From Belize to Brooklyn: New rapper is `Shyne'-ing bright

From Belize to Brooklyn: New rapper is `Shyne'-ing bright

by Ytasha L. Womack

Well, he doesn't look like Biggie.

Shyne, whose voice is like a ghost of the slain Notorious B.I.G., Bad Boy rapper, is slim and short. Even if you didn't quite expect him to be the massive Biggie reborn, his slight frame, hidden in baggy sweatshirt and pants, doesn't quite match the heavy voice that emanates.

And his rhyme pattern, which also has an uncanny resemblance to Biggie, plus his lyrics, colorful tales of spilled blood and funerals, stands in contrast to the spiritual overtones in his conversation.

"I feel blessed," Shyne said, poised in the lobby of yet another plush hotel on his national promotion tour. "My dream is coming true."

It was a dream, Shyne admits, that was almost derailed. The 20-year-old Brooklynite's bouts with the law were as discussed as his rhyme style. Now that God has given him a second chance, he said, he feels compelled to "do it right."

"God put me here for a reason," Shyne said. "This talent is much bigger than me. I could potentially reach millions and millions of people. If that's not major, I don't know what is."

The debut album "Shyne," with the reggae-inflected song "Bad Boys," is a hit. Slated to be released Sept. 26, the album, with its gritty rhymes and bombastic beats, could easily become a rap top seller.

But the revelation, the fact that he can potentially help millions, (to do what, he doesn't know) is so overwhelming that Shyne, born Jamal Barrows, feels compelled to uncover his purpose. It's a purpose so deep, he said, that if he "strays from the path" he'll be punished.

Born in Belize, Shyne moved to Flatbush, Brooklyn to live with his mother and grandmother in the mid-1980's. With Bob Marley and Boogie Down Productions as his musical inspirations, Shyne decided he wanted to be a rapper.

As a teen, he worked as a messenger boy, cramming writing sessions between deliveries, cornering anyone who'd listen and rapping for them.

Even in his interview, he slips into Marley songs between sentences. "I went to deliver a package to Hot 97 (a radio station) once and caught Angie Martinez in the elevator and started rapping."

His persistence paid off. At age 17, Shyne decided to rap for a man outside of a Brooklyn barber shop. The gentleman standing next to him was none other than Foxy Brown manager Don Pooh.

"God led me to him," Shyne said. The performance was the first of a whirlwind experience including special performances for music executives Sylvia Rhone and Jimmy Irvine that eventually led to Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed him to Bad Boy entertainment in 1997.

Now Shyne's ready to, uh, shine. He's come to terms with his street-life temperament, actively working to channel his overwhelming anger into song.

"It's kind of selfish," Shyne says of creating raps. "It's an opportunity for me to think out loud, get out all the baggage I have on this earth."

As for the never-ending Biggie comparisons, Shyne says there's no comparison. "He's like the greatest rapper of all time," Shyne said. "The more my dream is realized, the more I realize how great he was. No one can be compared to him."

Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.

Photo (Shyne)