Giving Up $10,000,000 to Work With Biggie, Jay Z and Michael Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal Used His Academics to Excel in Music Career: “Not the Traditional Corny Big Man”

Shaquille O’Neal manages to entertain audiences even a decade after his retirement. However, it’s no surprise for the Big man’s long-term followers, who surely sensed early on that Shaq isn’t any NBA icon. While destroying teams in the league, Shaq rapped with legends such as Biggie, Jay-Z and Michael Jackson. Shaq wasn’t restricted by conventional expectations, a fact that his fans and he himself understood pretty early in his career.

Recently, the Big man revealed how he leveraged his intellect and education to pursue unpredictable collaborations with music-heroes, rather than just chasing money. Although the Big Aristotle’s other escapades have always been awe-inspiring, his rap career blew many minds as he produced with the best in the business. Shaq credits all of it to his desire to be unusual, as he recently revealed in a discussion about his rap career.

Shaquille O’Neal reveals how he ended up working with music legends

Shaq has consistently brought a refreshing energy to every platform he engaged with. This includes his successful career in the rap industry, where he had the privilege of collaborating with several popular artists – a feat that only accomplished musicians achieve. Years later now, Shaq revealed to his fans how he managed to accomplish this while being one of the top-players in the NBA.

In a recent podcast appearance on I AM ATHLETE, a conversation broke out on Shaq’s rap exporation and how he managed to dip his feet into the extremely competitive music industry.

“I didn’t know what the hell I was gonna do,” Shaq said. He added, “Certain days I wanna be a rapper…other days I want to be a football player. It was just stuff that I always did and when I got the opportunity…I wanted to be different…a lot of big guys had come in. I knew studying marketing, y’all gonna know my name, no matter what… I’m not the traditional corny big man.” 

Shaq explained how he let go of his inhibitions and decided to just have fun by rapping with his “favorite rap group”. According to Shaq, he was showered with deals following that decision, including a $10 million three-album deal.

However, the Lakers legend was extremely self-aware and realized that the audience’s love for his rap would probably die off. Therefore, he decided to continue with the same intention that he started his rap career with, working with his “favorite artists“. Nas, Biggie, Michael Jackson and Jay-Z are among the music legends that Shaq has had the privilege of sharing the studio with.

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Although the Big Aristotle explicitly mentioned that his reason for rapping wasn’t money, he has previously made it clear that it wasn’t enough compared to his earnings from basketball. It’s one of the reasons why he diverted from this career choice.

Money from Shaq’s rap career wasn’t enough

In a podcast appearance on Win Big with Clinton Sparks, Shaq mentioned how despite rap music being challenging and fun, it still lacked the big payday at that time. He mentioned how “it wasn’t worth it” when compared to the “real money” that he made in basketball. 

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Shaq’s perspective is interesting given that his first album, Shaq Diesel, went platinum while the second reached #67 on the Billboard 200. Understandably, Shaq didn’t feel his efforts would reap him proportionate returns, which was enough for him to quit while ahead. 

Fortunately for fans, the NBA suited Shaquille O’Neal just perfect.