NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal’s interests are not confined to just basketball. Over the past few years, the 51-year-old has created a name for himself in the music industry as well. Going by the name of DJ Diesel, he specializes in electronic dance music. Making use of various opportunities, O’Neal has been seen displaying his skills at various events and music festivals. However, he wasn’t always a fan of dance music. In fact, his journey in the music industry started with rap. The 4x NBA champion reminisced about the good old days on Instagram.

His very first dubstep album was recently launched to the world, which led Shaq to remind his followers of how far this music journey has come.

Shaquille O’Neal shares 1996 photo with an iconic rapper on Instagram

Shaquille O’Neal recently took to Instagram to share a post with his 32.1 Million followers. Featuring a throwback photo from 1996, it highlights the 7’1 baller standing alongside musical artist DJ Pharris and renowned 90s rapper Christopher Wallace, who is more commonly known as ‘The Notorious B.I.G.’

The 4x NBA champion captioned the photo as “one take NOTORIOUS BIG #youcantstopthereign” accompanied by a couple of crown emojis. The 4x Grammy-nominated artist had collaborated with Shaq that year on the latter’s third studio album.

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Titled ‘You Can’t Stop the Reign’, the album featured over 19 tracks written by the NBA star. Wallace sang the hit single ‘You Can’t Stop the Reign‘. The song was later reused by The King of Pop Michael Jackson in his song ‘Unbreakable’.

Unfortunately for Shaq, he didn’t get any further opportunities to collaborate with the rapper since he died the following year in a drive-by homicide. Nevertheless, O’Neal has now moved onto EDM and recently released a new album as well.

DJ Diesel releases his fifth studio and first dubstep album

Shaq’s ‘You Can’t Stop The Reign’ was just another step in establishing the athlete’s presence in the world of music. By the time 2023 rolled around, Shaq had released a total of four studio albums and over 19 singles. However, that was before he fell in love with EDM.

Shaq recently released his fifth studio album after a 25-year break. Titled ‘Gorilla Warfare’, the dubstep album was created by the NBA legend in collaboration with 10 other artists from the bass music industry. During an interview with DJ Magazine, DJ Diesel revealed his reason for launching a dubstep album out of all things.

“Dubstep for me has always been an escape. A way to show the world there is more to Shaquille O’Neal than just basketball” the NBA star said during the interview. “I love this genre and community so much and my album is proof of that.”

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With ‘Gorilla Warfare’ currently available on Spotify and other music streaming platforms, both NBA and music enthusiasts are sure to take a listen to what the Hall of Famer has cooked up for them.