Hip-hop heads, did you know that it was hip-hop industry veteran and present day Internet radio personality, Reggie Osse aka Combat Jack, who was responsible for the bidding war for Shyne between Bad Boy, Def Jam, and Elektra Records?

In a Complex interview, Combat Jack recounted the time when Elektra Records contacted him for an artist to ghostwrite for MC Lyte and he thought of Shyne, having known the up-and-coming rapper though DJ Clark Kent. After impressing the Elektra label reps with his rhymes for Lyte, they immediately wanted to sign Shyne.

Unfortunately for Elektra president, Sylvia Rhone, word of the buzzing Brooklyn rapper also reached Def Jam executive, Chris Lighty, and Bad Boy head honcho, Puff Daddy.

Combat Jack: Overnight, Shyne and Manny were thrust smack dab in the eye of a biding war storm. Word spread like fire: Shyne was going to change the world.

Source: Complex – Combat Jack Presents: True Stories Behind 25 Rap Classics