2008 was a wild year. Shaquille O’Neal was traded from Miami to Phoenix. Ray J had just made his return to the music scene after his scandalous tape with Kim Kardashian hit cyberspace a year ago. We had only begun to absorb Keeping Up with the Kardashians when season 2 premiered in 2008. And that may have taken the attention away from Ray J a tad. Because Shaquille O’Neal had an unexpected cameo in the music video and people moved on too fast from it. Shaq isn’t hurting though since that little investment paid back well.

On Ray J’s latest appearance on Club Shay Shay, Shannon Sharpe questioned the source directly about a little-known fact in Shaq-lore. O’Neal appeared in the end of the “Sexy Can I” music video holding a camera. Apparently, his role in the video and Ray J’s fourth album, All I Feel, was more than that. He even invested $1.5 million in Ray’s career which he confirmed to Sharpe.

“He gave us $1.5 million for ‘Sexy Can I,'” Ray said, surprising Sharpe. The song made it to the top 3 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the album sold 8 million copies, enough for Shaq to recover his investment and more. “We recouped the number back for Shaq in, I don’t know, five months, six months and everything else has been profitable since. So shoutout to Shaq.”

Knowing Shaq is an astute businessman surrounded with smart people, Sharpe had to ask how Ray pitched the idea to Shaq. Kardashian’s ex recalled going through one of Shaq’s closest business associates who convinced him to make his first investment in a music video. There were a lot of people involved in the business end of the production besides Ray J and Shaq. Contrary to how it looks, “I didn’t take the money from Shaq. The team did and they were able to make it work, structure it properly, and it was a success. And he made his money back and he’s still making money from it, or some money from the team.”

It appears that O’Neal stuck to his tried and test business policy of a royalty structure in this business deal too. Which means along with the artist involved, he continues to get a good chunk of royalty. A good price for becoming a passing meme back then.

Kim Kardashian overshadowed Shaq

“Sexy Can I” and All I Feel weren’t the most successful projects Ray J had done. The instance that happened a year before its release simply took away the attention. Ray J and Kim Kardashian had been broken up for at least three years when their controversial tape surfaced in 2007. Keeping Up With the Kardashians hit airwaves that same year off the back of Kim’s newfound fame.

So the line in “Sexy Can I,” when Ray J sings, “Let me go and get my camera” a good seven times throughout the song got a lot of virtual side-eye. Ray told Sharpe that Shaq got the camera and filmed those parts before revealing himself in the end, still in NBA shape and his signature 2008 long coat fashion.

Unfortunately fans couldn’t look past the Kim K and camera references. Like Kris Jenner turning an opportunity into profit, Shaq was business savvy here and is fine with being overshadowed by Kim Kardashian.

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