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Moses "Shyne" Barrow is preparing to resign from his position as leader of Belize's Opposition Leader in the House of Representatives after he lost his reelection bid.
Barrow spoke to his constituents during a press conference after the general election held on Wednesday, March 12. The rapper-turned-politician conceded after he was defeated by an opponent from his United Democratic Party, Lee Mark Chang. According to Channel 5 Belize, Barrow only secured 318 votes while Chang won the election with a total of 601 votes.
“The people have spoken; congratulations to Lee Mark Chang—he’s now the new area representative of Mesopotamia, and I wish him well," Barrow said in a statement.
“I was confident; that was the interaction I was having with the people, but they made a decision to go in another direction, and I respect that,” he said. “I certainly will resign effective once we have a national convention to elect a new leader. Obviously you can’t be a leader of the United Democratic Party once you’re not a member of the House, and I would not want to be appointed as a senator or anything to hold on to the leadership.”
Barrow rose to fame as an artist signed to Sean "Diddy" Comb' Bad Boy Records. After he was caught up in the drama surrounding a shooting at a New York City nightclub in 1999, the rapper known as Shyne was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His debut self-titled album and his second album Godfather Buried Alive were released while he was incarcerated. After he completed his sentence, Barrow was deported upon his release in 2009.
Barrow began his career in politics in 2010 as Belize's Music and Goodwill Ambassador. A decade later, he was nominated by the Belize United Democratic Party as their candidate for the Belize House of Representatives. He won the seat for Mesopotamia in 2020 and was later named Opposition Leader in the House of Representatives and the leader of the Belize United Democratic Party. The "Jimmy Choo" rapper opened up about his career in music and politics in his recent documentary The Honorable Shyne.