Shyheim Talks Inking A Deal Before Wu-Tang Clan At 13-Years-Old

In early January, the Rugged Child returned home. Rapper Shyheim began his career in the music industry when he was just 14-years-old and it didn’t take long for the Staten Island native to pick up steam in the industry. The Wu-Tang affiliated emcee reached a moderate level of success, but he found himself on the wrong side of the law.

In 2013, authorities search his home and found heroin and firearms. The following year, he was involved in a car accident that took the life of another driver. Shyheim ended up pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter along with weapons and drug charges, and for the last five years, the rapper has been behind bars. 

Now that he’s been welcomed home, Shyheim is enjoying life as a free man. He recently sat down with VladTV to speak at length about his career and upbringing, and the rapper shared that he was an only child with a father in prison and a mother with a drug addiction. Shyheim shared that his neighborhood, including the Wu-Tang Clan, became his family. He also said that he inked a deal before Wu ever signed theirs.

“I signed to Virgin Records—it actually was a big bidding war because Virgin had lost Tevin Campbell to Warner Bros and they wasn’t trying to lose me to Benny Medina as well,” he said. “It was a pretty intense bidding war and back then to have the type of record deal that I had back then as a new artist was pretty much unheard of.” He reportedly signed for $350K at 13-years-old. Check out the clip of his interview below.