SHYNE: FROM RAPPER TO POLITICIAN
Moses Michael Levi Barrow is now the Head of the Opposition in Belize
BY SNN.BZ MUSIC STAFF
Shyne, whose real name is Moses Michael Levi Barrow, is a Belizean-American rapper who gained fame in the late 1990s. He was discovered by DJ Clark Kent and quickly signed to Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records.
His self-titled debut album was released in 2000.
In 1999, Shyne was involved in a high-profile nightclub shooting in New York City, which also involved Sean Combs and Jennifer Lopez. Shyne was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2001, while Combs was acquitted.
After serving his sentence, Shyne was deported to Belize, where he has since become a prominent political figure, serving as the Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives.
FROM RAPPER TO CONVICTED FELON TO BELIZE POLITICIAN
NEW DOCUMENTARY
Moses Michael Levi Barrow (born Jamal Michael Barrow, best known by his stage name Shyne; November 8, 1978) is a Belizean rapper and politician. He is the Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives, and the leader of the Belize United Democratic Party. Barrow was born in Belize but moved to Brooklyn in New York City as a child and began to rap as a teenager. He is perhaps best known for his 2000 singles “Bad Boyz” and “Bonnie & Shyne“. He also wrote and performed on a number of multi-platinum albums, such as Usher’s Confessions, Lil Wayne’s Carter IV, Notorious B.I.G’s Born Again, Mase’s Double Up, and Puff Daddy‘s Forever among other top-selling albums during his tenures with his former labels, Bad Boy Records and Def Jam Recordings.
Shyne and his mother lived in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East Flatbush, where after he was discovered as he was freestyling in a barbershop, he became a musician and rapper. On the verge of releasing his debut album, on the evening of December 27, 1999, he went to a nightclub with his mentor/label boss Sean Combs, and Combs’ then-girlfriend singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. An argument broke out in the club between Combs and another man, guns were drawn, shots fired, and three bystanders were injured. In June 2001 he was convicted of assault, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. His 2000 debut album was nevertheless a success, and he continued to record music while incarcerated.
While serving his prison sentence, Shyne became interested in Judaism, became observant – practicing Orthodox Judaism, and officially changed his name to Moses Michael Levi Barrow in 2006. After he was released from prison in 2009, he was deported to Belize. In 2010, he moved to Jerusalem, where he spent his time studying the Torah up to 12 hours a day. He returned to Belize in 2013, and was appointed the Belize Music and Goodwill Ambassador, charged with the sustainable development of the music industry in Belize, and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop it.
Shyne was elected to the Belizean House of Representatives in the 2020 general election, as a member of the center-right Belize United Democratic Party. He became the Belize Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives and the leader of the Belize United Democratic Party, in both June 2021 (until September 2021) and February 2022.
Early life
Shyne was born Jamal Michael Barrow, in Belize City in Belize in Central America, to Frances Imeon Myvette and Dean Barrow, who were not married. Shyne’s mother is the sister of Michael Myvett, now going by the surname Finnegan, one of Dean Barrow’s long-time political colleagues in Belize. Barrow’s middle name comes from his uncle. Shyne’s Jewish maternal grandmother had emigrated from Ethiopia to Belize.
As a child, Barrow’s time was divided between his mother in Brooklyn, New York City, and his lawyer/politician father, who initially failed to acknowledge his son, and was years later elected in 2008 as the first black Prime Minister of Belize.
