Shaquille O’Neal recently had platinum-selling artist and producer Ice Cube on the most recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq. Out of the various things discussed on the show, Shaq brought up a song he did in collaboration with Dr. Dre, only to be scrubbed by Ice Cube later.
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The Los Angeles Lakers legend narrated the story of how Dr. Dre composed the music for his song titled, ‘That’s Gangster.’ He even went into why Ice Cube decided against it and shelved that track.
“Cube was executive producing one of my records and he put in the studio with Dr. Dre. I did a song called, That’s Gangster. Cube heard it and was like, ‘Nope, we’re not releasing this.’ Dre did the beat, Dre had me there.”
“I thought it was hard and then I played it for Cube and Cube was like, ‘No’…The hook was ‘That’s Gangster.’ He was like, ‘Shaq, I don’t want you talking about nothing gangster. We not doing none of that,’ and it never came out.”
O’Neal’s co-host Adam Lefkoe asked Ice Cube whether his decision to shelf ‘That’s Gangster’ had anything to do with the quality of the record. Ice Cube explained his choice, and interestingly the answer had nothing to do with Shaq’s ability as a rapper.
“It was good, Shaq is a dope MC. But I just felt the record was off-brand for him because, to me, he’s more than just a gangster. He’s loved by millions, he’s loved by kids, he’s already established that. And why go backward when you’re already forward?”
Shaquille O’Neal has always been a beloved player even outside the basketball circles. The seven-footer, often referred to as The Gentle Giant, was not only an inspiration for kids, but mothers, grandmothers, and more also admire him to this day. Even former and current pros have a tremendous amount of love and respect for Shaq, and Kobe Bryant even referred to him as his “Big Brother” when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Ice Cube felt that a song about being a gangster would tarnish the image O’Neal had already built, and having grown up around several gangsters, Ice Cube decided that he did not want Shaq to release the song.
Shaquille O’Neal and Ice Cube discuss admiration between athletes and entertainers
As the show went on, Ice Cube and Shaquille O’Neal discussed the aspect of how basketball players often dream about being rappers. Shaq did somewhat make his dream come true and even after retiring, the four-time NBA champion still features in songs to this day.
But apart from Shaq, many other players wanted to go into the entertainment industry as well. O’Neal and Ice Cube discussed a particular Sports Illustrated cover where Cube was dressed as a basketball player whereas Shaq was depicted as a rapper.
“It was dope because it was a whole story of how athletes wanted to be entertainers and entertainers wanting to be athletes.”
Ice Cube highlighted the love and respect there is among players and entertainers despite both groups wanting what the other has. And that hasn’t changed to this day. Like rappers or other artists wanting their favorite team to win, Shaq went on to mention how, as a player, all he wanted was to listen to a specific artist’s music in his car while going home after a good game.
