Shyne and Diddy eventually reconciled after Shyne was released from jail, though it took some time.
Shyne sat down with The Breakfast Club to discuss his relationship with the disgraced music mogul following Shyne's eight-year prison stint after being sentenced to 10 years.
“There wasn’t an instant forgiveness,” the former Bad Boy Records artist said at around the 35:50 minute mark. “I got out in 2009—there wasn’t an attempt at reconciliation until 2012 when I went to Paris to meet him."
"That was the first attempt at forgiveness, but I was still in a place of, ‘He owes me. He owes me his life. … He’s a billionaire. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have been a billionaire. If I would have cooperated with the district attorney, he would’ve went to jail and heaven knows what would have happened to his career.’ Right? So that’s worth at least a couple million dollars out of the billion that you’re worth.”
But Shyne said Diddy gave him far less. “I felt he owed me something,” Shyne added. “He probably gave me $50,000, and I’m like, ‘You can’t be serious. 10 years—$50,000?’”
Shyne went on to explain that he “tried to spit in [Diddy’s] face” the one-time Diddy visited him in jail. “I didn’t want him to come back. I didn’t even want him to come see me, I didn’t even know he was coming to see me.”
When Charlamagne tha God asked Shyne if he did an “angry bid,” Shyne described his life as being “destroyed, devastated.” He continued, “I was figuring out how to continue living, buried alive, and I didn’t want anything to do with him. Yeah, there was a lot of hurt and a lot of pain but I wasn’t just sitting there, ‘I’m angry.’ I sat there, I got into my spirituality, got into my Judaism, did the deal with Def Jam, couple million dollars, put out Godfather Buried Alive album.”
Shyne’s imprisonment stemmed from a shooting incident in 1999, a year after he signed with Bad Boy. While at an event in New York City, Diddy got into a verbal altercation with a man, which escalated into physical violence. Involved parties brandished weapons and opened fire in the nightclub, leaving three bystanders injured. In the years since many have speculated that Diddy used Shyne as his scapegoat and pinned the whole ordeal on him.
On Monday, Diddy responded to Shyne alleging he became the "sacrificial lamb" in Hulu's new documentary, The Honorable Shyne.
"Mr. Combs categorically denies Mr. Barrow’s allegations, including any suggestion that he orchestrated Mr. Barrow to 'take the fall' or 'sacrificed' him by directing witnesses to testify against him. These claims are unequivocally false," Diddy's rep told TMZ.
"Mr. Combs was acquitted of all charges related to the 1999 Club New York incident and has consistently maintained his innocence. He cannot accept or condone any characterization of his actions as 'demonic' or 'malicious.'"
