Shaquille O’Neal is returning to rap.
The NBA legend who launched 4 hip-hop albums within the ‘90s will drop a brand new single known as “King Speak” on Could 2 in celebration of the NBA Playoffs. It’s a collaboration with Ghanian-American rapper Blackway.
O’Neal first teased the track on Feb. 7 on his Twitter, Instagram and TikTok in an animation video that celebrated LeBron James passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to change into the NBA’s all-time main scorer.
The 51-year-old entertainer had success within the ‘90s with music, together with the platinum-selling album Shaq Diesel, launched in 1993. It featured the gold-selling singles “What’s Up Doc? (Can We Rock)” and “(I Know I Received) Skillz” — which each cracked the Prime 40 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 chart — in addition to collaborations with late A Tribe Referred to as Quest rapper Phife Dawg, Def Jef and Fu-Schnickens. Among the tracks had been produced by EPMD’s Erick Sermon and Tribe’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
The duvet artwork for “King Speak”
Courtesy of Topic
O’Neal’s follow-up, 1994’s Shaq Fu: Da Return, went gold and featured songs with Technique Man, RZA, Redman and Keith Murray. His third album, 1996’s You Can’t Cease the Reign, included collaborations with the Infamous B.I.G., Jay-Z, Rakim, DJ Quik, Mobb Deep and Peter Gunz. And his 1998 album, Respect, featured a collaboration with Kobe Bryant, who launched his personal rap track that includes Tyra Banks within the early 2000s and in addition rapped on a remix of Future’s Youngster’s Grammy-winning hit “Say My Title.”
Lately O’Neal has moonlighted as DJ Diesel, performing digital dance music at festivals and his personal occasion, the pre-Tremendous Bowl extravaganza Shaq’s Enjoyable Home. O’Neal has additionally launched digital dance singles, together with collaborations with standard DJ producers like Steve Aoki, Wuki, NITTI, NGHTMRE, Riot Ten, 4B and Get rid of.
He lately in contrast the frenzy of performing stay onstage to enjoying on the basketball courtroom in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s like being in a basketball sport and having folks come and cheer you on and assist you,” he stated in February forward of his efficiency at Shaq’s Enjoyable Home. “I simply need all people to have a great time.”
“King Speak”’ was produced by Koko and will probably be launched on streaming platforms by way of Hive Music/Place Music. Blackway is greatest identified for showing on the soundtrack for the Oscar-winning animation movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with the track “What’s Up Hazard,” a collaboration with duo Black Caviar. His track “Heavyweight” was utilized by the NFL for its Songs of the Season marketing campaign, which highlighted music from rising acts and included their music into broadcasts all through the soccer season.
