Former Bad Boy Records rapper Jamal “Shyne” Barrow slammed Sean “Diddy” Combs for ruining his life by making him the “fall guy” in his 1999 New York nightclub shooting.
“He pretty much sent me to prison,” the former rapper, who is now a politician in his native Belize, said when asked about his one-time mentor’s arrest.
“This is someone who destroyed my life,” he repeatedly said of the 10-year sentence he got for “defending” the long-disgraced rap superstar.
Barrow said he was in New York in 1999 as “an 18-year-old kid just wanting to do nothing other than make my mother proud and make Belize proud and … be recognized for my talent and take over the world.”
Instead, he says he became “the fall guy” for Diddy — then known as Puff Daddy or Puffy — when three people were injured after Combs fired a shot into the ceiling of a Midtown dance club while with then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez.
Combs told jurors he only fired in self-defense — and Shyne was the only one to get prison time, with a 10-year sentence for shooting two bystanders.
“I was defending him, and he turned around and called witnesses to testify against me,” the still-bitter Barrow said this week. “Let us not lose sight of what the cold, hard facts are,” he said of the betrayal.
“This is someone who destroyed my life, but do I take any joy or satisfaction for what he’s going through?” he said of Combs, who is currently behind bars after being charged Tuesday with sex-trafficking and racketeering.
“Absolutely not.”
Shyne was eventually released in 2009 and deported back to Belize, where he is now Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives.
He laughed when asked if he knew anything about Combs’ now notorious “Freak Offs,” in which prosecutors say he forced women to have sex with male prostitutes while he masturbated and recorded the sometimes days-long sex sessions.
Oh my goodness!” he said, chuckling. “I have nothing to do with Sean Combs’ personal life … everything was strictly on a professional level.”
Details of Combs’ previous brushes with the law resurfaced after he was charged Tuesday with sex-trafficking and racketeering charges over alleged abuse he inflicted on women for more than a decade.
The indictment alleges, in part, that he carried guns to “intimidate and threaten” his victims and those who witnessed the abuse.
Combs was denied bail at a Manhattan Federal Court hearing Tuesday.
The decision was appealed, but Manhattan federal Judge Andrew Carter Jr. said his defense’s proposal for home detention and electronic monitoring on $50 million bail was “insufficient” in a hearing Wednesday.
