Shyne has announced a new partnership through The Walt Disney Company that will see DJ Khaled and Roc Nation produce one of four biographical projects.
The former Bad Boy artist shared the news during what appeared to be a press conference hosted in his native Belize, which he posted to Instagram on Thursday (January 19). According to Shyne, his new deal through Disney-owned brands ESPN and Andscape will see the release of a documentary, a scripted biopic, a docu-series and an autobiography.
“Very pleased, very grateful that I was able to close a deal with Walt Disney and their subsidiaries ESPN and Andscape to produce my bio-documentary, bio-motion picture and bio-TV series, as well as my memoir,” the rapper turned politician said. “The documentary will be executive produced by DJ Khaled and Roc Nation. So stay tuned, we will begin production here in Belize in the Spring. And we look for a 2024 Summer release.”
In the post’s caption, Shyne gave his followers some insight into what to expect from the first project under this deal.
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“With @djkhaled and @rocnation executive producing,” he wrote, “you can expect nothing short of a riveting film that takes you on an unfiltered journey of my life from birth in Belize to the dreams, nightmares, triumphs and tragedies involved in selling millions of albums, winning Grammy Awards, sacrificing my career and freedom to defend myself and friends, incarceration to reincarnation, fury to forgiveness, hurt to healing poverty to patriotism and purpose….Legendary Rapper to next Prime Minister of Belize!”
While the deal at Disney may be new, Shyne first spoke to HipHopDX about his documentary projects during a Zoom interview in 2021, revealing he would also make his way back into the booth to support the new endeavors.
“I will be doing a bio movie and bio documentary as well as a bio TV series, which will all have corresponding soundtracks,” he told DX. “I will be making music for those. But for those projects, not for a career, just as an attachment to those projects. You can’t have a movie without a soundtrack. And so I would have to create music for the movie and for the documentary.
“I would have to create music for the TV series. But again, you’ll hear a lot of Belizean artists with my American artist friends. So it would be a great opportunity to give the Belizean musicians a platform.”
After coming into the industry as Bad Boy’s purported next superstar, Shyne infamously served 10 years at the Clinton Correctional Facility after being convicted for his involvement in a shooting at a Manhattan nightclub during an evening out with Diddy and Jennifer Lopez.
In 2009, he was released from prison and into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, and was immediately deported back to Belize, where he remained a citizen despite having lived in the United States as a legal resident alien since he was child.
Upon returning to his home country, Shyne (who changed his name to Moses Michael Levi Barrow in 2006) followed in his father’s footsteps and embarked on a political career. In 2020, he was elected to the Belizean House of Representatives in the 2020 general election, thanks in part to an endorsement from Diddy after the two mended their fractured relationship.
Shyne was appointed Leader of the Opposition at the House of Representatives in 2022.
Nearly 10 years after being deported to his home country of Belize, Shyne was welcomed back to the United States in 2021 — and Diddy played a role in that too.
Late last year, Shyne partnered with his former label boss to launch the Sean Diddy Combs Scholarship at Howard University, in the hopes that he can send a Belizean student to study in America.
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