Music has gone parallel with his NBA career for Shaquille O’Neal. But he made a startling transition from rap to EDM after retiring. It was an unorthodox second act for an NBA legend. Nonetheless, dubstep maniacs were welcoming. DJ Diesel’s bass career really picked up post-pandemic when he started making his remixes available on streaming platforms. Someone whose name was frequently clubbed with his on tracks was Eliminate (stylized as ELIMłNΛTƎ).

Nathan Merril aka Eliminate dropped his debut album in February 2024. Get Off The Internet is out now and earning some positive reviews. His biggest (pun intended) collaborator was not going to miss out on his friend’s success.

Shaquille O’Neal switched to his DJ Diesel Instagram page which boasts 1.2 million followers to promote Eliminate’s album with a note revealing how deep their friendship goes. “@eliminatemusic was one of the first people to believe in the diesel project. Love you and congrats on the album drop brother,” he wrote, along with sharing the Spotify link to his album.

Eliminate’s contribution to Shaq’s early trap career is not trivial. His first surprise appearance at TomorrowWorld 2015 is considered his DJ debut. Shaq’s debut EDM album, Guerilla Warfare only came in 2023. He’d become a staple at Lost Lands and Bonnaroo by then and released collaborations with others.

“Tear It Up” by Shaquille O’Neal x Eliminate dropped in 2020. It comes with a comicbook style music video. The video opens with a phone call between both where Eliminate refers to him as the “legendary basketball player and international superstar, Shaquille O’Neal.” The self-proclaimed ‘Dubstep Daddy’ is so serious about the business, he goes the extra mile for other DJs.

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Shaq’s bass ambitions

Eliminate, who has at least 483,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone, kept his signature style relevant when the pandemic cancelled festivals, through his YouTube channel that now boasts 238K subscribers. His bass lifestyle and music design videos were a huge hit. He was a perfect partner to further Shaq’s career who at that point had a few releases with the likes of Nitti Gritti, Bang, and Lil Jon.

O’Neal is always generous with his collaborators. To celebrate the release of their song, “Chaos,” Shaq gifted Gawne a custom Rolls Royce. For his dubstep colleagues, he’s giving a platform.

Shaq welcomes demos from any interested DJs. He performs with his handpicked artists at festivals too. Recently, he scouted So&So straight off X to perform at the all-female edition of his biggest dubstep venture, Bass All-Stars. Shaq humble-brags he’s not that big in bass but he’s definitely the most big-hearted.

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