going to say hanging out, but I sent y'all in the public aisle. Yeah, you know, you know what happened? The first time I reconciled with Puff, I was in Jerusalem. So if you remember, your man, 50 used to get me real good with those pitches when I had the side curls and I had the religious going.

But, you know, we was going at it, right? Yeah, I remember you were 50 was going. I just came home. Yeah, it was all. So it was all, you know. Sean had some disrupting. I was wild disrespectful. But, um, so he was wild.

Yeah, I was wild. Yeah, and with 50s, the king, with disrespectful. So we was, and so I think we went at it while I was away. And then when I came out, I think, I think that's why I lost my vocal cords. Because I'm gonna answer your question right now. But when I came out, I was on Tupac.

But then I just did 10 years, you know, spiritual, you know, enduring, praying, you know, it's like, and then I came out on my Tupac thing from Belize. I didn't even get a chance to come to the States because I got deported because I didn't want to do it. Yeah, how did you feel? Like when you know, that was devastating. That was devastating. When you know it's your last day, because I've seen this being locked up for a little skid vid.

Not no 10 years, little baby bit. Yeah. Two years the most, right? I've seen like, you know, people will be on their last day and they're like, where they're going? Oh, I and that's waiting for. How does that feel? 10 years and now you got to leave the country and get deported. Well, listen, my lawyers wanted me to fight for my freedom

and to get a bail pending my immigration case, which I believe I could have gotten, but I would have had to stay a few more weeks. I couldn't do it. So when you asked me how I felt, I didn't want to do another day in captivity. So I told him, listen, send me to Belize. I prefer to be free and I'll make my money.

my way back. I made my way back. I didn't think it would take 13 years to make my way back. But... I thought a puppy, get you a bag when you came home. I'm like I said a little puppy. So when you saw me, so I, to answer your question, when you saw me, I was in Jerusalem. So I was doing my spiritual journey. I was Orthodox Jew throughout my entire incarceration, raping to filling, keeping Shabbat. I didn't know. even use the phone, do anything on the Sabbath. I ate kosher. I was wearing sit-sits. I was doing everything. Because being a Jew has no race. So when people say, oh, how as a black person

you didn't become Muslim is because Muslims believe in the five books of Moses too. So religion is not a race. Anybody could be a Jew. You just have to practice and, you know, depending on what type of Jew you want to be. It's like Catholicism or Christianity there. There's Orthodox Christians. Anyway, when you saw me with Puff, I was in Jerusalem. I was going through my spiritual journey and I just felt that forgiveness and moving on was something I did for myself. Wasn't doing that for him.

And I was taking a hiatus from the industry. And when I initially came out in 2009, I was going hard on everybody on him, on 50, on Trache, on Ross. I was just arguing with everybody. I was, man, it was terrible. But then I was on... That Brooklyn Bulls shit.

It was terrible. It was terrible. It was terrible. Well, listen, so it was 2012, I believe, or 2012, when I reached out to him, I just made a cold call. He actually had the same number. And he answered, I was like, listen, you know, let's sit down.

And then when I went to see him in Paris. That's when you see me with the Jew curls and the long robe and the high socks. Like, I was on it. Yeah. So I went to the La Marese and we met at the La Marese. And the interesting thing with Puff, he's, so the La Marees is like, yeah, you know, I'm sorry, man. You know, it's the lawyers.

The lawyers made me do it. But don't worry, we're going to make everything right. And I'm like, yeah, you know, my brother, yeah. So your question was, yo, you got a couple of minutes. Hold on, hold on. That's my question. Make everything right. That's definitely.

What's that two, three? No, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. So hold on. So, you know, Cassie talks about in her, in her lawsuit, about violence and things.

happening and then you know he would spend a million half a million to you know cover everything up and while I was there everybody was getting the Rolex that weekend he was taking everybody for Rolex and he took Cassie to get you know to do you blew like a half a million dollars on Cassie so I saw that so I'm like okay my Rolex is coming in the in the right yeah yeah for I said, no, listen, when they went, when they went to get the Rolexes, I think I was late. I was late. You probably could have got one, you saying? No, no, no.

I was told that my Rolex was going to be sent to me in Belize. Oh, shit. Yeah. My Rolex was going to be sent to me in Belize. And, man, when I got to Belize, no Ralee, just for Cassie. Just for Cassey. Hold on, because I thought I was going to get the Roli, get the million. I thought I thought I was going to get my payment.

if Cassie getting a half, for my 10, I was saying a light one cash and then maybe one every year for the rest of my life. You know what girls before the bros? No, not for the bro that. Not for the bro that, not for the bro.

I mean, that's what he's saying. She's just spent the half and got a row. Not for the bro. Not for the bro, not for the bro, but not for the bro that put you in a position to have your freedom so that you could spend a half a million more girls. And so what I'm saying

even if it's a mill. And listen, all right, you know what? I'll put you on the payroll for bad boy forever for the rest of your life. You get a hundred grand. But when you look at that, you got to know from the beginning that that nigger wasn't what he was going to do.

You got J-Lo, you and him on the front page of the Daily News every fucking day. Sean is a young nigga from Brooklyn, shoot a nigger. Yo, let that nigga eat the case. You know that was going on. Yeah, but we got past that. We got past that.

I saved his life. He acknowledges that year, I'm sorry, I messed up, I shouldn't have did it the way that I did it. He's free for all of the years to put himself in a position for Sirrock, for Sean, John, for all the things that he did. I lost 10 years and what could have been, even if I wasn't a billionaire, I could have made a hundred. He could have gave you a million for every year and that would have been light word, but that's just how industry dudes. No, that's how he is. Right?

And so what I'm saying is fine. when I saw that it wasn't going that way, you know, I went on my Brooklyn thing again, even in my religious phase. I was like, you know, I went nuts and I was like, man, whatever. But then I got to a point, I did get to a point. I'll tell you this, I went nuts on them.

And then I got to a point like around 2014, 2015, I had gone back to Belize, and that's when I got into politics. I got out of the religious. I'm still, like, I still light a candle on Shabbat. I still wrap my tofilling every day. I still fast on Yom Kippur. I still, you know, I'm Moses.

Of course. I'm going to always be Moses, and I always apply the sciences of Moses, but I'm just, I'm about bringing people together. We talked about that in the green room. I'm the elder statesman, and I'm Moses. I'm here to bring everybody together. Moses married an Ethiopian,

Mothers' father was one of the biggest Palo Theis, and he brought everybody together. So, you know, my thing, when I got to Belize and I was focused on serving the people of Belize, I'd gotten out of religion and I was focused on Belize. Belize, Belize, because Belize has so much potential, but not the leaders that could take them to that potential. And I knew that was my calling.

And so while I was going through that, I had the time in Jerusalem, which was great. I would never change that for anything because Jerusalem is the center of the universe for Jews, Muslims, Christians, Catholics, everybody goes to Jerusalem. And when I got to a point of serving the people of Belize before I got elected in 2020, so I served six years in the community before I got elected, but I just got to a point where I was like,

I was like, you know what, I need to let that go. No money, nothing. Just let that go. Just let that go. Just focus on the people of beliefs and just let that go. Right? It can't help. It can only hurt.

Let all of that go. Don't argue with anybody. Don't have anything with anybody. Focus on the people of beliefs. and I was better off for it, but I let it go, let it go. I didn't let it go like, yeah, maybe I'll get the million now. And so when you saw me with him at the BET Awards, he begged me to do that. He begged me to do that.

And I was thinking about Belize when I did that. If you remember the performance, the biggest flag of Belize that you ever are going to see, dropped on the stage and he's like Belize, Belize. And before the Rico, he was Puff Daddy, one of the most famous people on planet Earth. And so using that stage to promote Belize was a no-brainer. But it wasn't like, oh, it was you and your man.

I wasn't at Thanksgiving. I wasn't at the Christmas party. You know, he didn't come to Belize. We wasn't rolling like that. But when I got elected to the House of Representatives and I got my diplomatic visa, that's another thing. He didn't get me a visa. I got a diplomatic visa, but in all respect to him,

when I was planning my diplomatic tour as the opposition leader of the House of Representatives in Belize, I reached out to him as to listen, any politicians, anybody that you know, let me know, so I could put them on my itinerary because I wanna meet with all these people for the sake of Belize.

So in all fairness to him and his guy, Corey Jacobs, they put me with a great conglomerate of musicians like Dallas Austin and Sean Garrett, along with my sister to this day. Erica, I don't wanna say her name wrong, Erica Thomas, I believe, She was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives. And so they have this thing where it's members of Catherine Brun and Dallas Austin.

And I think even like Shakazulu and I think even maybe Jermaine and Michael B. Cox were part of it at one point, if not still, along with all these members of the Georgia House and Senate. Right. So that was great for me to meet with them on behalf of Belize and put that together. So he did put me with them. But you can't get a diplomatic visa unless you're a member of the House of Representatives and the State Department and Homeland Security don't play. I have friends in governments throughout the Caribbean that are ministers that don't get a diplomatic visa. So I had a relationship with the State Department and Homeland Security for years. because I was the government's ambassador, but my pops, who, you know, him and I have always had a shaky relationship. To this day, I don't really want to get into that now, though I'm going to ease him. But he, when he was prime minister, he refused to, like, appoint me to the U.N. so that I could get the diplomatic passport and visa.

And as I said, in fairness to him, the Americans let who they want to let come to their country. So if they felt, you know what, no, we're not going to give you the visa. They weren't. So nobody could get you a diplomatic visa. And now I am here on an extraordinary ability visa, oh, one, because I've won Grammys, sold millions of records. And the time of my deportation is 16 years ago. So my band, I think, was like 10 years. So I qualify on all grounds.

And then I've had a stellar record as a diplomat meeting with Republicans, with Democrats. To this day, I have friendships with Republicans, the ambassador that just got appointed by President Trump. He's from South Carolina. And I met him through a Democratic state member of the House. Because when I was honored in the South Carolina, capital, I made sure to ask my Democratic friends to let me meet the Republicans because governments change. Right. Minorities and majorities change. And I wanted to be that no matter who is the president, no matter who is the House majority leader, I have a relationship for the sake of the

Belizean people. And that worked because even though President Biden, I got my diplomatic visa on the President Biden, I got my 01 under President Trump. Right? And if President Trump asked me to come to Mar-Lago, tomorrow I'll go on behalf of the Belizean people, just as

if President Biden would have invited me to the White House of Kamala. They're going to be mad at you. Shire supporting Trump. No, no. I support, Hakeem Jeffries is my God. He wore with Trump all the time.

But Hakeem, Jeffries just gave me a proclamation for my 25th anniversary of the Shine album. The borough president, Renoso, is my brother. He just gave me the key to Brooklyn on Saturday and declared April 25th. Yeah. Declared Brooklyn. You know, not to cut you off, man, but it's like you went through being a mega star on one of the biggest labels ever. doing 10 years in prison, right? Didn't get deported,

then turning the politicians and shout to beliefs. I heard it's a beautiful country. My family just went there. I heard they got beautiful beaches, beautiful land. I heard it's like a, it's beautiful. Paradise, paradise. And now you're like in the government,

you know, doing state stuff. Like, what would you tell the kids? Because, you know, it's still crazy stuff. Well, I lost my seat in the House of Representatives, which is why I returned to the state. I lost my seat March 12, 2025 last year, stole the seat from me. My own people, the people in my own political party stole the seat from me. But again, never to sit there and cry and be sad, I came up with a plan.

I said, it's my 25th anniversary. I got a few years until the next elections. You know what? I'm going to celebrate my 25th anniversary a shot. And I'm going to return to the stage. And remember I put out the Hulu documentary, again, respect to 50 and Alex. who did their reckoning documentary. I got the honorable documentary on Hulu that I put out 2024.

And when I put out that documentary, I had told Disney that I was going to put out an album, the honorable album. But I couldn't do it because I was so focused on policy and being the leader of the opposition. The leader of the opposition in Belize is the prime minister in waiting. So you're an election away from being the prime minister of a country. and I took that very serious on behalf of hip-hop,

on behalf of myself, but on behalf of hip-hop, that I couldn't disappoint hip-hop, that we get an opportunity to do something that is beyond the culture and we make the culture look bad because we're not prepared because we're not proficient. So I said, you know what? I'm going to focus and be the best political leader that I could be, and there'll come a time for the music again,

if that's what God wants. And so when the opportunity came, I said, ah, you know what, I got time. I got time today. And that's how it happened because, you know, getting to Dre, I got to fly there. I got to wait a few days until he's available. I got to come back. You know, the relationship that I developed with Dre is like as a brother, like he's an idol.

He's an icon. But it went from the first meeting was leader to leader. And then I developed a relationship with him. And I did that with every producer that's on the album. I went to see Jermaine. I went to see Swiss. I went to see Timberland. I went to see Rizzo.

Right? I didn't get to a boy, Wanda because he's in Canada, but I went to see hip boy. Right? But so for the kids that are listening, you are whatever you work hard to be. The teacher, the principal said today

to the kids at PS-92, the sky's the limit. I told him no. The sky is just step one. There is no limit. After you reach the sky, then you go to another planet. Then you go to another planet. Then you just go throughout the universe.

Then you just, there's no end to the universe. Scientifically, there's no end to the universe. There's no end to what a young person could do out there. But as you see my story, it will be difficult. It will be painful. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not gonna cap and have you think that, oh, just get up, brush your teeth, say your prayer,

listen to your mom and your teacher, and life is gonna be perfect. No, it's gonna hit you hard. It's gonna be challenges, but you can face those challenges, you can overcome those challenges and give yourself time. You got these young ones out here,

the young boys shooting 15, 15 year olds dying. Yeah. I feel like sometimes it'd be easy just for rappers and people like in opposition to go, stay out of trouble, just, but we got to really, I don't know, like, yeah, but I lived that. But I lived that.

We lived there. And I'm living that now by even being here. I'm, they could tell you I'm here by myself. Back in the days, we would have came here. No, he had came here. We would have thought, oh, I wouldn't even think I would have came here. We would have, no, I'm telling you, we wouldn't even made up. We wouldn't even made up.

Everybody would have had the smokers and it'd be like, yeah, I'm in the town again. When I run into them dudes, well, you know, it's all safe. That's what we were doing. We were showing at each other. We were trying to kill each other back in the days. Definitely. So, but this is where we're supposed to be. We deserve to grow old.

We deserve to take care of our grandkids. You deserve that vacation with your family in Belize. And when you get there, it's like we roll out the red carpet. We don't deserve to die early. You kids there. That is not hip. And that's why I'm coming back, because I'm not coming back to rap about shooting anybody or killing anybody.

I'm coming back to rap about this journey and my projection and developing Belize and opening the Brooklyn Chop House and just doing all types of fascinating things and, you know, making love to my woman and just having a great adult contemporary hip-hop life. What's wrong with that shit? World leader chic, right? We deserve to be presidents. We deserve to be CEOs and billionaires. This idea that in order to be African, to be brown and black in America, you have to be a gangster.

You have to be a gangbanger. I reject that. I renounce that. That is a lie. That is not true. You need to be alive. You need to be successful. Right.

And you can be. America is the greatest country on. earth. I love Belize, but America is a developed nation. Belize we're developing. One day, Belize will be the greatest. Belize has the greatest people because that is my home. But you guys understand, you got to understand what I'm saying, right? I just mean as far as developed nation, right? Of course, of course. You guys have so much opportunities. I pray, and that's why I wanted to be Prime Minister of Belize, and I still do so I could give the Belizeans the opportunity that you have in America.

So for you young kids here in America, no, no, no, no. Drug trafficker, gangbanger, pimp, all of that. That was our era. That is like a dinosaur. You need to be alive, take advantage of these opportunities. AI is about to replace the human race. And you guys, if you keep thugging it. and bugging, going to be the first that they make extinct.

So please. And there's cameras everywhere, so you can't do anything anyway. It's the real report. Like, share, subscribe. We got Sean in the building. Make sure y'all check his documentary. Check out the new album he got. He's talking about his life story, doing 10 years in prison, hit albums,

coming out and doing stuff with the government. Representative, it's on. Sean Poe, man. Oh, yeah. Brooklyn. Good luck surviving the offseason. football fans. At first I was afraid, I was betrified.

Football's over, it's like a part of me just died inside. 200 days till football's back, but tonight I won't just cry, because I've got a waste to play. And that's the place with hard rock bed, I will survive. Offered by a seminal tribe of Florida that must be 21 plus and physically present in Florida to wage your terms and conditions apply. If you are so many you know as a gambling problem, please call 1833 Playwise. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.