I said my face bomb, ass tight, racks stack up Shaq height.
That's easy.
I mean, her money stand so tall that it's as tall as me.
Hey, what's up?
This is Shaq, AKA Diesel, AKA DJ Diesel.
I'm about to break down some lyrics on Between the Lines.
You know, I'm the hip hop decoder.
Before we get started, I just wanna let people know I have a podcast called Big Podcast with
Shaq.
You can find it anywhere that you listen to podcasts.
Real dope.
Me, Nischelle Turner, my main man Spice Adams, Ro Parrish.
It's hot.
Big Podcast with Shaq, check it out.
I wanna say it was Nas.
"It Ain't Hard to Tell."
I used to have a Suburban with 18 18s in it.
So whoever mixed that song did a wonderful job, but I remember "It ain't hard to tell,
I excel, I flip a skill like Shaquille holds the bill."
I was like.
Like, even though I'm considered a superstar, I'm still a kid and I'm amazed that other
superstars know who I am.
“Still Fly," Big Tymers.
Got a Superman Benz that I scored from Shaq.
With a old school Caddy with a diamond in the back.
A lot of people ask me where'd I get the name Superman from.
When I was young, I saw ‘Superman’ one.
I went to the theaters, and it was nothing I'd never seen before.
And one of the scenes was, he ran faster than the train.
So, you know, I used to live by the train tracks and one day a train was coming, and
I was sprinting and the train was behind me.
And I just got faster and faster and faster and faster.
I was like oh shit, “I'm Superman.”
You know, the Superman thing wasn't and NBA thing, this was a childhood thing.
And Mannie Fresh is a good friend of mine.
And I had this Benz, right?
It had Superman emblems everywhere, right?
I sold it to my guy from West Coast Customs, and I wanna say Mannie Fresh bought it.
He either bought it or they used it in the video.
But look, I've been knowing Mannie Fresh, I've been knowing Baby, I've been knowing
Weezy.
I went to LSU, I watched all those guys from Louisiana grow up.
Master P, all those guys.
And it was an honor for them to say my name.
"Up" Cardi B. I said my face bomb, ass tight, racks stack up Shaq height.
That's easy.
I mean, her money stand so tall.
That it’s as tall as me.
The day I realized I was taller than everybody else was probably the age of 13.
I knew I was tall, but when I was 13 and next friend was down to my waist, I'm like damn,
I'm tall.
And I'm getting taller.
Hello, Cardi B. I love you, I've met her many times.
She's been so nice to me.
We know similar people, and I remember when my financial guy called me.
He said hey, I'm representing Cardi B now.
She's doing well.
I said what do you mean she's doing well?
He's like man, she's got a lot of money, bro.
If you got my financial advisor, your racks stack up Shaq height.
"I Love the Dough," The Notorious B.I.G.
“We hit makers with acres.
Roll shakers in Vegas, you can't break us.
Lost chips on Lakers, gassed off Shaq.”
This is probably the time where we had a hot team, but we were getting swept in the playoffs.
Because remember, when me and Kobe first got there in '96, our first three or four years
we got swept every year.
Utah one year, San Antonio one year, but everybody thought we was the team to beat because of
myself and Kobe, so I'm not mad at that lyric.
“Lost chips on Lakers, gassed off Shaq.”
'Cause when you don't win as a Laker, it's my fault.
I'm cool with that lyric.
A lot of people ask me about the studio session with Biggie.
You know, went in like this.
I thought I heard him say “I'm slamming brothers like Shaquille, shit is real.”
I contacted all my friends in New York.
Yo, get in touch with Puff, get in touch with Big.
So I had a guy named Frank who was managing me at the time, rest in peace.
Him in Puff was cool, so Frank called me in there and said hey man, we got Big picking
beef.
"You Can't Stop the Reign."
I was like, you know, he's a big man.
He's reining supreme.
I'm the big man, I'm reining supreme.
So that's where we got the title from and the song.
I did my verse right away.
Nah, this ain't good enough for Big.
Like listen, you got Big coming to the studio.
I know I'm not gonna be even nowhere close to Big, but I gotta be right under him.
I played it for him, and he just started doing this.
And you know this face in hip hop, like, like, yeah it's cool.
He was like “okay big dog, okay big dog.”
I had a pen and a pad and said here you go.
My engineer’s gonna be in the next room, when you need them, just hit the button.
And he started laughing.
No man, I'm ready to go right now.
He went in there, one take.
And then we listened to it a few times, and then I said, like Big.
He's like “oh yeah, that's right, it's for the kids, for the kids.”
And then he went back and did another verse.
So I'm the only one that got the original verse, and I'll never play it.
'Cause he says some ooh.
He went in.
"Breathe Easy," Jay Z.
“Suckers get your weight up, not your hate up.
Jigga man is Diesel when I lift the eight up.”
Ooh, see I never heard that.
So Diesel when I lift the eight up must mean when I lift Kobe at the championship.
After we won the championship, Kobe jumped in my arms.
Okay, Jigga man, I appreciate that.
When I think of Kobe Bryant, I think of just helping me, helping us become the most dominant,
most enigmatic, most controversial, most celebrated one two punch ever in the history of the game.
When I'm getting double, he the first guy I'm looking for.
When he come to the hole, he got four or five guys trying to block his shot, I'm the first
guy he looking for.
You ain't gotta agree on things, and you ain't gotta, you know, do certain things.
You just have to respect each other and stick to the task at hand, and that was winning
the championships.
A lot of the stuff that you guys knew about it was exactly what I was doing, working.
I said something, he said something.
We wanted the world ro focus on us.
And it worked, we won three out of four.
"That's How I Beat Shaq," Aaron Carter.
I said, yo, Shaq, you didn't tie your shoelace.
He looked down, I stole the ball.
The reason why Aaron Carter was confident enough to say my name is because Backstreet
Boys and NSYNC before they became famous used to record at my house studio.
Whole family used to come over.
True story.
I had a chance to sign him up.
And I didn’t.
I let them use my studio, they was some cute little kids.
Think I charged them $25 an hour.
Aaron and all those guys used to come over, and of course I had the big house.
We had the basketball court, they'd play on the basketball court.
So then when Aaron Carter was making it, this is the song he chose to do.
And that's why I was in the video 'cause I knew him.
A lot of people don't know that, but NSYNC and Backstreet Boys recorded their first albums
at Shaq studios.
"Smoove Dude," YN Jay.
“Hoodie on, 40 on my sleeve through my jacket bussin'.
When I come through, they step back like Shaq was coming.
Break the glass, I'm a throw the oop like Shaq was dunking.”
I appreciate you, YN Jay.
A lot of people did step back when I came through.
'Cause I'm coming to put these in your face.
You understand what I'm saying?
The first time I broke the glass in the game, I felt so powerful.
I've seen Darryl Dawkins do it, I love the power he played with.
And I just felt so powerful.
So after celebrating, looking at everybody's face.
Oh, they think I'm powerful too.
Now I got to go with it.
They think I'm Superman.
I flew like Superman.
Hey, I must be Superman.
So now every time I dunk, I try to get the same feeling.
I've bent like 10 or 15 rims.
I pulled back six or seven backwards.
So I got my fair share of, you know, destroying basketball equipment.
But it just made me feel so powerful.
"R.I.C.O."
Drake.
“They gon' Tony Montana and cop them some Shaq at the free throws.”
Let me see if I can decode that.
Tony Montana, we know he was Scarface, cop them Shaq at the free throws, bricks.
Bricks must be cocaine.
Okay, Drake.
I like that one, that was nice.
I've been knowing Mr. Aubrey for a long time.
Very talented, proud of him.
He takes care of me every time I go to Canada.
I'm not mad at that.
You know why I'm not mad at that?
I have a sense of humor.
When you can't make fun of yourself, You can't laugh at yourself, there's something wrong
with you.
Like the arrogant guy, who Drake talking to?
That's not what I do.
Appreciate you, Drake.
I do shoot bricks at the free throw.
Expect when I used to come to Toronto and bust the Raptors ass, but I like this verse.
I appreciate you, Drake.
"Down Bad," Bas.
“I'm back in the booth.
Got 'em hacking a Shaq 'cause they lacking the juice.
Negros dropping the ball, they on Shaqtin' a fool.”
Negros dropping the ball, they on Shaqtin' a fool.
Means when you get the opportunity, you not even doing nothing with it.
Okay Bas, I see you.
I appreciate that.
“Shaqtin' a Fool” is a bloopers remixed, hip hop style.
I don't want people to say bloopers no more.
Bloopers is dead.
We done went to blooper's house, tied him up, you'll never see bloopers again.
They ain't got no evidence, bloopers is gone.
“Shaqtin' a Fool” is in charge.
You see anybody do something?
They're Shaqtin' a fool.
You see somebody fall, somebody slip, Shaqtin' a fool.
So I want Shaqtin' a fool to be the new bloopers reference.
"What You Want," my main man Freeway.
“Me and L same track, it gotta be craz'.
It's like he Shaq and I'm D-Wade.”
Ooh, okay Free.
Now see, the reason why I Free say he's D-Wade, 'cause he definitely smaller than L. Well
my favorite memory with D-Wade is winning my fourth championship.
D-Wade was a guy that I saw he had a lot of talent, he had a lot of potential, and I brought
it out of him.
"What's up Doc?
" Shaquille O'Neal.
“Forget Tony Danza, I'm the boss.
When it comes to money, I'm like Dick Devos.
Now who was the first pick?
Me.
Word in born'in.
Not a Christian Laettner, not Alonzo Mourning.”
This was about when I was coming to the NBA.
Arsenio Hall kept calling me.
Hey man, I want you to come on.
But I didn't wanna just go buy a $10,000 suit, sit on the couch, and brag, you know?
I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that.
I'ma be this, I'ma be that.
I wanted to do something different.
So he kept saying, what do you want?
I said I wanna rap with my favorite rap group.
And at the time, my favorite rap group was Fu-Schnickens.
So we contact Fu-Schnickens and they flew me out, and they sent me the beat, and I wrote
the song.
We performed it, and the next day my agent said, “Hey, I don't know if you wanna take
these calls, but John wants to offer you a record deal.”
I'm like “I'm not doing no record.”
They wanna give you 10 million for three albums.
I was like, “I'll take it.”
That's how I started doing my albums.
I never wanted to be a rapper, but the opportunity to rap it all my favorite MCs and just have
fun and do videos with, that's what it was all about for me.
I appreciate all the lyric mentions.
Again, I'm not sensitive.
So say whatever you want.
As long as you said my name, I'm happy.
You're not gonna hurt my feelings.
You know, the Drake line was a line that you probably had to figure out.
But since I'm the hip hop decoder, and already figured it out.
But look, Shaq shot bricks from the free throw, okay?
Whoopty freaking do.
The legacy I wanna leave behind is I want people to say “Shaq was a nice guy.”
That's it, doesn't matter.
Oh, “he did a rap album and went platinum.
He did 17 movies.
Five with Adam Sandler.
He won four championships, he played with Kobe, Lebron, D-Wade.”
None of that's important.
Was he a nice guy?
Was he cool?
When you met him with your son or your daughter, did he take a picture?
That's the stuff that matters.
All the other stuff, you know, can be written and rewritten and false written, and you know?
So I just want people to saw he was a nice guy.