Former Bad Boy artist Shyne has returned to his homeland Belize after several months.

An Orthodox Jew, the rapper has spent the past few months in Israel, a land he considers sacred. Now, the emcee readies a concert to help launch his upcoming album.

“It’s not so much a show for me, as it is a dream come-true for me,” said Shyne of the show to 7newsbelize.com. “I remember as a kid, I used to go to all these different events, whether it be soccer or the reggae artists coming in and performing. And I remember listening to the music pounding out the speakers, and being in the field and saying; I wish I could be on that stage performing. My heart would start to beat [faster] just thinking about it. So for me, to be here doing my first concert is a dream come true.”

Shyne also explained that his current status motivates him. “I’m inspired that I’m not Jay-Z right now; I’m not getting a couple million dollars to do show. I haven’t sold tens of millions of records; I’m not on the level that I need to be. And that’s very important the Belizean people to understand when they measure what I want to do for them as a patriot and as a person that’s fortunate, and what at this point, I can do. And in order to get to the point where I can do everything that I want to do for kids – for our nation, for tourism, for everything – I got to be on a triple A game. I never really hit my zenith, I’ve been a baller-potential my entire career, and I did a couple million records, but I could do tens of millions of records.”

The rapper, who signed a deal with Def Jam last year, hopes to be able to help his native land. “I don’t want to be in Belize with an empty hand; I want to be in Belize in a position to transform the economy, to transform live, and really do something. It hurts me to be here and not be able to do as much as I would like to do but I know, as I was telling these kids, if I go out there, and I work hard, promote, perform, I will be in a position, very shortly, to do all the things that I promised myself I would do for Belize.”