The former Bad Boy rapper has been elected to a parliamentary position in his home country.
Shyne appears to be following in his family’s footsteps.
According to Billboard, the former Bad Boy rapper has been elected to a parliamentary position in Belize, where his sister, Denise “Sista B” Barrow, currently heads the Queen’s Square constituency and his father, Dean Barrow, served as prime minister until just this year. Shyne will take the Mesopotamia seat in the country’s House of Representatives as a member of the United Democratic Party, a position formerly held by his uncle, Michael Finnegan.
Shyne celebrated the victory on Instagram yesterday (see below.) “FROM HIP HOP TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES!!!,” the rapper wrote, going on to thank his electoral district. “We all fall! But to get up and walk, run and rise again is the purpose of life! We are all destined to be challenged but we are all capable of overcoming those challenges!,” the rapper added, presumably referring to his nine-year jail stint in connection with a (now-infamous) club shooting in NYC at the very onset of his rap career.
In 2001, Shyne was charged with attempted murder, assault, and wreckless endangerment. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and upon his release in 2009, the rapper was almost immediately deported to Belize, as he had yet to become a nationalized citizen of the US.
See Shyne’s full statement below.
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