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It is not uncommon for successful musical artistes to broaden their interests into other industries. Leveraging their capital and considerable name recognition, even the most mundane and unimpressive product can become an overnight success. These jumpstarted ventures are often in fields at least symbiotic to the fast and furious life of a musical celebrity – namely fashion, film, or establishing their label to assert more control over the artistic process.

Far less common is the pivot to politics. But, not so much for Moses Michael Levi Barrow (born Jamal Michael Barrow), best known as the rapper, Shyne.

An Eventful Life

The Grammy Award-winning lyricist, turned leader of the Belize’s United Democratic Party (UDP), has lived an eventful life. Born in Belize City, Belize, Shyne was raised in Brooklyn. He became a bestselling rapper and writer in the United States (US) and in the same breath, did prison time disproportionate to a crime for which he was later deported to his home country. He also converted to Judaism, and is now competing to be the next Prime Minister of Belize.

It is a life worth crafting a screenplay about and thanks to a partnership between Disney subsidiary, ESPN, Shyne’s former record label, Rocnation, and his old friend Khaled Mohammed Khaled (best known as the record producer DJ Khaled), four projects are in the works to document Shyne’s life story. These include a bio-documentary, a scripted biopic, an upcoming television series, and a memoir.

He promised that he would have a hand in crafting the soundtrack for at least the biopic project.

From Belize to Brooklyn

As a youth, Shyne had a tumultuous relationship with his father who later became the first Black prime minister of Belize.

Like many other Caribbean immigrants, Shyne’s mother, Frances Imeon Myvette, migrated with him to Brooklyn under the promise of a better life. The reality was more stark. The two shared a claustrophobic apartment with Myvette cleaning homes and taking care of other children to make a living. Shyne fell into gang life, joining the ‘Decepticons’, named after the villains in the popular Transformers multimedia series.

At age 15, he was shot in the right shoulder. This was the genesis of his first transformation and would begin a pattern of metamorphosis due to trauma. After graduating high school, he enrolled in a local computer programme and worked as a bike messenger to make ends meet. With the lull of menial labour as his soundtrack, he created rhymes and lyrics, scribbling on every surface he could find. Anyone with ears could tell how talented he was and soon Shyne found himself in a room with Sean Combs, aka P.Diddy. The two became fast friends and Shyne signed with Combs’ record label, Bad Boy Records.

While the talent was there, the money went through Shyne as if he was a turnstile. He typified the rapper stereotype with multiple watches on one arm, a stable of luxury cars, and more jewels than your local jeweller. It was reported by Rolling Stone that a label mate once walked in on the rapper trying to unjam an AK-47 assault rifle. Things came to a head in 1998 when Shyne totalled his car killing a friend in the process.

A ‘Shyne-ing’ turnaround

This ordeal traumatised him and it seeped into his work. Many considered his musical output at that time to be the worst of his career. It is said that Combs had to intervene. That snapped Shyne out of his low point to where he produced his most successful single, ‘Bad Boyz’, which featured Barrington Levy as supporting vocals. The track peaked at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the leading single on the rapper’s eponymous record.

The turnaround and meteoric rise were short-lived.

On December 27th, 2000, Shyne was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Out on the town with Combs and then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, it is alleged that Combs fired a bullet in the air at a crowded nightclub during an altercation. It is further alleged that Shyne pulled out his own firearm and fired it. Three people were injured that night. Shyne was arrested outside the club while Combs’ and Lopez’s car was pulled over after a botched getaway. After a dramatic and well-publicised hearing, Shyne was found guilty by a Manhattan jury of assault, gun possession, and reckless endangerment. It’s a widely held belief that Shyne took the fall for Combs, and while he may never admit as such, it is said that those actions earned him respect at the infamous Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.

The rapper converted to Judaism, reconnecting with his roots. His maternal grandmother was Jewish, an emigrant from Ethiopia to Belize. He fasted in prison, held Shabbat, and eventually relinquished his birth name for Moses Levi.

A ‘Shyne-ing’ Reincarnation

Shyne has labelled this chapter of his life ‘incarceration and reincarnation.’ The rapper converted to Judaism, reconnecting with his roots. His maternal grandmother was Jewish, an emigrant from Ethiopia to Belize. He fasted in prison, held Shabbat, and eventually relinquished his birth name for Moses Levi. Shyne was released on parole in 2009, but as an undocumented citizen, and now a documented felon, the rapper was deported to Belize with no hopes of returning to the US.

The artiste attempted to extend his musical career, even becoming the “musical ambassador” to Belize, but found himself out of touch with how the scene changed in the years he spent behind bars. He took part in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to further his Jewish education, and later travelled to Paris to try and slot back into the fast life he was living before his sentence.

Unsurprisingly, his new orthodox faith clashed with the extravagant lifestyle of a superstar musician and the artist returned to Belize with dreams of enacting political change. In 2020, Shyne was nominated to stand as a candidate for the Belize House of Representatives by the UDP. He became the leader of the UDP in June 2021.

Life as a Politician

While his three-piece suits and political machinations are a far cry from him posing shirtless and menacing at 22 years old for his eponymous album, politics was never far from his mind. The difference now is perspective.

Instead of rapping about day-to-day life and injustices from the ground level of Brooklyn, he is trying to enact change that benefits Belizeans from the highest office.

Not everyone is convinced. While the former rapper has many supporters, there are detractors that see him as part of the problem – another beneficiary of nepotism who will win office, claim the benefits, and leave day-to-day for the poorest in the country imperceptibly different. Only time will tell if Barrow’s political legacy will dwarf his artistic one.

In the meantime, many eagerly await the reenactment of Shyne’s compelling life story, which is slated for release sometime in 2024.

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