Jamal “Shyne” Barrow was a young rapper on the rise at Bad Boy Records in 1999 when his involvement in a New York City nightclub shooting placed his flourishing career in the balance.
Convicted for the 1999 nightclub shooting incident in 2000, Barrow was deported to Belize after serving 10 years in prison, where he deepened his conversion to Orthodox Judaism.
The former music protégé of Sean “Diddy” Combs changed his name to Moses Michael Levi Barrow and found anew a life driven by service to his country and its people. He won the Belizean House of Representatives election in 2020 and has been the opposition leader since 2022.
The Honorable Shyne, the story of Moses Michael Levi Barrow, is the subject of Andscape’s latest documentary – one of the ESPN Black content studio’s most ambitious. The film premiered today on Hulu.
Vice President and Head of Andscape Jason Aidoo, who served as the film’s executive producer, discussed the project with Front Row:
How did this project come about?
In 2021, we learned that Shyne was looking for a partner to tell his story. We also knew that many networks and production companies had tried and failed to secure the rights, as Shyne prioritized working with a team he could trust to tell his story authentically. We led with the quality of our storytelling and the authenticity of our leaders across The Walt Disney Company, which ultimately earned his trust and confidence to collaborate with us on this powerful project.
Once we partnered, the next hurdle was finding the right producers and director who could align with both our vision and Shyne’s unique story. That producing partner was ColorCreative, a Black – and woman-owned- company founded by Issa Rae, Deniese Davis, and Talitha Watkins, alongside director Marcus A. Clarke. Together, we built a team capable of authentically and powerfully bringing Shyne’s remarkable journey to the screen.
What are some of the unique challenges you faced?
We had to be deliberate about what to include and not include to keep the documentary around an hour and a half. Fortunately, we picked the right director in Brooklyn-born Clarke. He had already done a documentary called “The Wizrd,” about the rapper Future. Marcus masterfully wove all the chapters of Shyne’s life together.
Also, we wanted to make sure this film was beyond reproach in accuracy. Shyne worked at Bad Boy Records for Combs (now known as “Diddy”) in the late 1990s and early 2000. The two of them faced charges in a New York City nightclub shooting. We had to make sure our portrayal of that case reflected what happened.
Andscape journalists and editorial leaders received producing credits for the Shyne project. How would you describe their contributions?
We have always liked to involve the Andscape newsroom in our studio projects. That was true with The Conversations Project, which featured Andscape’s senior NBA writer Marc J. Spears, and with Hip Hop and the White House a documentary written and directed by Andscape senior writer Jesse Washington.
Other members of our team are getting a chance to work on our studio projects, too. It just made sense for us to attach senior writers David Dennis Jr. and Justin Tinsley to The Honorable Shyne production team as David and Justin are as good at reporting and writing about hip hop and the culture as anyone in the country.
Considering the unprecedented interest in the media and the culture, what other “Andscape on Hulu and ESPN+” projects do you have in the pipeline?
We’re working on a lot of other great films, including many with sports themes and ties. We’re producing a documentary on the late [former NBA star] Kobe Bryant and his penchant for performing good deeds for ordinary people. We are also producing a documentary on Quincy Avery, a quarterback guru who developed many of the best Black signal-callers in the NFL.
