Diddy on Shyne's Deportation: "He Deserves To Come Back"

Shyne was officially deported by to Belize in late October, after serving eight years of a 10-year sentence for his part in a New York club shooting in 1999.

When news first broke of his impending release, Bad Boy Records founder Diddy said he had been in contact with the rapper, saying he was in good spirits and ready to be released. However, that turned out to not be true.

Shyne told Rolling Stone shortly after that he hadn't spoken to Diddy in years and probably would never speak to him.

"I want it known that this supposed conversation is a figment of Sean Combs' imagination," Shyne said in a statement. "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."

Despite calling him out for the made-up story, Diddy spoke out--positively--about the rapper's deportation recently, via an interview with Funkmaster Flex on New York's Hot 97 radio station, in which the hip-hop mogul said Shyne deserves to be allowed into the U.S.

"I've never had any problem with Shyne," Diddy said on the air. "I've never had any problem with him, I was looking forward to him coming home and just getting out here and letting people see what I saw. I think [his career] was cut down too early, people never got a chance to see what I saw.

"The thing that bugs me out is people forget what was going on at the time, [Hot 97] was throwing so many stones at me, telling me how Shyne sounded like Biggie. All the cats up here at this station was throwing stones at me and I was telling them, 'Nah, the kid got something special,'" Diddy continued. "At the end of the day, when [someone goes] to jail, a lot of people jump on the bandwagon and it was beyond that to me. I never wish bad on anybody, I only wish somebody the best and I hope he gets to come back to the United States, he did his time, he deserves to come back."

Right now, Shyne is in Belize, getting used to freedom. It's said that he plans to begin recording new music soon, while he and his family fight the immigration decision from his home country.