You could say that Moses Michael Levi (formerly Jamal Michael Barrow) has been through plenty. Spending nine years in jail plus an additional two and a half on parole can really take a chunk of time out of one’s life. Before his incarceration for the involvement in a high profile shooting, ‘Shyne,’ as he is known, was on his way to becoming a prolific artist.

Shyne was discovered by renowned producer Clark Kent (no relation to this Clark Kent), who had previously worked with the late Notorious B.I.G. Subsequently, he signed with P. Diddy’s Bad Boy Records where he recorded his debut album Shyne. The album was released a few months after Shyne was arrested for attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment at a Manhattan club. Regardless of his setbacks, the album achieved a great deal of success, eventually reaching Platinum status; however, Shyne did not enjoy his success.

While in prison, Shyne decided to assume a new outlook on life. He converted to Orthodox Judaism in 2006 and changed his name permanently from Jamal Barrow to Moses Levi, while keeping his stage name: Shyne. In the last couple of years, his release from prison was waited upon eagerly in the hip-hop community. Everyone was curious for an eventual comeback album. In February of this past year, Shyne signed a contract with Def Jam Records to produce what will be two albums worth of material. One album will be called Gangland and the other, Messiah. At this point, two singles are available online as preview tracks from the albums, which are due to be released next March.

The two singles, ‘Messiah’ and ‘Roller Song,’ clearly indicate a similar style to Shyne’s previous material. His clearly defined baritone-voice is still the focus; however, there are some melodic parts in the chorus of ‘Messiah’. What stands out to me though, in a bad way, is Shyne’s enunciation and tone. Many times, his syllables are unclear, leading to misinterpreted metaphors and rhymes within his songs, and his tone makes him sound like he is out of breath. Also, even though he is clearly going for the minimalist, underground sound heard in most ‘gangster rap’, the beats leave quite a bit to be desired.

On a positive note, the imagery in the chorus of ‘Roller Song’ is quite passionate, detailing Shyne’s feelings after being in prison for so long. The synth melody is also quite catchy. Contrastingly, in ‘Messiah,’ the synth is too overdone, and the backing track sounds like something coming from an 8-bit videogame.

Overall, I would say that these two songs are not what I expected to hear from someone with such a high profile label backing him. The production level, especially in ‘Messiah,’ is exceptionally low, leading to about ten minutes of uninteresting music. I am not sure whether this was intentional, and if Shyne is trying to simplify the production to give his lyrics some added meaning. If this is not the case, I am not sure I can rate this new material in line with the high expectations for these two album preview tracks. I give them 2 out of 4 stars.

Shyne – Roller Song

Shyne – Messiah

Photo Cred : The Grapevyn