Def Jam signs Shyne Po to a 7-figure deal

Here’s the scoop:

Multiple sources have confirmed to me that Shyne Po has signed a 7-figure deal with Def Jam.*

This ends a bidding war that had industry bigwigs vying for Shyne’s attention, flying to Belize, calling and courting, ever since the Brooklyn emcee was released from prison and deported to Belize back in October.

For Shyne to turn down hard-court pressure from Jimmy Iovine/Dr.Dre and others and instead join LA Reid back at his last known recording-residence actually seems like an inevitable move….because I’ve been hearing that Shyne has been pow-wowing with veteran manager Kyambo “HipHop” Joshua for a while now. Joshua and his HipHopSince1978 partners, Gee Roberson, also manage Lil Wayne, Drake, Young Jeezy and more. Meanwhile, my old friend Al Branch is both a partner in HipHopSince1978 and a high-level exec at Def Jam…see how that works? Synergy! Now there have been recent reports of new label-wide pressures, but with this team in place, Shyne is in good hands.

As for the logistics, the plan is for Shyne to work out of London, it’s a buzzing hip hop hub with all the necessary facilities. Oh, and about that first verse which appeared on an early DJ Khaled album leak (and is allegedly scratched from the final tracklisting)…I’m hearing that Shyne didn’t intend that verse to be his first look. After nearly a decade inside, he’s allowed a little time to figure out what direction he’ll take.

*(obviously in this climate, these kinds of numbers are few and far between, so this certainly signals that labels see value in legacy or storyline. Drake got a reported 2 million last year. And of course, this is Shyne’s second time around in a bidding war.)

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