SHYNE GOES AT DIDDY...AGAIN. IS HE THE RIGHT TARGET?

Here we have Jamal Barrow aka Shyne going at Diddy, through Miss Info.tv, once again for promises spoken to him in private that have been broken in his eyes. When we all saw that picture of a tan suited Diddy and an Hasidic outfitted Shyne earlier this year at Paris Fashion Week, there were question marks all over the place. "How did they link? Who reached out to whom? Why the long faces? Is Diddy's shirt buttoned to the top? What is Shyne on gear wise?" There were more, but I'll stop there. More than anything was the shock of the pairing in a picture looking civil and just, damn near pimped out. After Shyne's hate campaign against Diddy for nearly 10 years, you'd never think to see the sight of these two in close quarters without a knife in their hand for either protection or pay back.

For those not up to speed on the story of their relationship, you are going to have to Wikipedia this section to catch up. Everyone else...how do you feel about Shyne's latest attempt to expose Diddy as a liar or empty promise maker? When the two made up in France, no one really knew why or how it happened. A picture showed up from Diddy's side and the chatter went on about how it's good that they squashed the beef. How it was great for putting that side of the game to rest. But many also wondered how long it would last. Not because it couldn't, but because some things are so broken that temporary fixes are just that.

If Diddy did promise Shyne that he would help in his pursuit of getting back to America, which is probably Shyne's ultimate goal (especially after sitting in cells for 10 years) in trying to conquer the beast that tried to slay him, did he give Diddy a timetable in which to do so? Was a concrete deal in place to go forward in such a complicated matter of visas and government ties? Is Diddy even powerful enough to get an exiled rapper through the velvet ropes of USA immigration? There are so many fields of thought on situations like these. They can be seen in the everyday dealings of dudes on lock down asking their only connection to the outside world for things that their homie that owes them something for a deed done just can't provide. What may seem like the easiest thing for the needy could be the one block the person on the other side just can't provide.

Is Shyne's frustration kicking in? I'm sure it is. Is he right in his feelings being that way? He sure is. Does what he did by dropping a diss record against Diddy help his cause? No. It's an attention getter, but who is the one that it'll move to help Shyne get back to the one place he wants to return? He's right that making music helps his cause, but this type of music and the quality of it doesn't. Getting back to music would open his chances more than writing letters or co-signs from Diddy. Regardless of how you felt about his pre-shooting music, Shyne had this rap game on tilt with his street rugged tunes laced with Brooklyn brashness and rude boy rhythm. His pain of a broken childhood and hustling hard comings shaped his sound into the anthem of the unwanted and forgotten souls of street youth. Already an outcast in his personal life, Shyne made the throw-a-ways a point of reference and showed that any situation was one that could be battled and won. Circumstances would deal him a tough blow with the trial he had to endure and the resulting jail sentence to follow, but he did it all with steel vigor and honor with business deals handled even behind the wall.

So it puzzles me that now, a free man, yet not in the place he wants to be, that Shyne still seems trapped by these bars he's still confines himself with when he lashes out at Diddy for not coming through for him. I applaud Shyne's strength throughout this whole ordeal. Probably less than 5% of the people reading this would have been able to come out the other side of his terrible truth...yet he has. And for doing so, he must realize that his purpose is something higher or more than what he may have once set out for it to be. (I've heard the personal stories of his good deeds of taking care of families that have been effected by hardships and down times. Silent angel work.) That type of power isn't resting in the hands of Diddy either. Promises or not. It's solely on the shoulders of a man that can teach and showcase a different kind of spectrum that this industry can take a person through if he only focuses on repairing himself. By entering the Jewish faith, maybe he has taken the steps to mend his jagged pieces. By speaking on the behalf of a fallen solider in Diddy's army, Anthony "Wolf" Jones, he sheds light on people that have had Diddy's back through the ages...but what now? More onslaughts? More outrage? Hope he doesn't go that way. Let's get some of what was lost in Shyne's time away. Does his remaining fans still fight for the guy they want to hear or will Shyne continue to give them more of what he has produced since being released from prison?

I've bared witness to the flash of his great potential when he was rising in the industry, I hope he can get back to the way things used to be, but better. For his sake.