In 1993, Shaquille O’Neal, fresh off winning the Rookie of the Year award, showcased his rap talent and dropped his debut album Shaq Diesel, which went on to sell more than a million copies, making him the only professional athlete with a platinum album. However, the success of his debut project exposed him to the grim reality of the music industry, as he received just $600,000 out of the total profits.
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O’Neal relayed the story during the Whozfire music tournament, where he’s one of the judges alongside Waka Flocka and CeeLo Green. The Hall of Famer said he wasn’t too upset about the underwhelming return and was glad he did the album as it helped him connect with artists he looked up to. He said,
“When I did my first album and went platinum and got that little $600,000 check, I was like, ‘All this for that!’ I understand what y’all going through but I was making so much money doing what I do, when I had that, I was like, you know what, for me doing that album was like being with the Waka, being with the CeeLo, being with OutKast, being with all the people I was able to spend the time with.”
In 1992, O’Neal had inked a four-year, $17.4 million rookie deal with the Magic and had already signed numerous endorsement deals. By the time, his album was released, he had already earned around $3 million from his rookie deal with Orlando. He expected to receive comparable pay when his album sold a million copies but was astonished when he was paid only 1/5th of his NBA salary.
But his rap career helped him connect with East Coast rap superstars like The Notorious B.I.G, Jay Z, and Nas. So he continued to drop albums, despite knowing he’d likely never get a massive payday from it.
Shaquille O’Neal’s musical endeavors
O’Neal’s discography as a rapper has four studio albums, two compilation albums, and one unreleased album. Following the success of his debut album in 1993, he released his second project called Shaq Fu: Da Return in 1994.
His second album wasn’t as successful as his first, but sold 500,000 copies and was certified gold. In 1996, he rolled out his third album, You Can’t Stop the Reign, and in 1998, he released his final album, Respect. Neither did particularly well.
In 2001, he intended to release another album Shaquille O’Neal Presents His Superfriends, Vol. 1, but abandoned the idea. He did release two singles off the album but they didn’t receive much traction and the Hall of Famer decided to scrap the rest.
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He retired from rapping and pivoted to DJing under the stage name DJ Diesel. He and his son Myles O’Neal put together a riveting EDM performance at Tomorrowland in July this year and are expected to perform at more gigs together.
