Former Bad Boy Rapper Shyne Reacts To Diddy’s Arrest After Musician 'Destroyed' His Life Following NYC Shooting

Former Bad Boy rapper Moses “Shyne” Barrow is opening up about Diddy‘s arrest!

As Perezcious readers may know, the musicians go way back, meeting in 1998 when the rising star was signed to Sean Combs‘ record label. The next year, things went south when they were involved in a 1999 NYC nightclub shooting that left three people injured. Diddy, his girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lopez, and his bodyguard Anthony “Wolf” Jones fled the scene but were later pulled over by police for running a red light. A gun was found in the vehicle and the couple was arrested (though J.Lo was later let go).

Eventually, Diddy, Jones, and Shyne were each charged with multiple offenses. However, both Diddy and Jones were found not guilty at trial, with Diddy claiming that he fired the weapon in self-defense. Meanwhile, Shyne was convicted of first-degree assault, sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2001, and was released and deported back to Belize in 2009.

Despite the troubled past, the men have remained somewhat friendly over the years. And now, Shyne is clearing the air about their relationship and reacting to the hip hop mogul’s legal mess. Of course, as we all know by now, the 54-year-old was arrested earlier this week for sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. After being denied bail twice, he’s being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center until his trial.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the current Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives didn’t mince words when he reflected on his connection to the Last Night artist, recalling:

“This is someone who, in a sense, testified against me when I was on trial. When I was an 18-year-old kid, just wanting to do nothing other than make my mother proud and make Belize proud and do what all of us want to do, be recognized for my talent and take over the world. I was defending him and he turned around and called witnesses to testify against me. And he contributed… He pretty much sent me to prison.”

Yikes…

Shyne added:

“That is the context by which you must always describe that relationship. Yes, I forgave. I moved on. […] But let us not pretend as if I was in Miami for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

After getting some pushback for working with the Sean John founder at various “charity” events and for other “opportunities to better the people of Belize,” Shyne urged:

“Let’s not lose sight of what the cold hard facts are. This was not someone who I vacationed with and [someone] who he and I enjoyed this great, intimate relationship of brotherhood. This is someone who destroyed my life, and who I forgave, and who I moved on, and for the better interest of Belize because he was in the position at that time to give scholarships and to maybe invest. I would not deny attempting to bring the investment to Belize and to bring the contributions to education to Belize. But don’t distort it.”

Still, the 45-year-old insisted that he does not “take any joy” in Diddy’s downfall, noting:

“Do I take any joy with what he is going through? Absolutely not. I am different than other people. No one needs to fail for me to succeed.”

He added elsewhere:

“One of the things that I would never wish on my worst enemy is to be incarcerated or to be sick, to be bedridden. So, I take no joy in anyone’s challenges — whether with the criminal justice system or otherwise.”

And that’s coming from someone who knows firsthand what it’s like to be locked up! Oof. Hear him share his thoughts on the rapper’s predicament (below):