Basketball legend, DJ, and rapper Shaquille O’Neal has spoken about the time Ice Cube stopped him from releasing a Dr. Dre-produced song named That’s Gangsta.

Speaking on a new episode of The Big Podcast, Shaq recalls how Cube had decided to scrap the song because he thought the former NBA star was “more than just gangsta”.

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“Cube was executive producing one of my records and he put me in the studio with Dr. Dre,” Shaq says. “I did a song called That’s Gangsta. Cube heard it and was like, ‘Nope. We’re not releasing this.’ Dre did the beat.”

“I thought it was nice,” he adds, “and then I played it for Cube… He was like, ‘Shaq, you’re a fucking Laker, bro. I don’t want you talking about nothing gangsta. We not doing none of that shit.’ And it never came out.”

Explaining his reasons for pulling the brakes on the release, Cube says: “Shaq is a dope MC, but I just felt the record was off-brand for him because, to me, he’s more than just gangsta.”

“He’s loved by millions, loved by kids. He already established that. And why go backward when you’re already forward? You’re already a household name.”

For Shaq, that incident taught him an important life lesson — to “stay true to who you are,” he says.

“Cause I ain’t gonna lie. You guys wanna be basketball players, I wanted to be y’all growing up.”

The athlete-turned-rapper has released four studio albums thus far, with his first, Shaq Diesel, going platinum.

Watch the full interview below.

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