4-time champion Shaquille O’Neal is famous for his dominance on the court. His legacy and fame in basketball are unmatched, however, that was not his only interest during his career. The ‘Big Diesel’ has a lot of love for music and especially rap. Anyhow, it will be surprising to know that he wanted to take his passion for music to the next level. A 53-year-old famous American rapper threw light on how Shaq did a side hustle during his career in the NBA. 

Though balancing life with music and basketball sounds really hard, looks like the Los Angeles Lakers legend did not have a huge problem with it. Here is a story about Shaq’s unknown side hustle. 

How did an artist help Shaquille O’Neal in his rap career?

Apart from entertaining his fans with basketball, Shaq during the early stages of his career had a lot of love for rap. The 51-year-old is one of the most multi-talented athletes in the world. After his retirement, the Big Diesel made several investments, started a career in television through ‘Inside the NBA’ and whatnot. However, he showed the same skills even before his retirement. 

The 4-time champion had even released an album during the 90s, called the ‘Big Diesel’. It was even certified as premium. Moreover, Shaq also collaborated with legendary rappers. One he always took pride in was his collaboration with Notorious B.I.G.. $16 million rich Redman also played a part in Shaq’s rap career. 

The 53-year-old appreciated Shaq’s interest in music, “Shaquille is a cool dude first of all …He was selling hot. He was putting in work. He followed us and he learned the platform of how we do it. And while we worked with him, we showed him how we do it as well.”

Redman added, “You know you have some ballers that try to do rap and do the sports game and it just don’t happen enough. But Shaq, he put in work. He was doing records with key dudes… And we rooted him on in his career in basketball, ‘Now, it’s enough rapping, get you a** back out there on the court.'” The former Laker acknowledged this interview as he shared it in his Instagram story.

Why did Shaq put an end to his rap career? 

A few months back in a podcast, Shaq revealed why he had to stop the side hustle. The 15-time All-Star shared he did not make “real money” from doing music and he had contractual obligations to fulfill. 

Read more: Months After Fight Almost Broke Out on Live TV, Shaquille O’Neal Slaps 76ers Legend Yet Again With a Stinging Reality Check on Miami Heat’s Superiority Over Celtics

Though Shaq managed to balance both at the same time, he eventually felt the music career was “unrewarding”. Thus, he put a stop to it. 

Watch this story: “Eyes set on buying Florida based NBA team, millionaire Shaquille O’Neal linked with $3,000,000,000 deal”

What are your thoughts on Shaq’s side hustle? Share your thoughts in the comments below!