DJ Diesel is no stranger to performing in front of a big crowd. From performing at the Tomorrowland festival to having European tours, Shaquille O’Neal is now a DJ icon. Once he even showed off his over 15k live audience for a set on social media. But believe it or not, the larger-than-life figure who now commands stadiums, was out of ideas once in front of a modest crowd.

In a new episode of Whozfire, Shaq brought along his longtime friend DJ Whoo Kid for a music showdown. The show pits up-and-coming artists against each other in a battle for a $30,000 prize, with Shaq himself at the helm reacting, reviewing, and sometimes brutally judging their performances. It’s all in the spirit of showcasing raw talent, a mission Shaq’s deeply committed to. But before all that, he let fans in on a vulnerable moment from his DJing past, one that Whoo Kid happened to witness.

While chatting with Whoo Kid, Shaq recalled his early Vegas days, revealing how the 52-year-old rapper saved his set. “Before we get started, I owe this man (Whoo Kid) a thank you… When I first started deejaying for the people, I was fuc-ing bombing. BOMBING! Terrible. He came over. He was next to me, he was like, ‘Play this, play this.’ He took over for 10 minutes and the crowd picked up and I was like, ‘Damn’. If he wasn’t there I would have fuc-ing bombed. So Whoo Kid, thank you for having my back.”

O’Neal revealed that the two have known each other for over 15 years, but he never got to say thank you to the DJ. When asked whether he was nervous, the 4x NBA champion said, “Nah I wasn’t nervous. I just wasn’t picking the right record.” Shaq’s reason for it was hilarious as always.

“You gotta know the crowd. I thought, I got white managers, right? So I thought it’s gonna be white people and I had my white boy music. The brothers were not playing that sh-t.” The setting? A Vegas pool party, packed with people ready to dance. As Shaq admitted on Whozfire, it wasn’t a good scene for him and it could have led to his DJ career never even taking off. And after he left, O’Neal revealed that Whoo Kid had the people jumping.

Thanks to Whoo Kid’s coaching, Shaq managed to turn his fear into fuel, sparking what would become a DJ career known for shaking up massive festivals.

Shaquille O’Neal showed off his huge fan base at his own music festival

It wasn’t long ago that Shaquille O’Neal, aka DJ Diesel, took to Instagram to show off the massive turnout at his very first music festival. Playing in Fort Worth, Texas, Shaq dropped a set in front of a crowd of 15,000 people, taking a moment to thank fans for all their love and support.

But that was just the beginning. Shaq’s Bass All-Stars festival has only picked up more momentum, and with his popularity as an NBA legend and larger-than-life personality, it’s no wonder fans are already lining up for his next show. They’ve flooded his social media with requests for him to perform in their hometowns, and the excitement is definitely building.

On top of his festival success, Shaq has been busy growing his music career. He dropped his first EDM album, Gorilla Warfare, and even went on tour across Europe with his son, Myles O’Neal, who’s also a DJ. Together, they hit major cities, bringing their unique family duo to fans across the globe.

Most memorable of all, the father-son pair made history with their performance at Tomorrowland’s Rave Cave, the iconic festival stage. They became the first father-son duo to perform together there, with a mashup that had a crowd of 400,000 from 200 countries moving and cheering along.