Since Shyne has been released from prison, there has been a lot of discussion about what label that he would sign with. He began his career with Bad Boy Records, but he would leave the label after he began his prison sentence. In 2004, Shyne signed a one-album deal with Def Jam and released his sophomore album with the label. At the time, Murder Inc. was operating under Def Jam, so Irv Gotti had a lot of input on his album.
With Shyne planning to release a new album as early as 2007, a bidding war began over the rights to the rapper. Many people felt that he would sign with Murder Inc. There have been times when Shyne said that he was a Murder Inc. artist. After all, he is good friends with Irv Gotti, Ja Rule, and Ashanti. He would prove his loyalty to the label when he decided to take on their arch-rival, 50 Cent in their long-running feud.
Despite all of the loyalty that Shyne had shown to Murder Inc., it looked as if he would not end up signing to the label. Last summer, it was rumored that he had signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. It seemed to be a nice fit, only had things gone right. Jay-Z revealed that he had never reached out to Shyne about joining the label. However, he said that he was more than interested in having him on the label. There were then rumors of Shyne signing to Game’s label.
More recently, that also proved to be nothing more than another rumor. But, there was also talk of Shyne signing with Def Jam. Unlike everything else said about Shyne and his label situation, this appeared to be more concrete. After all, Shyne did release his last album with Def Jam and he experienced great success. When it was revealed by L.A. Reid that he has signed Shyne to the Def Jam label that he runs, it came as no true surprise.
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