He is the son of the Leader of the Opposition Hon. Dean Barrow and the nephew of the UDP’s Michael Finnegan and right now, Jamaal Barrow is also one of the most talked about rappers in the world. Few can dispute that next to Marion Jones,
Jamaal or "Shyne Po" as he is now called is the second most well known and most visible Belizean on the world stage. But unlike Marion Jones though Shyne was actually born here and grew up in New York City. In the late 1990s "Shyne Po" had a meteoric rise to stardom as a rapper and then there was an almost immediate fall from grace after he was charged for a nightclub shooting with rap mogul Sean "P Diddy" Combs. Shyne got 10 years in jail and that is where Shyne has been since his sentencing in 1999.
So what has one of Belize's proudest sons been up to? Well Shyne has been working on a much anticipated album, Godfather Buried Alive, which will be released on Tuesday and he is also working on an appeal. Last night for the first time since his conviction "Shyne Po" went on the record in an interview on MTV. While Belize was not on the agenda, in the one hour interview Shyne did speak about his future, his dedication to his faith, and he gave some insight into the real Jamaal Barrow.
Here are some excerpts:
"I'm Hebrew, so I don't use the phone on the Fridays or Saturday nights," he says. "I'm not watching TV, not listening to what's happening out there. We are curious creatures by nature, so for me to suppress that, it's the greatest change."
"I've totally detached myself from all material things, you dig? My mom hasn't seen me in four years," he reveals. "She wants to come see me, but this ain't that. What this is to the world, it ain't that to me. I'm not here for nobody to hold my hand, and I'm not here to be regular. I'm here to function on a plane that's unparalleled. That means no normal interactions, 'cause I'm not here for that. This is real extreme, so you have to go extreme. [I told myself,] 'Anything that's happening out there is not your concern. What you need to do is to go within yourself and discover all the brilliance that's there,' and that's what I've been doing."
"I hope and pray whatever was in store for me can be just a small percentage as great as those three figures," he says. "[My life has been] absolutely blessed, man. Nobody has a life of nothing but good. I think the good in my life just towers over whatever negatives, because all the negatives have led to greatness. I don't have to even put this album out. I can not do anything anymore and just leave it alone and I can feel my impact — and that's after one album has been made.
"For people overall to have a love and affinity for me, it's like I did it. There is nothing greater than that. You can't calculate it, you can't buy that. Guys go lifetimes and never accomplish that, and this is just the beginning 25 years. My future is ahead of me. When I [get out] it's going to be historical. Right now I'm making history. In order to give, you've got to get, so I'm pretty fortunate now."
Read the entire Interview: Shyne – Blessed with Curses
Listen to Previews of his New Album: Godfather Buried Alive