Former Bad Boy Records rapper Jamal “Shyne” Barrow has slammed Sean “Diddy” Combs for ruining his life by making him the “scapegoat” for his 1999 New York nightclub shooting.
“He practically sent me to prison,” said the former rapper, who is now a politician in his native Belize, when He was asked about the arrest of his former mentor.
“This is a person who destroyed my life,” he repeatedly said of the 10-year sentence he received for “defending” the long-disgraced rap superstar.
Barrow said he was in New York in 1999 as “an 18-year-old kid who just wanted to make my mom proud and make Belize proud and… have my talent recognized and take over the world.”
Instead, he says he became “the scapegoat” 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 he was with his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez.
Combs told jurors he only fired in self-defense, and Shyne was the only one to receive a prison sentence, getting a 10-year sentence for shooting two bystanders.
“I was defending him, and he turned around and called witnesses to testify against me,” a still bitter Barrow said this week. “Let’s not lose sight of the cold, hard facts,” he said of the betrayal.
“This is a person who destroyed my life, but do I get any joy or satisfaction from what he’s going through?” she said of Combs, who is currently behind bars after being charged Tuesday with sex trafficking and racketeering.
“At all.”
Shyne was eventually released in 2009 and deported to Belize, where he is now leader of the opposition in the Belize House of Representatives.
She laughed when asked if she knew anything about Combs' now-infamous “Freak Offs,” in which prosecutors say he forced women to have sex with male prostitutes while he masturbated and recorded the sex sessions that sometimes lasted for days.
“Oh my God!” she said, laughing. “I have nothing to do with Sean Combs’ personal life… it was all strictly professional.”
Details of Combs' previous troubles with the law resurfaced after he was charged Tuesday with sex trafficking and racketeering for allegedly abusing women over more than a decade.
The indictment alleges, in part, that he carried weapons to “intimidate and threaten” his victims and those who witnessed the abuse.
Combs was denied bail at a hearing in Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday.
The decision was appealed, but Manhattan federal judge Andrew Carter Jr. said at a hearing Wednesday that his defense's proposal for house arrest and electronic monitoring on $50 million bail was “insufficient.”
