Let the Son Shyne In

Former Bad Boy artist and Belize born rapper Jamal Barrow aka Shyne, was currently released from prison this past Tuesday after serving eight years in prison for his 2001 conviction of a club shooting while mentor P. Diddy beat the rap. Upon being released from prison he was taken into custody by immigration officials. Regardless of the fact that Shyne was a model prisoner in the Clinton correctional facility, he will be deported back to his home country of Belize in Central America. Shyne reportedly has a "green card", or permanent residence in the U.S. but has never acquired U.S. nationality. Shyne's uncle Michael Finnegan, who is a member of the Belize Cabinet, Minister of Housing and close ally of Shyne's father Prime Minister Dean Barrow, told the media today that if Shyne is deported, he will be welcomed in Belize. Mr. Finnegan who helped raise Shyne as a child in Belize when his mother left for the U.S.A. said that "...his accommodations are ready and waiting for him in Belize if he is deported". Now almost everyone in the hip hop community has been waiting for his release and eagerly awaiting some new material from him, I personally don’t see his being deported as anything to worry about. Many nyc based artists have always shouted him out when he was first locked up and thoughout his entire sentence. Lots of international music artists enjoy a large American fan base without being in the states, and in recent times a lot of collaborating artists don’t even meet each other when doing a joint track. From Shyne's past song producers he always enjoyed a collaboration of his dark and deep vocals with electro, up-tempo grooves, reggae related beats, tweaked synths and overall depth of content. I feel the only thing people should worry about is, if their record sales and fan base will deplete when and if he does drop a record. I’ve heard rumors stating Jay-z might sign Shyne to ROCNation, however this is just a rumor. He has done work with Pharell, Swizzy and his last album, God Father Buried Alive, clearly shows his dislike for 50 Cent. Even if he never records another record, his albums, unreleased tracks/collaborations will always be in my ipod player and his music pumped out of the cars in BKLYN...

By TK