 Shaq's journey started out
down a hard road. Born March 6, 1972 in Newark,
New Jersey, he was the first son of Lucille
O'Neal, who gave him the name Shaquille Rashaun,
which in Islamic means little warrior." Says
Shaq with a smile, "I was never little, but I
was always a warrior."
His biological father left
soon after he was born and for the next year
Shaq was raised by his mother and her relatives.
Living in the Newark projects, they struggled to
make ends meet aided by food stamps. His mother
then married Philip Harrison, who Shaq considers
his father. To help his family escape the
blighted, crime-ridden inner city, Harrison
joined the Army in 1974, eventually rising to
the rank of sergeant. In addition , he took on
as many as three part-time jobs to support Shaq
and Shaq's younger brother Jamal and younger
sisters Lateefah and Ayesha.
The military life meant
frequent changes of geography for all of them.
Halfway through the first grade for O'Neal,
Harrison was transferred to Bayonne. In the
third grade, they moved to Eatontown. Their next
stationing was Fort Stewart, Georgia. In the
sixth grade, they were assigned to a military
base in West Germany, and experience Shaq hated
and which incited youthful rebellion. In his
second year of high school, they returned to the
U.S., to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. There,
he attended Robert c. Cole High School on the
Army base.
Despite so much change, there
was one constant in Shaq's life-rap. "I have a
love for rap," he says. "I'm from the 'hood,
same 'hood as Heavy D. I'd do the same things
kids do, some bad. And when I was hangin' in the
park, I'd hear the same rappers. I'd say,
'Someday I wanna be like them, on stage and
rippin' it."
Early on, his desire for
attention led him to a bad boy image-stealing,
lying, and bullying other kids. (Drugs, however,
were never part of his life. "There were kids
doing drugs, even on the Army base," he says,
"but that wasn't for me.") After he almost
seriously injured a classmate in a fight in the
eight grade, he decided to change his wayward
ways. From that moment, he focused his energy on
hoops and At first, like every other kid at he
time, he aspired to be a breakdancer. while that
fad faded, his love for the music remained.
Inspired to rap after hearing the early eighties
funk anthem "Planet Rock" from pioneer Afrika
Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force, he'd
practice rhyming in front of the mirror,
imitating and admiring other favorites such as
U.T.F.O., Doug E. Fresh, Public Enemy, Big Daddy
Kane, Salt n' Pepa, Heavy D, Eric B. & Rakim,
Ricky D., Scott La Rock and B.D.P. He'd drop his
rhymes in the park and at school, creating crazy
rhythms and intense, non-stop word play.
"I'm a fan of the music
first, then I listen to the words," he says. You
move your head because of the beat, not the
words. When I was coming up, I never listened
for a message. If I didn't like the beat, I'd
never listen to the words. A lot of people take
rap music the wrong way because they're always
worried about controversial lyrics. But rap is
entertainment too, and I'm an entertainer."
At age 20, Shaq exited
Louisiana State University after his junior year
and relocated to Orlando, Florida. The next
year, he teamed with Fu-Schnickens, sharing a
bill at a rap concert in Sydney, Australia (also
with Ice Cube) and appearing together on
television's "Arsenio Hall Show." That summer he
debuted on record with a duet with FU-Schnickens,
"What's Up Doc? (Can We Rock?)." The single
reached Top 40 pop, Top 25 rap, and was
certified golf. (It was later remixed and
appeared on 1994's Nervous Breakdown album from
FU-Schnickens.
Signed to Jive Records,
O'Neal made his solo alum premiere with Shaq
Diesel in 1993. Old School, raw, and sample
heavy, it referenced basketball throughout it's
lyrics, such as on "(I Know I Got) Skillz." That
track went gold, charted Top 20 R&B, Top 40 pop,
and was a #3 rap hit. Shaq Diesel, which earned
platinum certification, reached #10 R&B, #25
pop.
In the follow-up, Shaq Fu-da
Return (1994), boasted fewer samples and was
funkier. It also said less about ball and more
about Shaq, his home, family and growing up,
such as "Biological Didn't Bother," a Top 20
hit. Shaq Fu - Da Return achieved gold status
and peaked in the R~B Top 20. In 1995, he
performed a rap cameo on "2Bad" on Michael
Jackson's HlStory album.
For his third album effort,
Shaq did more than change record companies. Two
years since his last album, he was determined do
this one right "I took my time- and I paid for
everything." The time was found at home and in
hotel rooms on the road. "I take one thing at a
time," he explains. "I get the beats, then I get
the lyrics." Actually he had more time to work
on his raps than he thought he would. Having
broken a thumb in the fall of 1995, he could do
little else for six weeks. "I knocked off eight
songs in that time, I practiced them so much
that when summer came around they didn't take
long to record at all."
While a couple of the songs
on "You Can't Stop The Reign" tell stories, such
as the mix of the reality and imagination on
"You Can't Stop The Reign", and a song dedicated
to grandmother Odessa, Shaq notes that "four or
five are just flipping' words." And while some
of the tracks are radio-ready, others are, as he
puts it, "for the homeboys. I like to hear the
hard stuff too." Musically though, there's no
questions where his heart is: "The Seventies had
the badest music ever made and it's coming back.
Music just keeps going around."
The summer of 1996 saw Shaq
make another change, a move to Los Angeles. "The
thing I love about LA," he says, " is that there
are many superstars walking around. People see
you, they just go, 'Hi." Though only 24 years
old, O'Neal already enjoys worldwide fame and
enormous prosperity. For many, he's seen as
bigger than life. But when it comes to his
music, Shaquille O'Neal is still that kid in the
park throwing down a rhyme.
Now in 2004, the way
Shaquille O'Neal sees it, he's still the big
cat. On his latest effort, "Hot in Here Part
Five," a collaboration with DJ Vlad, Shaq
voicing his "distaste" for ex-teammate Kobe
Bryant, the Detroit Pistons' Ben Wallace and
rappers Skillz and Ma$e. This release proves
he's still got what it takes to dominate not
only on the court, but also on the radio.
When Shaquille O'Neal isn't
rapping, he can be found playing basketball for
the Miami Heat.
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