Shyne signs with Def Jam

[Jome]

Shyne Signs Deal With Def Jam From Behind Bars
04.16.2004 6:58 PM EDT
   
 
Being in prison won't stop Jamal "Shyne" Barrow from putting out a new album. The former P. Diddy protégé, who's serving a 10-year sentence for assault, has signed a deal with Def Jam Records.

Sources told MTV News on Friday that the long-rumored deal had been struck, and according to the Los Angeles Times, it could be worth approximately $3 million for the first album. Def Jam beat out Warner Bros. Records, run by former Def Jam CEO Lyor Cohen, in a bidding war for the incarcerated artist.

In 2001 Shyne was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement in a 1999 shooting at a New York nightclub (see "Shyne Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison"). Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, who signed Shyne to his Bad Boy Records label, was acquitted of any wrongdoing in the same trial.

Shyne is housed in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. He is said to have recorded up to a dozen songs before his incarceration, and those verses, put to new beats, could constitute an album for Def Jam.

Though he is not eligible for parole until at least 2009, the rapper has retained Harvard law professor and practicing lawyer Charles Ogletree to help him obtain an early work-release discharge. Ogletree orchestrated a similar maneuver for Tupac Shakur.



—Joseph Patel

[Don Breezio]

hmmm...shyne on def jam...i'd rather hear him on bad boy but i will pick up his def jam album either way

[Darksider]

hmmm...shyne on def jam...i'd rather hear him on bad boy but i will pick up his def jam album either way

[Eddie G.]

His debut album didn't impress me at all, it seemed like the only reason they signed him was because he sounds kinda like BIG.  Why are all these record companies competing over him?

[Don Breezio]

His debut album didn't impress me at all, it seemed like the only reason they signed him was because he sounds kinda like BIG.  Why are all these record companies competing over him?

i didnt think he sounded anything like big...never understood why people say that...lots of rappers have low voices...in that case I20 sounds like big too...his first album impressed me quite a bit...he sounds really good w/ barrington levy too

[white Boy]

i dunno, i got some song by shyne - "before i die", i think its a kanye west beat, its sick

[CRAFTY]

Def Jam ...great label

[Jome]

I think Shyne can do big numbers if he gets his priorities straight..
He got a catchy voice..

[Leggy Hendrix]

i didnt realise his debut was close to platinum status...guess the promotion of a court case helped him in that respect  

[Suffice]

damn, that's pretty cool. Shyne's first CD wasn't so bad, some heaters on there. ANyway, i reached 400 posts, now i'm gonna celebrate