Trying his hand at music while being a heavily recruited draft prospect in the country, Shaquille O’Neal really did it all from day one. The Big Aristotle was a dominant presence right from his rookie year, making him quite the attraction in the NBA. But, to have his first album go platinum meant Shaq was perhaps just as good on the mic, as he was on the court.
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Consequently, Shaquille O’Neal once revealed how he signed a deal with Jive Records back in the day. While appearing on the Pound For Pound podcast, the seven-footer shared the deal he signed back in the 90s.
After making it into the NBA, O’Neal was initially offered a role in a movie, something that would prove to be the start of everything falling into place for the then-young man. Now 52 years old, the big man revealed the interesting story behind what put him on the map for Jive Records in the first place.
“I did the Arsenio Hall Show and you know, I wanted to be different. I didn’t want to just f**king put on the suit and come like everybody else. So I called Arsenio and said, ‘Hey, can I do something with my favorite rap group?’”
Shaquille O’Neal went on to perform with Fu-Schnickens, his favorite rap group at the time. Due to how impressive he was during his time on stage, he almost immediately got an offer of a $10 million deal from Jive Records.
However, not all was hunky-dory. The deal was for three albums, and Shaq, someone who had just entered the rap scene, was a bit taken aback. The now-Los Angeles Lakers legend mentioned how he put in a stipulation of doing the albums with his favorite rappers and they agreed, leading to the deal finally going through.
“Let me do it with all my favorite rappers and they agreed and that’s how the album deal came. But again, if they would’ve said $500,000, I would’ve been like, ‘No.’ But they said $10 million, my boy.”
Not only did Shaquille O’Neal get the opportunity to work with his favorite rappers and rap groups, he also got a massive paycheck out of it. Needless to say, this likely still remains one of the biggest wins of ‘The Big Diesel’s life to this day. However, the big man didn’t just rap for money. Sometimes, there was more of a personal element of motivation to it.
Shaquille O’Neal used music to settle beef too
Shaquille O’Neal never backed down from anyone on the court. No matter who it was he was up against, the big man would make sure to go out and humiliate them on the floor. However, while brute force helped him settle many a beef in the past, he also discovered a slightly different method to do it off the court.
Given his love for rap and hip-hop music, Shaquille O’Neal once took a few shots at his former teammate Kobe Bryant after the two parted ways, following a disgruntled relationship during his time in LA. Though it was never intended to go public, Shaquille O’Neal once wrote an obscene diss track on Kobe Bryant.
“I’m rapping “Kobe can’t win without me” and “Tell me how my a** tastes.” I went a little overboard with the language, but other than that, it was good fun. The crowd was eating it up. If some wise guy hadn’t recorded it and posted it on YouTube, then nobody but the people there would have even known about it. But, instead, some guy sells it for $1,500.”
The song was leaked by someone for just $1500 but the impact it had might as well be considered in the millions.
