Hip-hop fans may be under the impression Shyne is still not allowed in the United States. However, the former Bad Boy Records rapper tells XXL that he’s actually allowed in the country, but only under strict conditions.

“I can come to the U.S. as a Diplomat because I’m a Goodwill Ambassador for my country Belize,” Shyne, whose father, Dean Barrow, serves as the Prime Minister of Belize and the leader of the United Democratic Party, tells XXL. “My job is really to go around the world for Belize and get people to invest in the country and to promote the country.”

That being said, Shyne would technically be able to tour the U.S. and even revisit his former hometown of Brooklyn, but it would have to be while on a Goodwill trek.

“If I came to America on a Shyne Goodwill college tour, where we go to all the colleges and go to the inner cities and went on a peace tour, then it would work,” says Shyne. “If we did something like that it would be hard for them to say no, but it would have to be something like that on a Goodwill tour.”

Shyne is currently on such a tour in Paris, helping to raise money in hopes of erecting music education resource centers in Belize, Brooklyn and Ethiopia. —Mark Lelinwalla

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