“I Got Big on the Phone”: Shaquille O’Neal, Whose Album Reached Platinum Status, Once Recorded a Rap Song With the Notorious B.I.G.

Shaquille O’Neal is famous as an NBA superstar but his rap game in the 90s was strong, strong enough to get The Notorious B.I.G. on his song.

Shaquille O’Neal is such an imposing basketball personality that people often forget his other achievements. Apart from being a highly successful TV personality, Shaq has an outstanding portfolio as a businessman.

But before all of that, back in the 90s, O’Neal had an illustrious music career. Like many players before him and after him, he dabbled with the art of rapping.

The thing is hip-hop and NBA have always influenced each other. The two industry boom on referencing each other. So, it’s natural for certain rappers to be hoopers and big NBA fans and it’s also natural for some players to be rappers.

O’Neal was one of them. In fact, he was good enough to get the legendary Biggie Smalls, a.k.a The Notorious B.I.G. on his song.

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Shaquille O’Neal called up The Notorious B.I.G.

Shaq revealed in a podcast how in the 90s everyone was into Biggie. The ‘Who Shot You’ artist was at the peak of his career. At the same time, O’Neal was stepping into the rap game. O’Neal released his first album in 1993 named Shaq Diesel.

In the podcast, he recalled how Notorious used his name in a song. Post which, one of the people working on Shaq’s album got Biggie Smalls on the call for the 7’1″ NBA superstar.

Shaquille O’Neal talked to the rapper and told him he is working on an album. Biggie immediately agreed to work with Big Aristotle. So, The Notorious B.I.G. and Lil Cease flew out to meet and record a song with Shaq.

Once, the legendary musician was in the studio. Shaq started rapping in front of him and Biggie was grooving to it. After his verse, the big man took a pen and paper and gave them to the rapper.

But The Notorious B.I.G. needed no pen or paper or time. He got to work immediately and rapped a splendid verse that stunned Shaq.

Shaq is the only NBA player with a platinum album

Unlike Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal’s rap career was highly successful. He released 4 studio albums and two compilation albums.

Of his four studio albums, the first one, titled Shaq Diesel, reached the platinum certification. His second one reached Gold status. He is the only NBA player with these accolades.

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