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By Allen Starbury

Last month, Diddy said he had spoken to rapper Shyne, who was on the verge of being freed from prison. But did they really speak?

Surprisingly, the Bad Boy Records head told New York radio listeners that he and the incarcerated rapper had a conversation, via phone, just weeks ago, seemingly putting their differences in the past.

“It’s a blessing that [Shyne's] coming home,” Diddy said. “I spoke to him like a couple of weeks ago and he sounded like he was in good spirits. I know he can’t wait to get home. I know he is definitely going to heat the whole scene up. He was definitely one of talented young artists that I had the pleasure to work with. I’m quite sure he’s been using his time wisely and has some heat.”

Although it sounded good, it may just be something that happened in only Diddy’s head, because Shyne says the call never happened and would probably never happen.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Shyne — who remains incarcerated as official investigate his immigration status — said Diddy never called him or visited him.

“I want it known that this supposed conversation is a figment of Sean Combs’ imagination,” the rapper stated. “He never spoke with me, he never visited me nor would I ever accept a phone call or visit from him. The only way I would do either of those things would be if he stepped up and did the right thing for the victims of the incident.”

The victim Shyne is referring to is Natania Reuben, who suffered a gunshot to the face in the club shooting that sent the rapper to prison. A $130 million civil lawsuit was filed by Reuben against Combs and Shyne, and is still pending to this day.

Shyne has maintained that he only fired the gun inside Club New York in 1999 in self-defense. “I never meant to hurt nobody — I was afraid for my life,” Shyne said at his sentencing in 2001.

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Yesterday we posted a piece from Hotterthanmost.com about Mark Curry, formerly of Bad Boy.  He seems to be exposing secrets about what it takes to get a deal. What these artist do to get in has been rumored or spoken behind close doors for years. Artist are put in compromising positions and then find its hard to get out of them, contractually and morally.

Check the video:

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The thought going through everyone’s minds is, what are Diddy’s thoughts regarding Shyne’s release? Shyne was at the top of his career with a new budding album when he was sentenced to serve time in prison for an event that involved Diddy who later got off with no jail time. Diddy spoke with AllHipHop.com about Shyne’s impending release and their current relationship.

When asked if Shyne had a future with Bad Boy Records,
Diddy responded by saying,

“Shyne is not signed to Bad Boy anymore. I looked forward to this day. The whole situation was a tragic situation. He’s a young man that has a whole life ahead of him to live to be successful and to come out here and put his foot in the game….“I don’t have anything to do with his personal business or his career,” Combs told AllHipHop.com. “As far as our relationship, only time will tell.”

Mark Curry, a former Bad Boy rapper and Diddy ghostwriter, is setting sights on his old boss in a new tell-all book entitled ‘Dancing With the Devil.’ While it’s nothing new for the unemployed to take shots at the crown, Curry does come with a substantial bombshell that many of us suspected all along: Notorious B.I.G. was planning to leave Bad Boy before his death in 1997.

“Biggie was already on his way out the door,” said Curry in an interview with Gyant Unplugged. “I just remember the stories of when Biggie would want money from Puff, and they would be doing a show and Biggie wouldn’t show up to the show until ten minutes before the show and Puff would be like “Where is he at? Where is he at?” That’s where he would get his leverage. Biggie knew that Puff needed him. If you break it down and look at the situation for what it truly is, Biggie Smalls made Bad Boy. Bad Boy is Biggie Smalls.”

Curry explains that Notorious and his Junior M.A.F.I.A. associates already had the plans ready for a new label with fairer pay practices. As with most things Diddy, money was behind everything and Curry uses B.I.G. as a springboard to rail on Combs’ venomous contacts with other artists.

I mean, there must be something there. How many people from the original Bad Boy roster are still producing something significant? I’ll wait…

Curry writes in the first chapter, “Even worse, Puff charged artists for his appearances on their records and in the videos, usually without their realizing it until they received their royalty statements. That’s when they discovered that a large sum of their money had gone to fees which were doubled, tripled and even quadrupled because of Puff “special guest appearances.” He charged artists, for example, for having his Bentley in their videos - which he insisted upon - then took a tax credit for business use of the car.”

Dang. Let’s just hope Mr. Curry can make some scraps from this book, because he sure ain’t coming back to the game any time soon.

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