Shaquille O’Neal is one of the few athletes who has almost as big a presence in the hip-hop world as he did on the court. As a result of his thriving rap career in the 90s, Shaq is friends with many OG rappers who were coming to the scene at the time. One such rapper is Ice Cube, whom the big man recently hosted on his Big Podcast.
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During the sit-down, the duo recalled their first meeting. The relationship between Ice Cube and Shaquille O’Neal began in Japan when both artists were on tour.
Shaq joining the Fu-Schnickens during the Japanese leg of their tour led to the meeting. Recalling their meeting, Shaq said,
“The first time we met was in Japan. I think he [Ice-Cube] had a show, we had a show. But it was just there…I became a fan of Ice-Cube, I am from New Jersey, so it’s all the East Coast stuff. And when I heard their stuff, I was like, ‘What is this?’…it was funky and it had a sway. And when I met him in Japan, he was really cool.”
The four-time NBA Champion would later reveal that the first time they actually caught up was when they collaborated on O’Neal’s song “Man of Steel”, which also featured hip-hop legend B-Real.
The duo vividly remembered their memories together, which even included playing basketball in Australia,
“We were in Japan, and you were with the Fu-Schnickens. And we were on tour with Cyprus Hill. And then we went over to Australia, I remember we played basketball in Australia…and one of the highlights of my basketball career is throwing you that alley-oop in that gym.”
While Cube was dishing out assists to O’Neal on the court, he was doing so off the court as well, as an executive producer on his albums.
Eventually, the duo’s relationship got Shaq a chance to get in the booth with Jay-Z, with the collaboration birthing the song, “That’s Gangster,” a banger that Cube later shelved. His reasoning was that O’Neal’s family-friendly image wasn’t suited to the thuggish mood of the track.
But fans were delighted to see the OGs recount the memories of their past exploits on their reunion.
