Destined to shine, he’s put in work for years honing his craft. Now his breakthrough’s coming.
There’s an eternal debate on whether leaders are born or made. While it’s hard to say which is more accurate, we can all agree that we know one when a see one. South Memphis rapper Lieutenant $hyne is an example of a leader. Whether it was on the court, field, or in class, $hyne has always put himself in the forefront, telling his friends to follow him because if he ate they would eat too.
Two years and two albums in, he’s made himself a name on the independent rapper scene. But before he becomes the star his close friends and business partners see, it’s time for the world to know the man behind the microphone.
Blues music is ingrained in southern culture and Memphis in particular, which is the hometown of the genre and several other black art forms. At an early age, $hyne and his peers were exposed to the sounds of blues music and live instrumentation from church members and family who played it around them daily.
“Where I’m from, they think we all on gangsta music. But I’m learning how to play the guitar myself. It’s about music and instruments, says $hyne.
Blues music aside, $hyne grew up listening to the sounds of Eightball and MJG, Playa Fly, Three-6 Mafia and others who painted pictures of the city’s changing landscape.
The youngest of five, he saw the struggles of his mother and immediately desired to create a life of comfort for her, away from the danger all around him in South Memphis. At first, sports seemed like an avenue for success for $hyne who started playing football at age six.
A natural, $hyne displayed natural talent, leading his peers as a quarterback and then in high school leading his team as a point guard. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to get the attention of colleges, primarily because of the negative perception his coaches held of him.
“I was an excellent player but the coaches told me you too hood for my team. People were drawn to me and the coach didn’t like how the team responded to me.”
Despite the disappointment, $hyne stayed focused on graduating high school and then getting on his grind. The experience made him want to be in a position of control in the future. He received his Associate’s in HVAC and from there he took on several trades, including tattooing to make ends meet. But it wasn’t until he started rapping that he found his calling.
After a rival group dissed $hyne’s brother, he answered and dropped a freestyle to defend his brother and his neighborhood. After hearing the response from his peers, he and his best friend decided to make music for their neighborhood.
At the time, $hyne rapped under the name Young $hyne. Over time, that morphed into Lieutenant $hyne and in his words, “it stuck”. $hyne then created his own label, I Eat U Eat Entertainment. However. at the top of 2020, $hyne’s best friend was murdered.
“Us together was like Shaq and Kobe. At the end of 2019, we shot a video and on January 2, 2020, I lost my best friend. I was like I can’t stop now. That’s when I started letting the world feel where I was coming from.”
The buzz from $hyne’s diss had people ready for him to release something and so in October 2020, he dropped his first project, Pardon My Arrival. The entrepreneurial hustle of fellow South Memphis native Young Dolph inspired $hyne to continue working and from there he followed up with another seminal work, entitled 8 Legged Freak.
Singles like “Only Fans” showed his versatility as a song maker and helped elevate his fanbase, but his most recent singles, “Trials and Tribulations” and “Grinding All My Life” shows the inherent talent he possesses. Heartfelt, melodic, and vulnerable, the songs are the best representation of the story of $hyne who’s lost in his words, “over fifteen people in a two-year span.”
Rather than quit though, $yne’s stayed down, earning appearances on interview platforms like Off the Porch while he preps the world for his anticipated projected, Destined 2 $hyne.
“I’m destined to shine. I got songs for everybody on there. It’s an album where from the start you can rewind it. No skips, but you can rewind it.”
Wright World 