Maybe not a lot of people remember Shaquille O’Neal as a rapper but the legendary NBA big man is out to remind everyone with a new diss track aimed at fellow sports great turned media personality, Shannon Sharpe.
On Friday, May 10, O’Neal dropped the untitled track which uses the beat for Ryan Garcia’s recently released victory single, “Haney Pack” on his show “The Big Podcast,” as well his Instagram page with a caption promising this is his final reply to Sharpe. Fellow sports media personalities Chad Ochocinco, Stephen Jackson, and Stephen A. Smith were also tagged in the post along with rappers 50 Cent, Ghostface Killah, and Rick Ross.
“Love y’all, now I’m done with this,” the former Lakers great wrote. “I’ll be at the Bahamas crib if anyone needs me. Wooooo what a week. First I found out they ain’t love me and now this. But remember #noweqponformedagainstmeshallprosper #buffalosoldier #omegapsiphi . You can never break the UNBreakable. And to all the people that know both of us don’t call me, it will never me a sit down.”
As for the actual track, thankfully it’s nothing too harsh and more or less features Shaq Diesel spitting normal “I’m better than/I got more than you” braggadocio bars.
“Oh no, Shannon Sharpe man, you’re way beneath me/ Your whole demeanor is faker than new rapper beefy/ You’re soft before you get fly, you’d rather tweet me/ I was in three different cars when you was in three feet/ All I see is dollar signs, they coming in 3-D,” Diesel spits.
“Make it hot, ain’t no way around my degrees/ You are not in my spot, you are like a peewee/ I’ve got him calling me Rocky the way I RiRi,” raps the one-time platinum emcee. “I get to the green bag, I don’t mean a lawnmower/ Jet flying, foreign driving, best buying, downpour.”
The rift between the two legends began when Sharpe took exception to Shaq’s post-game interview with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic after the “NBA on TNT” co-host told Jokic he thought Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserved to win MVP instead of him. Sharpe then shared on his “Nightcap” show with Ochocino that he thought Shaq was jealous of the Serbian born now 3x MVP.
“I think a part of Shaq, he might not ever admit this, but Shaq see these guys win these MVPs and [is] a little envious,” Sharpe said. “I understand that Shaq got four titles and he has three Finals MVPs, but Shaq know deep down. We should be having the discussion — for G.O.A.T., Shaq’s name is never brought up in the discussion.”
“Shaq should have five MVPs,” Sharpe contended before adding that if “Shaq would’ve had my work ethic, he would have 40,000 points.
First responding on X/Twitter, O’Neal referred to himself as “the @50cent of the nba” then promised to make his “last response” after a nap. Hours later he dropped the diss track declaring himself “the best in the world.”
The Big Podcast with Shaq is currently available on YouTube.
