“I Definitely Would Have Been A Rapper”- Shaquille O’Neal

SOURCE: basketballnetwork.net

Shaquille O’Neal could have been a hip-hop artist if he had not gone on to become an all-time basketball great. And he believes he would have been a solid MC had he found himself in the rap game.

The four-time NBA champion brought it to the fore in a recent appearance on the “ExpediTIously” podcast with rapper-actor T.I., sharing that rapping was a big part of him growing up, so a full-time career in it would not have been far-fetched.

“I definitely would have been a rapper. Definitely. And I would have been a cold one too because, you know, I understand the work that you guys put in,” Shaq said.

Shaq, however, realized his dream of becoming a rapper even when he built his legendary hoops career.

In the 1990s, he released four hip-hop studio albums that achieved commercial success. It included his debut, “Shaq Diesel” (1993), which was a certified platinum hit; a no mean feat, especially for a non-rapper.

He collaborated with some of the legends of the rap game, including The Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Nas, and Wu-Tang Clan.

It was a period in his life that he was proud of, saying that, while he was a celebrity athlete, the people he worked with made him earn his dues in music, which he believes he delivered on.   

“Shout out to Chip Fu and Fu-Schnickens. That’s right. Eric Sermon and Red Man. Even though I was Shaq, they never treated me like Shaq. I had to put in the work. Yeah. [They were like] You’re a basketball player. You got a little bit of flow. We’re going to tweak a little bit to make it to where it sounds good,” the Basketball Hall-of-Fame recalled.

He also shared that working with the best moved him to step up his rap game, which helped him immensely as he progressed.

“[They] didn’t mess around. So I had to learn that when they sent me the beat, I had to really prepare because you don’t want to be wasting people’s time going to the studio. So that’s right. So I always, you know, took pride in, you know, stuff like that,” Shaq said.

After Shaq, many NBA players followed suit and made their own hip-hop albums. Among them are Chris Webber, Allen Iverson, Damian Lillard, Iman Shumpert, Lonzo Ball and Tony Parker.

While he welcomed them for carving their own paths in music, he highlighted that he is still the OG and the best in their category.

“I have a couple of freestyles; it’s all competition for me. So when I hear the people that say, ‘I’m a better athlete-rapper than Shaq,’ I gotta step up. Nothing personal. I just have to let these people know who paved the way. So for me, it’s all fun,” Shaq told TMZ in an interview.

“I just like competing. So I put stuff out, they put stuff out, and we let the people decide who the No. 1 is. I know who the No. 1 is. I’m gonna always say it’s myself,” he added.

Shaq the rapper may not have gone full blast for a long time, but he showed up for the game and came through.