Expatriated rapper Shyne graces the September cover of XXL, and in the issue, the formerly jailed star talks about his gun case, Diddy and the decision he made more than 10 years ago that changed his life forever.

“In my life, when I make decisions to roll, I roll,” Shyne told the magazine about firing a gun while partying with Diddy and the mogul’s then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez at Club New York. “And I don’t give a f— what the consequences are. If I’ma defend myself, I’ma defend myself. If somebody tryna kill or hurt one of my partnas or my comrades, that’s with me, there is no, ‘Yo,’ or, ‘Damn, well, if I pull this sh– out, this is what’s gonna happen.’ No! I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna be laid up in no f—ing hospital with a tube runnin’ through me, hurtin’ and sufferin’. Pain is real. So you know what? I’m not doin’ that. You gon’ do that, mother—-er. You gon’ roll and say hi to Satan, not me. And that’s that.

“Your survival instincts tell you to protect and preserve, and you deal with whatever later,” he explained of his actions.

Shyne and Diddy were both charged in the December 1999 incident, and the two later went to trial separately with different legal representation. Diddy was aquitted, but Shyne was found guilty of first-degree assault, among other charges, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

After the trial, his relationship with the Bad Boy Records CEO soured. Shyne lashed out in interviews against his former mentor, claiming Diddy turned his back on him.

Though he’s still not in agreement with the way things were handled, Shyne appears more measured in his personal take on Diddy’s actions.

“You can always say, ‘Man, that ain’t the way to handle the situation,’ ” he told XXL. “Sure, I know in my soul that the situation was supposed to be handled in a different way. But it ain’t really a matter of disappointment or letdown, ’cause I never really … I grew up never having sh–, never having anybody. So I never was that dude to depend on a mother—-er. Obviously, the actions is not something that you condone or that you’re happy with. Not at all.”

After serving almost nine years of his prison sentence, the Brooklyn-bred rapper was deported to his native Belize. Since then, he has re-joined Def Jam’s roster. The rapper has only provided a small sampling of material in the months after inking with the label, including “Messiah,” in which he raps with a noticeably drawn-out flow, a variation from the tighter delivery he displayed during his Bad Boy days.

The Shyne interview is the first in a three-part series on the rapper set to run in forthcoming issues of XXL. Young Jeezy also graces the split cover of the magazine’s 13th anniversary issue, is set hit newsstands on the first week of August.