NBA Legend Shaquille O'Neal set to make his return to rap with a new single in collaboration with Blackway

Modified Apr 29, 2023 09:17 GMT

Shaquille O'Neal will return to rap after more than 20 years. The NBA legend is set to release a new single titled "King Talk" in collaboration with Ghanaian-American rapper Blackway. It will be released on May 2 as part of the celebration of the 2023 NBA playoffs.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Shaq first hinted at his return to rap on February 7 via his Instagram, TikTok and Twitter accounts. "King Talk" was produced by KoKo and will be released on several streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, SoundCloud, Spotify, Staytuned, Tidal and YouTube.

Meanwhile, Blackway is known for his collaboration with Black Caviar for the song "What's Up Danger" which was used in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse". The NFL used his song "Heavyweight" in their 2020 campaign called Songs of the Season.

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Shaquille O'Neal's rap career

Shaquille O'Neal had a very successful rap career from 1993 to 2001. The LA Lakers legend released four albums in the 1990s, with his debut album "Shaq Diesel" going platinum. He was even featured on the Michael Jackson song "2 Bad", which was part of his album HIStory in 1995.

Shaq also released the albums "Shaq Fu: Da Return" in 1994, "You Can't Stop the Reign" in 1996 and Respect in 1998. While these three albums never reached the same success as "Shaq Diesel", it showed how talented Shaq really was. He paved the way for athletes who want to become entertainers.

The Hall of Famer even has an unreleased album called "Shaquille O'Neal Presents His Superfriends, Vol. 1". It was supposed to be released in 2001, but it never came to fruition.

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Shaquille O'Neal as DJ Diesel

Shaquille O'Neal returned to the music scene in 2017 when he fell in love with electronic dance music or EDM. He was inspired after attending TomorrowWorld back in 2013 and started honing his skills as a DJ.

Shaq became known as DJ Diesel and started performing in the United States before embarking on a full-blown international tour last year. One of the reasons why Shaq loved EDM and music festivals was because of the energy. He even compared the experience to playing in a Game 7 in the NBA playoffs.

"It's a Game 7 energy," O'Neal told Billboard.com last year. "The whole genre is energy. I missed that once retiring. Bass music was the vice I was missing, and desperately needed. I like to say it saved me and gave me purpose."