“Those People Are Crazy”: Despite Being a Global Icon, 4X Champion Shaquille O’Neal Denounces His Celebrity Status for a Peculiar Reason

When he was still a rising force within the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal had established himself as a hip-hop artist with multiple albums. Music has still remained with him though he’s grown into so many roles. The multi-hyphenate is a veteran in the festival circuit as a DJ. Now he’s making his grand return to music. This time in the EDM genre. It’s not a major genre change, but ‘DJ Diesel’ has a close connection with music.

While speaking about his upcoming album, O’Neal revealed how transitioning to the DJ life changed his life. The 4x NBA champion is a business mogul, restaurateur, NBA analyst, and more. But music has remained the most Shaq thing besides basketball.

Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t aspire to a celebrity life

Yahoo Entertainment caught up with Shaquille O’Neal during a very busy time. O’Neal has had back-to-back appearances at music festivals, hyping thousands in the crowd with his DJ sets. He would reveal to the news outlet how music defined him.

His basketball and music career went near parallel. O’Neal said that DJing gave him the same adrenaline rush as a playoff championship game. After retiring from the NBA in 2011, he missed the energy he received from crowds. DJing gave that back to him bigger and better. “So the DJ thing definitely brought my spirits up a lot,” Shaq said.

He explained that he wasn’t craving celebrity stardom, “I don’t consider myself a celebrity. I’ve denounced myself being a ‘celebrity.’ Those people are crazy. I don’t want to be in that box!”

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But he has spent half his life in the spotlight. He got a boost from people chanting his name. He worked his way up in the NBA and once he retired, he started his DJ career from scratch too. And both gave him a sense of fulfillment. However, when he was starting in the techno business, he was upset when promoters put him on “the celebrity circuit.”

DJ Diesel establishes himself in the EDM world

Shaquille O’Neal, under his Diesel persona, has fans amped up with the release of “Gorilla Warfare.” Fans have been waiting for some original music from Shaq and his new album was highly anticipated.

He has always aimed for this kind of appreciation. From when he was a young athlete in college, through the NBA, and winning four championships, O’Neal has gone from impressing a gym of 500 people to an NBA arena of thousands and millions around the world. He found shaking off the NBA fame a little difficult when he was making a fresh start with a console.

According to a report from Yahoo, O’Neal said, “They said, ‘Oh, you wanna be a celebrity DJ, like Paris Hilton?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my girl, Paris.’ But I said, ‘OK, no problem.’” Though he had a rough start, O’Neal can truly say that he “earned [the] respect” as DJ Diesel.

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