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Legally Moses Michael Leviy, but known to the rap world as Shyne is coming closer and closer to being among the free world as his sentence is almost up and he will be able to walk again as a free man.

On December 27, 1999, a shooting at a Manhattan Club left the then 21-year-old rapper in quite a bind as he was forced to do the time and landed himself behind bars facing charges of attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment.

As Diddy, then Daddy, was present some felt as though he left Shyne out on his A$$ when everything went down. There has been word reported that even the rapper feels that Puffy had some sort of responsibility to what had happened and seemed to harbor a grudge.

Calling into Hot 97, Sean “Diddy” Combs spoke on the rapper as he awaits the day that he will no longer be behind that 8X11 cell.

“It’s a blessing that he’s coming home. 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.”

Shyne found his initial success along the ranks of the Bad Boy regime back in 1998 as his voice brought attention to the likes of producer Clark Kent. With a voice that resembled the late Notorious B.I.G., the rapper was brought to the house of Diddy and the magic after that is already known.

On August 4, 2009, an order was signed by a Manhattan judge that would schedule Shyne for release on October 6, 2009. The rapper has served over eight years of a ten year sentence on which no terms for post-release supervision, a.k.a. parole, had originally been established. As a result and at the request of the Correction Department, the recent re-sentencing will call for a mandatory probation period of at least two and half years. Shyne and his attorney, Oscar Michelin had initially hoped to avoid this, with Shyne labeling it as being akin to “extra jail time”. However Michelin did allow that the state was well within its rights.

As he waits for his release, Shyne has been transferred back to the Woodbourne Correctional Facility, where he has spent the latter part of his incarceration, from Rikers Island where he was awaiting his parole hearing.

In regards to his future in rap, it was already starting to be rumored in some publications that Shyne has committed to signing with rapper/producer Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label upon his release. Forming from an alleged discussion the two had while Shyne was in prison, Jay shut down all possibilities saying that the meeting of the two never happened.

While Shyne is plotting his post-prison career move, Diddy is making moves of his own as he announced that he is no longer signed to Warner Music Group/ Atlantic Records.

Before his interview with Hot 97 about the status of his old pal, Diddy was in the headlines for confirming his official departure from the label. He confirmed to Billboard his move in a statement saying:

“Now that the term of the Warner deal has ended, I have elected to accept an opportunity to move my recording career and future label venture to another company.”

He also added that Bad Boy and all it’s subsidies would still be under the Warner/ Atlantic Record umbrella. Although he did not confirm where his new label home would be, there has been speculation that he’d join the ranks of Mr. Jimmy Iovine and sign with Interscope Records.