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Shyne On Working with Diddy And Meeting with US Lawmakers As A Politician for Belize
Aug 21, 2021
Shyne formerly of Bad Boy Records, has changed his life’s direction to Bizean politics. Shyne had a budding career as an artist when he was deported for an alleged nightclub incident. Now as the leader of the conservative opposition party he is set to visit U.S. lawmakers to discuss strengthening the development of Belize.
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Shyne On Working with Diddy And Meeting with US Lawmakers As A Politician for Belize
Sway’s Universe
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0:00
[Applause]
0:00
let me tell you something
0:02
and we're listening to these callers
0:04
that's talking about ptsd and working in
0:06
the judicial system and and what's going
0:09
on in terms of um social injustice and
0:12
you know y'all you know i'm a part of
0:13
the last mile which is an organization
0:15
that goes into these prison facilities
0:18
and
0:19
provide a curriculum of teaching folks
0:21
how to code so when they come out
0:23
they'll have a viable resource they
0:25
could use an asset they could put them
0:27
in that world especially in this
0:28
progressive world
0:30
of coding and computer technology and
0:33
and so we've been really successful at
0:35
that so whenever there's somebody that's
0:36
really fighting for the people
0:38
like our next guest who's an iconic
0:42
figure in hip
0:43
someone i got a chance to meet uh when
0:46
he first came out when his first album
0:48
came out when bad boys came out singles
0:51
bad boys and bunny and shine came out
0:53
back in 2000. i know this had to be
0:56
because
0:58
because i was just started working for
1:00
mtv at that time oh okay
1:03
and
1:04
the man got caught up in an unfortunate
1:06
incident that became worldwide news and
1:09
had to stand trial with p diddy um
1:11
because of it
1:13
and because of it he was incarcerated
1:15
and a lot of us
1:17
would stay concerned about his
1:19
well-being and uh when he got out
1:23
he was able to go back to his home
1:25
um in belize
1:27
and
1:28
now he's back ladies and gentlemen and
1:30
he's back in a big way hoping to walk in
1:33
his father's footsteps as prime minister
1:35
he was speaking last night
1:38
a good friend of mine hit me and said
1:40
he's in town
1:41
and said he would love to speak uh come
1:43
on the show i'm talking about the
1:44
georgia state rep my man j craig gordon
1:47
give him a big round of applause said
1:48
he's here hey and i said hey man we all
1:52
got our obligation to lend our platforms
1:54
to this man because what he's speaking
1:55
is truth to power hp he's a man of the
1:58
people i'm talking about the one and
2:00
only moses michael levi barrow who's
2:03
with us right now a lot of you guys know
2:06
him as shine don't even play the song
2:07
let's just give the man a big round of
2:09
applause because he's on the line with
2:11
us right now
2:13
mr barrow how you doing
2:15
good morning good morning i'm fine thank
2:17
you thank you for that
2:18
that warm introduction come on man i i i
2:22
i have to give it to you that way say
2:23
hey we got heather b the legendary have
2:26
to be with me yeah we got you what's
2:28
going on heather and you can call me
2:29
shine you don't have to give me the long
2:31
title
2:32
the people of the united states they
2:34
still remember sean so we could just do
2:36
shine okay all right and you got tracy g
2:39
with us as well brother hey john what
2:41
are you doing how are you doing tracy
2:43
so great to hear your voice i'm glad you
2:45
made that clear because i i didn't i
2:47
didn't want to you know i wanted to make
2:49
sure i addressed you properly a lot of
2:50
us change our names you know you know
2:52
you know uh well
2:54
sean i never changed shine okay and uh
2:57
you know so yeah moses
2:59
you know moses uh if you read the bible
3:01
they said that moses his face shine he
3:03
used to have to wear a mask so
3:05
it's one and the same you know but um
3:07
but shine yeah sean is
3:09
sean is a universal representation of
3:11
who i am so that's okay
3:13
good to hear your voice sean it's good
3:15
to hear your voice brother here he is
3:18
great to be talking to you from the
3:20
great state of georgia
3:22
good to meet representative gordon
3:23
yesterday and senator lester jackson and
3:26
representative erica thomas i'm actually
3:29
in savannah right now at the uh
3:31
savannah city hall
3:33
you know i just i met with the mayor
3:34
that's
3:36
van johnson
3:37
mayor van johnson very uh
3:40
very good brother
3:41
from brooklyn
3:43
you know so we actually went to the same
3:44
high school in brooklyn so yeah
3:48
okay and then let's talk about it man um
3:50
cheyenne is back in united states um
3:53
which is um
3:54
is this your first visit back doing
3:56
public speaking yes you know um
3:59
i am i am i am the leader
4:02
of the minority leader of the house of
4:04
representatives okay
4:06
so i i am a member of the udp
4:10
um
4:11
but we have a different leader and in
4:14
the in the house of representatives
4:16
i'm the leader uh in the house of
4:18
representatives
4:20
so yeah so i'm here officially
4:23
uh you know to meet uh with
4:26
uh representatives
4:28
of the black caucus
4:30
uh representatives of the georgia black
4:33
markets but yes i'm the leader of the
4:35
house of representatives and i'm here
4:37
officially
4:38
uh to meet other legislators
4:41
in georgia in new york
4:44
in washington dc
4:46
um and in los angeles
4:49
so i'll be i'll be moving around
4:52
on behalf
4:53
of
4:54
belize
4:55
you know the um
4:57
the
4:58
leader of the house of representatives
5:00
uh is the shadow prime minister
5:03
and so basically you know um
5:06
i represent
5:08
uh
5:08
the minority
5:10
of the parliamentarians and once we
5:12
become the majority then we take take
5:14
over the executive so we have an
5:16
important role to play as far as keeping
5:19
the government
5:20
accountable
5:21
and i have an important role to play as
5:24
far as using my relationships
5:26
here in the united states
5:29
you know to develop beliefs i'm sure a
5:32
lot of opportunities
5:33
a lot of
5:35
aid there's a lot of foreign aid that
5:37
goes to different countries all around
5:38
the world
5:40
and you know my agenda is to make sure
5:42
that belize gets looked at different
5:45
than how it's been looked at in the past
5:48
okay shine is here a lot of work you're
5:50
doing and it's really interesting that
5:52
you know
5:53
we're talking 20 years later um how we
5:56
evolve as people as we how we evolve as
6:00
men you know and i know you've gone
6:01
through a big journey when you say
6:03
utilize your resources say that again
6:06
no i said absolutely it's been a journey
6:08
and you know i remember um you know one
6:11
of my mentors professor charles ogletree
6:14
uh you know he used to come to court
6:19
and he would
6:20
tell me him and
6:22
conrad tiller reverend conrad tiller
6:25
you know they would ask me
6:27
you know you know you got to change the
6:29
music that you're making
6:30
and you know you got to make music like
6:32
marvin
6:33
and i would say to them you know this is
6:35
part of the process you know i i
6:38
i am only reflect a reflection of the
6:40
reality that i'm living and that so many
6:43
other young black and brown boys
6:46
uh were living and it was important for
6:49
me to have that honest conversation
6:52
and be an honest reflection
6:54
of what i was then
6:56
so that now
6:57
as i have a different conversation
7:00
that's going to have the art and
7:02
authenticity that most politicians and
7:05
leaders may not have
7:07
because people know the evolution people
7:09
know the growth and they know the
7:11
integrity
7:12
that i have the ethics that i have you
7:14
know i sacrifice my entire career
7:16
you know i lost everything
7:18
because of integrity because i chose not
7:20
to get my friends in trouble
7:22
to get myself
7:24
out of trouble and that's very important
7:26
as a legislator you know because you
7:28
have people that are you know shaping
7:31
and making policy for the wrong reasons
7:33
for special interests and not for the
7:35
interests of the majority of the people
7:38
who need you know us as legislators you
7:41
know more than those small percentage of
7:43
people that already super wealthy so
7:45
it's a good place for me to be
7:47
uh in my life where i could give back to
7:50
my country uh in a different way i
7:52
always hoped that i would be
7:54
famous
7:56
and i always hoped that i would uh be
7:59
rich and powerful and be able to um
8:04
you know put my country in that way
8:07
uh but
8:09
i realized that
8:11
you know it doesn't necessarily have to
8:12
be that way i could help them
8:15
from a policy way i could help them
8:18
through pluralism i could help them
8:20
through people uh becoming more aware of
8:23
belize and investing in belize um so i
8:28
just want to be the messenger
8:30
uh from the belize i want to be the
8:32
person you know that can be appeared
8:34
between believes in the united states
8:37
i love it man we got shine here um
8:40
i love what you're saying brother i'm
8:42
i'm also
8:44
your integrity i was there i was in the
8:46
courtroom i watched it all unfold i was
8:49
covering it for him tv i'll be honest
8:51
with you shawn that was the first thing
8:52
i ever did for them and um
8:55
i wasn't i didn't come in the game
8:57
knowing how to do tv and news on tv and
9:00
all that i just saw opportunity jumped
9:01
on it and that story happened to be the
9:03
first big one i ever covered and i
9:05
remember
9:07
watching these guys i know you diddy
9:10
uh even j.lo you know going through this
9:13
this unbelievable
9:16
journey right now like it just seemed
9:18
all surreal and you speak about
9:20
integrity you you didn't you know you
9:23
you took you sacrificed your own freedom
9:25
for the sake of your friends
9:27
how did that affect your relationship
9:29
with diddy and then where's your
9:31
relationship with diddy now
9:33
well you know
9:35
uh diddy and i have a very very strong
9:37
relationship now
9:39
uh you know a relationship that we've
9:41
built back
9:42
over the years
9:44
you know i think you know we were both
9:46
younger then
9:48
and
9:49
you know we're brothers and i think you
9:50
know brothers and family
9:52
we fight we have difficulties
9:55
and i think
9:56
we have to move on and we try to heal
9:58
and we try to you know uh maintain the
10:01
love and we've maintained that you know
10:03
diddy has been my biggest supporter
10:05
over the last couple of years
10:07
uh you know cheerleading and rooting me
10:09
on as far as my endeavors uh in uh
10:13
political service
10:14
you know so he's been there every step
10:16
of the way
10:17
uh you know as my biggest supporter you
10:19
know whether it be you know uh giving me
10:22
advice
10:23
whether it be you know using his
10:25
platform uh to tell people about belize
10:27
and tell people about the work that i've
10:29
been doing uh so yeah he's been a great
10:31
support and you know recently
10:34
uh you know in belize
10:36
you know i
10:38
you know face people
10:40
who
10:41
are elitists and oligarchs
10:44
and they don't like the fact you know
10:46
that you know some grammy award-winning
10:48
rapper
10:49
who was incarcerated based on his
10:51
integrity
10:52
um for defending himself they don't like
10:54
the fact that i'm in parliament
10:56
and they actually tried to write a law
11:00
to disqualify me
11:02
because i was
11:03
incarcerated
11:05
um
11:06
and you know uh so you know diddy was
11:08
very outraged about that as was the rest
11:11
of the population
11:12
in belize you know so
11:15
one of the things that one of the
11:17
parliamentarians from the government
11:18
said is you know
11:20
you know we have to have standards
11:22
uh you know we can't just have anybody
11:24
in parliament you know this guy can't
11:25
even get a visa to go to the states
11:28
and you know so they've been trying to
11:29
ridicule me and trying to humiliate me
11:32
based on something that happened 23
11:34
years ago and i dare say i have more
11:36
integrity than most politicians in the
11:38
world
11:39
and i already proved that by sacrificing
11:42
my life you know my career
11:44
everything that i had
11:46
based on integrity and ethics um so it's
11:50
great
11:51
you know that i was able to reach out to
11:52
sean to diddy and make sure that you
11:56
know i made the connections with with
11:58
the legislators i said listen you know
12:01
i have reached through people like you
12:04
to connect with legislators all over the
12:06
united states
12:07
and and and build a bridge and build
12:10
relationships that could be beneficial
12:13
to my country that's why god
12:15
sent me home and that's why god set me
12:17
on that path
12:18
and and you know now is my opportunity
12:21
i'm elected to the house of
12:22
representatives i'm the leader of the
12:24
house of representatives you know i have
12:26
to deliver for my people and you know
12:28
diddy didn't hesitate you know he
12:30
reached out to his people uh and and
12:33
that's how i'm here in georgia you know
12:35
because you know he was able to reach
12:37
out to his legislator friends
12:40
and you know through you know our
12:41
brother uh
12:43
corey jacobs was very instrumental in
12:46
that as well reaching out to our
12:48
legislative friends and and putting it
12:50
together you know so so definitely you
12:53
know we have a great relationship and i
12:55
definitely am grateful you know for the
12:58
role that he played in making sure you
13:01
know that justice
13:03
was served you know it's been 23 years
13:06
and i've been fighting for my freedom
13:08
and fighting for my civil rights i
13:10
believe all human beings deserve a
13:11
second chance you know i believe all
13:14
especially young men
13:15
you know they don't need to be
13:16
criminalized
13:18
you know they don't need to be condemned
13:20
in perpetuity you know there has to be
13:23
you know a road to redemption
13:25
and and and i believe i represent that
13:28
and and i hope that i could be an
13:30
inspiration to young people you know
13:32
that make bad choices you know that they
13:34
could turn their lives around and that i
13:36
could influence my legislative friends
13:39
to ensure that there's policy that will
13:41
allow for restoration of rights and
13:44
allow for a young man you know to be the
13:46
president united states regardless of
13:48
what he did when he was 19.
13:51
oh man i love it
13:53
um
13:54
it's good to hear that because i was you
13:56
know you could you could easily get into
13:58
a slump and blame folks you know what i
14:01
mean especially when you're behind bars
14:03
of and and they're not yeah
14:05
you know i went through i went through
14:07
that i went through that phase i think
14:09
it's it's all a part of growth
14:11
and and maturing
14:13
and it's all a part of evolution
14:15
and if i could give advice to anyone
14:18
you know letting go of the bitterness
14:20
letting go of the blame
14:22
you know is is really uh liberating you
14:25
know you really free yourself because it
14:27
takes a lot of energy to blame people it
14:29
takes a lot of energy to be bitter you
14:31
know you got to focus your energy manage
14:33
your energy on productive
14:36
efforts you know to live your best life
14:39
and so i find that you know once i got
14:42
out of that phase of being upset with
14:44
everyone and you know it was natural you
14:46
you can't blame me for for having you
14:49
know lost everything and being
14:51
devastated you can't blame me for trying
14:53
to figure out you know how did this all
14:55
happen
14:56
you know but once i once i locked in
14:59
i was able to unlock
15:02
you know the key and the key was
15:04
focusing on the people in belize
15:07
who whose lives were 100 times worse
15:10
than i could ever imagine you know at
15:12
least i had the blessing
15:14
to be a grammy award-winning winning
15:16
musician
15:17
and i had the blessing of realizing my
15:20
dream
15:21
you know you know i love music and there
15:23
was nothing greater than performing in
15:25
front of 20 000 people and to this day
15:28
you know
15:29
even the mayor here in savannah you know
15:31
a brooklyn guy he remembers
15:34
my songs you know and and so i say all
15:36
that to say there are people who believe
15:38
that never got any opportunity still
15:41
don't get any opportunities it's too
15:44
many people to believe
15:45
and when i look at their pain and their
15:48
suffering
15:49
then i look at what i've been through
15:50
and i it's perspective it's like i got
15:53
too much to be thankful for
15:56
yeah you know some things went wrong
15:58
yeah there was some tragedies but when
15:59
you look at these people
16:01
they don't have anything to be thankful
16:03
for
16:04
they never got a break they never got an
16:06
opportunity
16:07
so i can't feel sorry for myself because
16:10
in comparison to what they're going
16:12
through
16:13
there's nothing to really feel sorry for
16:15
and so i started focusing my energy on
16:17
what i could do for my people and
16:19
believes that are impoverished and don't
16:22
have opportunities and that's how the
16:24
whole legislator
16:26
legislative uh you know career thing
16:28
came about you know because if you
16:30
remember on the shine album
16:32
you know i was already you know
16:34
politically
16:35
conscious when i said dear america
16:38
i'm only what you made me
16:40
young black and crazy please save me
16:44
the only difference now
16:46
is you know i'm believed
16:49
there's a young shine
16:52
saying the same thing
16:54
please save me
16:56
and i can relate
16:57
and i can pass legislation
17:00
you know advocate for policies
17:03
that will save that young man or that
17:05
young woman that's troubled and needs
17:08
us to save them you know so for me
17:11
uh there's no one better qualified
17:14
you know to lead my country
17:17
you know along with other like-minded
17:19
leaders
17:20
uh so that you know everyone can have
17:22
opportunity everyone can have a great
17:24
quality of life and we have a long way
17:26
to go to get that done
17:28
i love it man shine citizens i know
17:30
y'all haven't heard his voice and as i'm
17:31
listening to his voice i feel like he
17:33
bout to flow into bars hey cause the
17:36
voice still sounds strong
17:38
tell me you ain't in the studio you
17:40
haven't been in the still can you still
17:41
can you still make music in this room
17:44
you know you know um
17:46
there is uh you know i've been working
17:49
you know diddy and i and corey
17:52
you know we've been talking for for a
17:53
long time about doing
17:56
a bio movie
17:58
uh
17:59
bio uh tv series
18:02
um you know and a bio documentary so i
18:05
think with those
18:07
you know products you gotta have
18:09
corresponding soundtracks
18:11
so so definitely
18:13
we got to put soundtracks together for
18:15
that you know with this new conversation
18:18
uh you know the conversation i had 23
18:21
years ago
18:22
reflected
18:23
you know those times and now you know
18:26
there's a new conversation to have and
18:27
there's a lot of people that grew up
18:29
with me
18:30
that are 40 years old now 45 you know
18:32
maybe 50. and so they could relate to
18:34
this conversation because i think this
18:36
is the direction that we as a culture
18:39
you know we need to go you know we need
18:41
to stop the genocide we need to stop
18:43
being self-destructive you know we need
18:46
economic uh emancipation you know mental
18:49
emancipation there's a lot that needs to
18:51
happen and i think leaders such as
18:53
myself you know it's not just about
18:54
belize you know i could be an
18:56
inspiration
18:58
to a cultural
18:59
paradigm shift here in the united states
19:02
and in other places
19:04
so i look forward you know to impacting
19:06
the culture however i can for the better
19:10
i love it man shine is here i mean i
19:12
want to make sure having tracy they want
19:14
to jump in and ask you something and go
19:16
ahead and do that
19:19
real quick what's up it's heather yeah
19:21
thank you thank you so much for joining
19:23
us today what is it i've never been to
19:26
belize um i don't know why but when i
19:29
hear
19:30
belize i think paradise i think vacation
19:33
i think caribbean is there something
19:36
how did this narrative get put out there
19:39
because it sounds completely different
19:40
than what you're saying what is it that
19:42
we don't know about beliefs
19:46
you have to remember
19:48
it is paradise
19:50
and it is um
19:53
you know it is a dream
19:55
vacation
19:57
um but what we have to make sure as in
19:59
all societies
20:01
it needs to be paradise for everybody
20:04
you understand so that's my focus that's
20:06
my passion
20:08
you know but i don't want to discourage
20:09
you
20:10
uh from visiting belize and enjoying
20:13
belize you know but my passion
20:15
is making sure that not just the
20:17
tourists
20:18
that come and enjoy belize
20:20
you might have experience
20:23
i want to make sure that
20:24
all hard-working belizeans
20:28
are able to enjoy uh that paradise i
20:30
want to make sure that there's equality
20:32
and there's equity you know so that's
20:34
why i focused on that you know i'm very
20:36
i'm all about you know uh
20:38
investment in human infrastructure so i
20:40
focus on what needs to be right so
20:42
forgive me for not focus focusing on
20:44
what is right and and thank you for
20:46
reminding me that yes belize is a
20:49
paradise nation you know pristine
20:52
uh blue waters you know white sands uh
20:55
you know if you like jungles and you
20:57
know you like that rule you know uh vibe
21:00
you know we got you know the maya
21:01
temples and you know uh the rivers you
21:04
know so belize is paradise you know but
21:07
my my dream is to make sure that it's
21:09
paradise for everybody not just the
21:10
tourists not just the rich and the
21:12
wealthy you know but for the middle
21:14
class which has been eroded because of
21:17
covert 19. you know we don't even really
21:19
have a middle class right now because
21:20
everybody lost their jobs you know the
21:22
economy is in crisis
21:24
um you know so i'm focusing on those
21:26
people you know that need to be lifted
21:28
up wow
21:32
what's up chris you got a question thank
21:33
you sean
21:34
yeah i do
21:36
sean i remember when you moved to
21:39
jerusalem jerusalem and that was um such
21:42
a big deal to so many people especially
21:43
because at that time i feel like
21:46
religion
21:47
was
21:48
not a
21:49
big subject when it came to hip-hop and
21:52
you're just speaking about evolution and
21:54
all of the wisdom that you have can you
21:56
just speak about the evolution of um
21:59
you and religion
22:01
well you know uh
22:03
jerusalem i didn't you know um
22:07
i didn't
22:08
just become
22:10
religious you know i
22:13
have always been spiritual
22:16
you know being you know going from
22:17
beliefs
22:19
uh
22:20
you know i went to i went to brooklyn
22:22
when i was about seven years old
22:25
my mom
22:26
when i was visiting
22:28
five
22:29
at six years old then when i was about
22:31
seven my mom said you're not going back
22:34
uh but growing up in brooklyn
22:36
it's very dangerous
22:39
and i remember you know walking to the
22:41
subway
22:42
i'd be praying that i make it to the
22:44
subway
22:45
you know when i be coming back home i
22:47
pray that i make it back home you know
22:49
i'd be dodging bullets
22:51
and ducking missiles and i remember you
22:53
know praying for my mom that you know
22:55
nobody would do anything to her you know
22:57
when she's coming home from working hard
22:59
you know cleaning some rich person's
23:01
house and babysitting their kids
23:03
um so that's how i grew up
23:06
and you know it was always
23:10
the only thing that could help me with
23:11
divine intervention is how i looked at
23:13
my life
23:14
because you know i was destined for jail
23:17
or an early grade you know which is
23:20
you know uh the destiny you know for
23:22
most you know uh young black and brown
23:26
people in urban
23:27
cities
23:28
so i always prayed and asked god to save
23:32
me from these bullets you know to save
23:34
me for myself and that's how i was able
23:37
to you know uh
23:39
be so fortunate you know to get into the
23:41
music business and to have success in
23:43
the music business so i prayed my way
23:45
through all of that i was always praying
23:47
and always being spiritual you know the
23:49
um
23:50
the jerusalem
23:52
journey you know the the israelite the
23:54
jewish
23:55
uh journey
23:57
that you know my name is moses and what
23:59
i loved about moses is moses
24:02
talked to god you know moses wasn't
24:05
you know moses was pharaoh
24:07
moses you know was anything but the
24:09
olympics as far as you know the life
24:12
that he was living
24:14
but moses
24:16
was all about ideals and principles and
24:19
those ideas and principles
24:22
were
24:23
counter to what pharaoh represented
24:25
pharaoh represented you know uh
24:27
enslaving other human beings so that
24:30
they could be rich you know pharaoh and
24:33
his family could be rich and powerful
24:35
you know at the cost
24:37
of other human beings and their rights
24:40
and you know moses shook that and said
24:43
you know what that's not who i am i
24:46
don't believe that we should enslave
24:47
people
24:48
in order to be rich and powerful
24:51
and he talked to god about it and you
24:53
know and left
24:54
you know you know being pharaoh went on
24:57
a run killed somebody and god still used
25:00
him
25:01
to liberate
25:02
you know uh the israelites in egypt and
25:06
and that conversation that he had with
25:08
god was very real
25:09
it's not about you know you know uh you
25:12
know being
25:13
this holy creature that's better than
25:16
everyone in pious and you know i you
25:18
know you don't sin
25:20
that's not the relationship that i saw
25:22
you know it was just a real relationship
25:24
based on principles and ideas and he
25:26
talked to god and that's how my
25:28
relationship was i thought to god i'd be
25:30
like listen you know you got to make
25:31
sure i don't die because i'm the only
25:33
guy out here on the block telling these
25:35
guys you know to go to school and you
25:37
know to put their guns down and to not
25:39
let the system uh beat us and let's
25:41
outsmart the system and so if you let
25:43
something happen to me who else is gonna
25:45
be the light and try to guide you know
25:48
my brothers and my sisters in the right
25:49
direction that's how i came up with the
25:51
name shine so i've always been having
25:53
conversations with god and so you know
25:55
going to jerusalem and getting into the
25:56
israelite you know uh codified
25:59
you know practices you know was a
26:02
natural evolution you know now i'm not a
26:04
religious
26:05
uh per se
26:07
um you know in that technical sense but
26:09
my religion is
26:11
having integrity my religion is having
26:13
ethics my religion is making sure i'm
26:16
honest and i'm generous and i'm
26:18
compassionate and i'm tolerant
26:20
you know and and i'm all about humanity
26:22
you know that's my focus my religion is
26:25
not about you know any type of orthodoxy
26:28
other than being the best human being
26:30
that i could be and using you know my
26:32
power to empower others
26:35
yes it is yeah it is man uh big round of
26:38
applause for that man i i got a couple
26:40
i'm gonna yeah i know we only short on
26:42
time man it's just a lot of things
26:43
you're saying especially when you talk
26:45
about integrity it was your integrity
26:48
um
26:50
you know consequently that that is the
26:52
reason why you you had to do time
26:54
because of your integrity and that's an
26:56
admirable thing you know that's a really
26:58
admirable thing especially people who
27:00
come from a certain
27:01
culture or subculture we're talking
27:04
street culture integrity is key and
27:06
essential but we see a lot of this
27:08
discussion happening now where integrity
27:10
and morals
27:12
don't mix when people get in trouble
27:14
you know when folks are on the court or
27:16
folks don't understand and we've been
27:18
hearing a lot of conversation about the
27:20
ideology behind snitching
27:23
i'm sure you pay attention to the the
27:25
blogs and everything that's going on i'm
27:27
curious to
27:28
what's your thoughts on that that's
27:30
something that folks in the streets you
27:32
know they follow uh supposedly
27:34
a lot of folks are supposed to follow
27:36
that rule that you don't tell even if
27:38
you know if you got caught you know
27:41
the interesting thing is that integrity
27:43
is not a street thing integrity is a
27:45
human thing yeah and i think if human
27:48
beings
27:49
we have to have integrity
27:51
you know because this is our planet and
27:54
nobody else is responsible for it you
27:56
know there's no messiah that's gonna
27:57
come down and fix things you know um you
28:01
know the the intelligent designer the
28:03
architect of the universe gave us
28:06
everything we need
28:07
uh to fix things and so so so i think
28:10
sometimes people are misguided in their
28:13
understanding of god you know they feel
28:15
like they're going to pray and then god
28:16
is going to come and do it no you know
28:18
he's already given you what you need to
28:20
do it and you know you might get
28:21
guidance and wisdom and assist here in
28:24
bed but it's up to us to do it and part
28:26
of the the tools part of the equipment
28:28
part of the arsenal to do that is having
28:30
integrity and having ethics most of the
28:33
things that go wrong in our societies is
28:35
based on the void of those principles
28:38
and those character traits that i just
28:40
said so it's not a street thing you know
28:42
in in politics you have many uh
28:45
parliamentarians
28:46
uh that are devoid of integrity and
28:49
ethics and that's why you know many
28:51
states are failed and you know countries
28:54
you know are in the positions that
28:55
they're in you know so i think whether
28:57
it's the street whether it's the house
28:58
of representatives whether it's
28:59
corporate uh you know board rooms
29:02
wherever it is you know you have to have
29:04
integrity and you have to have ethics
29:06
and when we lose that that's when
29:08
everything goes wrong
29:10
okay my man shine shine
29:14
did you did you always see it as a
29:16
compliment compliment when people
29:17
compared to the bid
29:20
you know i think for me
29:22
you know big is incomparable
29:24
and
29:25
you know so
29:27
nobody could compare the big yeah but
29:29
certainly whenever somebody comes out
29:33
they always try to find
29:35
somebody
29:36
to
29:37
you know identify them with you know but
29:40
obviously if you listen to my voice
29:43
it's the same baritone
29:46
from from 23 years ago you know i i
29:48
rapped how i talk yeah you know you
29:50
listen to my father you know my father
29:52
talks the same way you know he's he's a
29:54
great all-raider as well
29:56
um you know so for me
29:59
it was okay uh and i understood what it
30:01
was because that's what they do to
30:03
everybody
30:04
and it was just up to me
30:06
to establish my own identity
30:09
to establish my own
30:11
authenticity
30:13
you know which i think i did
30:15
you know um you know when you listen to
30:17
the shine album that's me
30:19
that's my conversation
30:20
that's my truth
30:22
you know you listen to god father buried
30:24
alive
30:25
that's me
30:26
that's my truth that's my you know
30:28
conversation and you know every flow is
30:31
different
30:32
you know every you know that's all me
30:34
you know nothing sounds like anybody
30:36
uh
30:37
you know but again when you first come
30:39
out
30:40
you know people put you in a box but i
30:42
think i did
30:43
you know a significant job with those
30:46
two albums of you know creating my own
30:48
niche and influencing a lot of rappers
30:50
whether it be you know the game you know
30:53
whether it be you know uh
30:55
you know many of these rappers
30:57
um i influenced all them
30:59
fabulous you know a lot of rappers you
31:02
know uh have been influenced
31:04
you know by me young
31:06
and old
31:08
the game is fabulous those are two dope
31:10
rappers yeah hey sean it's good to hear
31:12
your voice brother um if i come to
31:14
belize man tell me man tell me i'm about
31:17
to get the experience
31:18
i thought you was going to tell me when
31:19
i come to los angeles next week he was
31:21
going he was going to take me out and
31:24
you know
31:25
well i'm in new york you know oh you're
31:26
not in los angeles anymore i still be at
31:29
me and king tech we still in la you
31:30
remember that men came text building
31:33
how could i forget you're the guy you
31:35
were the guy in los angeles
31:37
if i got the green light from you you
31:39
know that that meant that i was going to
31:41
take off with that music so i i could
31:43
never forget absolutely so what do you
31:46
do in new york you you you shoot
31:48
in new york and then you go back back
31:50
and forth i'm bi-coastal so like say
31:52
this weekend i was in i was in l.a but
31:55
during the day i'm in harlem so i'm
31:56
mostly in harlem mostly on the east
31:58
coast now well i'll be i'll be in new
32:01
york uh this weekend so so so i'll look
32:03
you up look me up i'll get there for
32:05
we'll we'll hook up to our family all
32:07
right all right all right my brother i
32:09
gotta connect speaking of you
32:11
it was a pleasure speaking to heather
32:13
and tracy
32:14
and you know uh god bless everybody
32:18
have a great day man appreciate you
32:20
brother keep up the work this platform
32:22
is yours to get messaging out you know
32:24
salute to you what you doing right now
32:26
no we in your corner all right make sure
32:28
every make sure everybody visits
32:30
believes that this paradise you know
32:32
what
32:33
you know that part it's paradise you
32:35
have the best time of your life there
32:36
you go be safe
32:39
love you be safe brother
32:41
man
32:42
come on that was classic right there
32:44
that's a legend
32:45
come on tracy g big deal
32:51
[Music]
33:02
you
#Arts & Entertainment