So like I said, the relationship was started. Even then! You ain’t fuckin with him, you wish, damn, he would change and he would do the right thing. Unless he beatin’ your moms or doin’ some wild shit like that, where you wanna kill the muthafucka, overall. Ain’t no dude that don’t want they pops to fuck with them. Any son, regardless of how fucked up the relationship is, any son want they pops to fuck with them.
The way he spoke, he had that Malcolm X shit. Even when he wasn’t the Prime Minister, he was considered that dude. He was always considered one of the smartest muthafuckas in the country, one of the most powerful muthafuckas in the country. I’m the type of dude to be like, “Thank you,” and I’m happy where I’m at in my life, grateful with God. It wasn’t no father-son shit, I’m not the type of dude to show my ass. And I was the type of dude, I had already started talkin’. Then he reached out and said he was happy for me. And then the record came out, “Bad Boyz” came out, video and shit. I was known in the music circles in New York for signing to Bad Boy, but globally, ain’t nobody know who the fuck Shyne was. So I think muthafuckas thought I was sellin’ drugs. Stayed in the big hotel and rented a car and burnt the bitch down. And when I did it, I came to Belize with the fuckin’ Rollie and the diamonds and shit. I’m ’bout to sign here.” Then I actually did it. And I was on my shit, “Yeah, man I’m ’bout to do this record deal. I think it was in 1997, he visited my little brother, his son, and his daughter and shit. I remember one time he might have visited. Whereas before, I just wasn’t fuckin’ with him at all. But you know, there was a beginning there. He’ll admit he wasn’t perfect and had shit he had to figure out. But nothing significant, ’cause as a young muthafucka, you still hate the world. Because before I went to the pen, when I got shot, there was a line of communication goin’ on there. I would say a lifetime in the making, ya dig? But more practically speaking, over the last 10 years before I went to the pen. But that was a process that was years in the making. I can definitely say we got a better relationship than we ever had. What’s your relationship with your father like now? And what was it like before your bid and during it? And through my relationships in business and the different billionaire dudes I know, getting them to see that we can make this a Central American Dubai and that there’s more jobs for everybody, there’s better education for everybody-just a total overhaul of the country and industrializing it and modernizing it. The exposure, attracting the tourism, but more so being an attraction-being a national treasure. And part of that Shyne experience is being in Belize. And success is magnetic, so if I’m touring all across the world and my shit is jumpin’, then muthafuckas gon’ want to be a part of that Shyne experience. Probably take like maybe a couple billion dollars to really get it started. I hope that I can make entertainment that will have a mass appeal, allowing me to generate the resources where I could build better housing, build up the infrastructure, get businessmen to come down and invest, build hotels, build restaurants, just totally develop the country. I’d rather not have anything than have a muthafucka that devalues or does not assess my value the right way, ya dig? Just like when I was in the pen, you would think a muthafucka in the pen ain’t got shit-desperate, fightin’ for life. So that’s very significant to me, ’cause I’m the same way.
But nonetheless, Belize remains in that sovereign space. You would think-surrounded by different countries with hundreds of millions of people-they would just grab this little shit up. But somehow Belize was able to maintain its sovereignty. Honduras, Mexico, all surround this shit. Like, you know Guatemala used to have Belize drawn as part of they map. Belize is like Israel, shit is surrounded by bigger muthafuckas-by a bunch of Goliaths. Shyne: To me, Belize is known for that independence.