Even from his cell in a bleak upstate New York prison, Jamal Barrow is shining.
Three years after going to prison for his role in a New York nightclub shooting involving Sean “P.Diddy” Combs, Barrow, who goes by the name “Shyne,” is rapping his way towards a multi-million dollar fortune.
From behind bars, he’s created his own gangland Records label, lured music execs to his prison for negotiations and convinced Universal Music’s Island Def Jam to sign a mega-bucks deal without even hearing the tracks.
While previous published reports valued the deal – signed in April – at around $3 million, new details provided to The Post show that the five-album pact could be worth in excess of $30 million.
While much of that will go towards marketing and promoting and various other costs, Shyne himself will make many millions, depending on how well his albums sell.
Shyne’s Def Jam deal, inked in April, followed a courtship with executives at other major record companies, including Warner and Sony, with meetings behind held in the visiting room at the prison.
His first album under gangland, titled “Godfather Buried Alive,” will be released on August 10th and comprise 10 tracks he recorded before going to prison.
“He’s very hands on, he’s approved everything, from logos to fonts to color,” said one source close to Shyne. “Fedexes are going back and forth all the time.”
Another source said, “those who have traveled to prison and sat with Shyne fell empowered to market with his vision.”
The signing represents a significant coup for new Def Jam head Antonio “L.A.” Reid and his top deputy Kevin Liles, the exec most responsible for the signing.
“No one heard (the recordings),” said one source. “It was about Kevin’s belief in Shyne.”
The 25-year-old Shyne, who was born in Belize, but grew up in Brooklyn, is serving 10 years after being convicted for a 1999 shootout in Manhattan’s Club New York – the case that infamously became known as the “Puffy Trial.”
Puffy, who was with his then-gal pal Jennifer Lopez at the time of the shooting, was acquitted of weapons and bribery charges.
Shyne has claimed he fired in self-defense, and the case – now being argued by famed attorney Alan Dershowitz – is on appeal.
Last week, Shyne met a Post reporter in the visiting area at the Clinton County Correctional in Dannemora, NY – a stark facility that dominates the small upstate town.
He was polite and amiable, but declined to be interviewed. Dressed in a red polo shirt and green, prison-issue pants, he said he had converted to Hebrew and didn’t normally see visitors on the Sabbath.
The only hitch in Shyne’s big-bucks venture is trying to get a leave-pass to film a video to accompany the album’s release.
He plans to ask a judge to grant him permission to leave prison temporarily.
Shyne’s first album, self-titled, was released by Combs’ Bad Boy Records in 2000, and to date has sold over 900,000 copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
The first single of the new album, called “More or Less,” produced with Def Jam star Kanye West, has already been leaked to radio. Other producers that may become involved are the hot producing duo The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Swiss Beats and Buck Wild, sources said.
Celebrities from the hip-hop world, especially Def Jam founder Russell Simmons, are expected to take a major role in marketing the album.
Liles, president of Def Jam/Def Soul Records, said, “at Def Jam we’ve always been interested in the truth, and even prior to this unfortunate incident I saw him as someone from our culture that is the voice of the struggle.”