Having an Unreleased Track With Nas, Shaquille O’Neal Highlights Kings Legend Chris Webber Producing Songs for Rapper

Basketball fans best know Chris Webber as a 5x All-Star, the 1994 Rookie of the Year, and a legend for the Sacramento Kings. However, only a few might know how the Kings legend also has his foothold in the music and hip-hop industry. Shaquille O’Neal is one of them as recently, he shared the story of how CB got to work with the rapping legend Nas.

Webber is a music producer and has produced two songs for the rapper Nas, “Blunt Ashes” from the album Hip Hop Is Dead and “Surviving The Times” from Nas’ Greatest Hits album. In an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast, Webber revealed that his spark for producing music was ignited by one of his friends from college, KG.

While studying at the University of Michigan, Webber hung around at KG’s house, which used to have a full production set in his room. While fiddling around with the production equipment, Webber started making amazing beats, which later earned the recognition of the popular rapper Nas. Growing up in Detroit, music was a large part of Webber’s life, which inspired him to make beats alongside his main hustle for getting to the NBA.

Shaquille O’Neal, who also had his fair share of trysts with the music industry, knew and understood Webber’s potential as a music producer. Affirming the former NBA player’s talent for producing, Shaq posted a clip from Webber’s appearance on All The Smoke on his story, uploaded by Hip Hop Historian on Instagram.

Chris Webber also released his rap album, ‘2 Much Drama’ in 1999, under his nickname C.Webb. The album consisted of 21 tracks, of which the single ‘Gangsta Gangsta (How U Do It)’ peaked at number 10 on the Hot Rap Singles chart. The album also included guest features from Redman and Kurupt. Furthermore, Webber also appeared on a self-titled skit for Naughty by Nature’s Grammy-winning album, Poverty’s Paradise.

Shaquille O’Neal had unreleased songs with big names such as Jay-Z, Nas, and Biggie

Shaq also had his fair share of experience in the hip-hop industry. While he was producing bangers on the court, perhaps some of his tracks also had the potential to be industry hits. The Big Fella collaborated with New York’s three rap titans- Jay-Z, Nas, and Biggie, in one of his songs, ‘No Love Lost.’ The song also featured Lord Tariq as a guest artist. Unfortunately, to everyone’s surprise, the track never saw the light of the day.

Years later, Shaq revealed that the song was shelved due to clearance issues. The Diesel was more than happy to collaborate with the biggest names in hip-hop, such as Nas, Biggie, and Jay-Z. However, when he realized he wasn’t getting enough money to contribute to this song, O’Neal decided to back out.

As a platinum artist, Shaq expected respect and pay in accordance. As respected widely in the league, Shaq also demanded the same respect for his musical endeavors.