The magic of Inside the NBA is that the crew is never afraid to go places that no other show would be willing to. The all-time example is Charles Barkley making jokes about the Jussie Smollett case and explaining to America that you should “not commit crimes with checks.”
Kenny amended his example to Kendrick Lamar, while Chuck had the same grin on his face as he did when he was able to make his Jussie jokes, as no one is more proud of themselves when they get to tiptoe up to the line than Barkley. It’s rare Chuck gets to both be the jokester and voice of reason at the same time, but in this instance he was probably right that using Jay-Z as an example right now wasn’t the best timed reference, while also accomplishing his constant goal of getting Shaq to lose it.
NBA players and musical artists have always been close with one another. One frequent way that we’ve seen that over the years is music videos, as NBA players have frequently made cameos in them, whether they’re just showing their face for a moment or they’re a main character in the story that an artist is trying to tell.
Today, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite appearances that NBA players have made in music videos over the years. Players from a number of different eras — and songs from a number of different genres — made it on the list, but all of them feature artists making it a point to get some of the biggest names in basketball into their videos.
Kobe Bryant: “Bug-a-Boo” by Destiny’s Child
This wasn’t the only time Kobe linked up with Destiny’s Child — he recorded a verse on a remix of their track “Say My Name.” He does have a cameo in the video for “Bug-a-Boo,” though, as Destiny’s Child — which is trying to get away from a group that is bugging them — dips into a locker room. While going through there, they come across Bryant, who is sitting there and getting ready to play basketball.
Michael Jordan: “Jam” by Michael Jackson
MJ and MJ just had to appear in a music video together at some point, no? The two appear on a basketball court and shoot hoops with one another, and at one point, Michael (Jackson) teaches Michael (Jordan) some dance moves. These might have been the two most famous people in the world when this video came out in 1992, and it’s a pretty remarkable cultural artifact.
DeMar DeRozan: “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
The newest release on this list, DeRozan was one of the many celebrities who made a cameo in Lamar’s summer anthem that doubled as the high point of his feud with Drake from earlier this year. It turns out DeRozan has known Lamar for quite some time, and while he said he still has love for Drake despite appearing in this video, well, it sure seems like there might be some tension here.
Shaquille O’Neal: “Make ‘Em Say Uhh!” by Master P featuring Fiend, Silkk the Shocker, Mia X & Mystikal
Shaq, as we’ve laid out before, has been in a ton of music videos over the years. His first was the iconic “Make ‘Em Say Uhh!” video, where he sits courtside and looks like he’s having the time of his life as Master P and co. put on a show on the hardwood.
Isiah Thomas, Chris Mullin, and David Robinson: “2 Legit 2 Quit” by MC Hammer
One of the biggest music videos of all time — it’s a little more than 14 and a half minutes long, and is absolutely jam packed with some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment at that time. Names like Deion Sanders, Rickey Henderson, and Wayne Gretzky make cameos, while the NBA is well-represented with two members of the Dream Team and, uh, a third player who was almost on the Dream Team.
Jimmy Butler: “So Much (for) Stardust” by Fall Out Boy
Easily the most … unique video on this list. It features Jimmy Butler dressed up in what I can only describe as an emo cowboy costume and really committing fully to the bit. (The bit, of course, is “Jimmy Butler dressing like this in a Fall Out Boy video.”) There is no one in the NBA quite like Jimmy, and this video is a pretty good example of why that is the case.
DraftKings’ latest NBA commercial debuted yesterday brings basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal to the screen alongside comedian Kevin Hart and former WNBA star Lisa “The Dominant” Leslie. The 30-second national ad showcases DraftKings’ player prop offerings, from first buckets to points.
As Shaq lights up the screen with his co-stars, fans are in for a treat, and a surprise moment awaits at the end of the commercial. The campaign also highlights exciting promotions for the NBA season, including an offer where new customers who bet $5 receive $200 instantly in bonus bets, plus a daily pregame NBA player prop boost for all eligible customers.
DraftKings’ latest campaign will excite basketball fans as they gear up for the new season.
Earlier this year, North Carolina rapper Toosii had a brief one-sided beef with NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq, who’s been living the bachelor life since getting divorced in 2011, is infamous for his willingness to approach women. He sent Toosii’s girlfriend Samaria Davis a message that read “can I have that baby.” As there was no punctuation in Shaq’s message, Toosii interpreted it as Shaq asking for his son. Toosii blasted Shaq for the message, calling him a “weird ass oldhead.” He later walked it back when he realized what Shaq actually meant, but still criticized him for sliding into his girlfriend’s DMs.
In a new interview with The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne asked Toosii about the spat, and he explained his thought process. “When I read that, I thought he was talking about my son. If I had known he was talking about my BM, on God, I never would’ve said that,” Toosii said. When DJ Envy asked if they spoke after, Toosii confirmed they had not had a conversation. He pointed to Shaq’s net worth and social status as reasons why the two have never been able to speak.
Toosii also explained that his girlfriend Samaria Davis, who is a model with over a million Instagram followers and recently launched a YouTube channel, always shows him who tries to slide into her DMs. He never felt threatened by Shaq or concerned that she would accept his offer, but he was more offended that Shaq even asked the question at all, if his words on the Breakfast Club interview are to be believed.
Toosii released his latest album, Jaded, on October 4. The 36-minute album features appearances from Kehlani, Muni Long, and Gunna, the latter of whom delivered a smooth feature on the track “Champs Elysses.” He made the rounds on New York hip-hop stations to promote it, including an appearance on Hot 97 that came shortly after his interview with Charlamagne, Envy, and Jess Hilarious. The full half-hour interview is available to listen to on The Breakfast Club‘s YouTube channel.
On Saturday, September 7th, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, better known as DJ DIESEL, took over LIV Miami with a robust dubstep set that lit up the nightlife scene. Known as the “Dubstep Dad,” Shaq thrilled the crowd with tracks from his latest album, GORILLA WARFARE, including “BANG YOUR HEAD,” “NO FEAR,” and “HEAT.” His high-energy performance showcased his deep-rooted passion for music, drawing fans into his world beyond basketball. DJing has been a love of Shaq’s since he was 14, and in retirement, he’s found the same adrenaline rush he once felt on the court now behind the DJ booth.
Halle Berry had Shaq shook. During an episode of Complex’s GOAT Talk, Shaquille O’neal admitted to his son Myles O’neal that Halle Berry was his celebrity crush. But Shaq couldn’t shoot his shot.
“I had a shot one time and I froze,” Shaq said. “So one day I’m at the Four Seasons on Doheny [Los Angeles] and I’m in the elevator. I’m coming up from the bottom and the door opens. It’s me, D Mac, and the door opens and it’s Halle Berry.”
“What made it worse, she spoke to me first. ‘Oh hello, Shaquille.’ So now I got a little woody and I’m just like…”
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, which is inarguable. Also inarguable: Shaq has used the platform he built up as a basketball player to show off one of the most unique personalities we have ever seen. There are stories of charity, of empathy, of all these things that make Shaq sound like someone who is larger than life.
He’s also great at popping up in things, as he’s remarkably comfortable being Shaq all the time. This manifests in a number of different ways, whether that’s his seemingly endless array of brand deals or that time he made fun of himself at the beginning of Scary Movie 4. His love of music is well-documented, too, and today, we wanted to take a look of one specific way Shaq has used his fame to cross over into the music world: His frequent cameos in music videos, which really are all over the place.
The gravity that Shaq brings to just about anything applies to music videos, and the funny thing here is that he popped up in some truly wild ones over the years — of course, his music career meant that he has appeared in plenty of them, but we have a number of examples of him making a cameo as one of the most famous people on earth. Here, we are going to dive into all of them, and try to determine how necessary it was for Shaq to provide his presence.
(Note: We used Shaq’s IMDb page as the primary source for this one, so while his Wikipedia page and this site both say that he appeared in the music video for “Still D.R.E.” by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg, we left that off because you never see him in it — the IMDb page for the song doesn’t include Shaq, either. However, “Still D.R.E.” is a legendary music video, so if you would like to watch it despite the fact that Shaq does not appear in it, you can do that here.)
“Make ‘Em Say Uhh!” by Master P featuring Fiend, Silkk the Shocker, Mia X & Mystikal
The video for “Make ‘Em Say Uhh!” is iconic, and leans heavily into Master P’s well-documented basketball career by taking place on a court. While a number of performers are playing basketball and celebrating on the floor, Shaq repeatedly pops up sitting courtside and loses his mind over what’s happening in front of him. Having an NBA player in the video, which came out in 1998, made a ton of sense, but no one would have had as much fun in this as Shaq did.
“That’s How I Beat Shaq” by Aaron Carter
Well, seeing as how this song is all about playing a game of 1-on-1 against Shaquille O’Neal, he kinda had to appear in it, ya know? Anyway, Shaq seems like he had the time of his life playing basketball against a 13-year-old Aaron Carter, and years later, the two linked up again to play 1-on-1 for the show Upload with Shaquille O’Neal, where he says nothing in his career hurt more than losing to Carter a decade-plus earlier.
“You Wouldn’t Believe” by 311
Shaq’s cameo here is fun, because it seems like a pretty generic music video where a band is performing a song in a big room, and there is no indication that Shaq is going to show up for literally any reason. And then, 311 start playing basketball, and Shaq pulls up and just plays with them for a bit. The music video ends with him picking up 311’s Nick Hexum so he can dunk. Years later, Hexum explained how they got Shaq in the video here.
“Bad Boy for Life” by P. Diddy, Black Rob, and Mark Curry
There are a ton of celebrities in this one, with names like Ben Stiller and Mike Tyson popping up in it. Shaq enters a little later in the video, as he plays basketball with Diddy while Diddy is wearing his jersey. Funny enough, Shaq is the second basketball player to make a cameo in here, behind Baron Davis.
“Dance with My Father” by Luther Vandross
Once again, the video for the famous tear-jerker by Luther Vandross features a collection of celebrities. While Shaq did not physically appear in this one, he’s one of several people who are pictured with a loved one — in his case, it’s Shaq holding one of his children. And again, he’s not the only NBA player in this, as we also get photos of Jason Kidd and his son.
“Vanilla Twilight” by Owl City
This is a guilty pleasure song for me, but until Thursday, I had never watched the music video. As you can guess, when I saw Shaq was in it, I nearly fell off of my couch. Anyway, the video features Shaq staring into the sky a few times, and him breaking the fourth wall and smiling is one of the last things you see. If anyone involved in this would like to hop on a call and tell me how this came about, please reach out.
“Don’t Wanna Know” by Maroon 5
There are a ton of costumes in this video, and Shaq’s involves him dressing in a purple and yellow get up while jumping around in a bedroom during a house party. Adam Levine, who is also wearing a costume, joins him. My hunch is that this is the first time Shaq ever wore this costume, and I hope it was not the last.
“Todo de Ti” by Rauw Alejandro
Most of the music video takes place at a roller rink, so as you can guess, when Shaq appears about two-thirds of the way through things, he is, indeed, on roller skates. He doesn’t look super comfortable moving around on them, but eventually gets going and hits the deck at one point. Whether he did that as part of a bit or he legitimately couldn’t stay upright because he is one of the largest people on the planet, well, who’s to say?
Long before their rivalry and subsequent string of collaborations, Jay-Z and Nas first appeared on a record together called “No Love Lost” nearly 30 years ago. The record in question was to appear on Shaquille O’Neal’s third studio album, You Can’t Stop The Reign. However, for one reason or another, when the album was released, the song only featured Jay-Z and Lord Tariq.
And so, for the 28 or so years since that album’s 1996 release, rumors and rough cuts and mashups circulated rap forums, all purporting to be the original collaboration between Jay-Z and Nas. All hope was lost — until earlier this year, when Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive revealed that not only would You Can’t Stop The Reign come to streaming at long last, but it would also feature the original version of “No Love Lost” with Nas’ verse restored.
You can now hear the song in all its glory, featuring Jay and Nas in their respective primes over a beat by Poke & Tone below. 2024 has turned out to be a prolific year for gems from Shaq’s storied second career; earlier this month, Shaq reminisced on Ice Cube stopping him from dropping a song with Dr. Dre. Prior to that, the NBA Hall of Famer dropped a diss track for Shannon Sharpe over Nikola Jokic — no, really.
Shaquille O’Neal is a pop culture icon. He’s a Hall of Fame basketball player, a colorful personality, and a fixture in commercials. One thing he is not is a great rapper. Shaq’s celebrity status allowed him to drop several albums in the 1990s. Some of the songs are decent due to production or guest verses, but it was clear Shaquille O’Neal was no wordsmith. That being said, there’s something fascinating about hearing the athlete dig back in the time machine and pull out a collaboration of this magnitude. “No Love Lost” was originally recorded in 1996, which means his features, Nas and Jay-Z, were at creative peaks.
Boy, does it show. “No Love Lost” has a solid instrumental. Nothing face-scrunch-ingly good, but it allows plenty of room for the rappers to do their thing. Shaquille O’Neal goes first and handles the chorus. He’s pretty good, all things considered. He has a few clunkers, but he had the good sense to get out of the way and let the masters go to work. Nas was killing every track he got on in the mid-90s, and “No Love Lost” is no different. His flow is impeccable, and his wordplay is razor sharp. He walks away with the best verse, which is saying a lot considering Reasonable Doubt-era Jay-Z follows him. Hov is great, even if he does still have the Jaz-O influence that he would minimize from his second album on. Old school hip-hop fans are going to love this, plain and simple.
Let us know what you think of this brand-new track, in the comments section down below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
Nas Steals This Classic Song From Shaquille O’Neal And Hov
Quotable Lyrics:
Fo’ sho’, everything’s for dough now The flow, y’all gotta pay a little mo’ now It’s platinum, nowadays we put the gold down We stepped it up, y’all don’t ever wanna showdown
Now that the NBA season is over, Shaquille O’Neal can shift his focus to his true love: music. The Hall of Famer spends his summers touring as DJ Diesel, as he’s shifted his focus away from hip-hop, when he was once a platinum selling artist, to EDM and house music, previously explaining that he just loves the energy of those crowds.
Shaq will do it all, from hitting the festival circuit to a Las Vegas residency at Encore Beach Club to performances at MLB stadiums after games. His most recent stop came on Saturday night in Cleveland, where he was at Blue Jays-Guardians and performed on the field for fans after the Guards picked up a 6-3 win to improve to 46-26 on the season.
The vibes are incredibly high for the Guards right now, and that only continued with DJ Diesel hopping on the 1s and 2s and bringing out some special guests from the clubhouse, as Cleveland pitcher Triston McKenzie (and a number of ofther Guardians players) joined Shaq on stage and performed “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson to the delight of the fans.
File this under things I didn’t know I absolutely needed to witness:
Triston McKenzie sings Kelly Clarkson while jamming with Shaq in front of a crowded ballpark.
Triston McKenzie singing Kelly Clarkson on stage with Shaquille O’Neal performing as DJ Diesel after a #Guardians win at Progressive Field. pic.twitter.com/U4H5vfTGfS
— Bryce wants YOU to #VoteGuards (@mlbeuphoria) June 23, 2024
First off, this is a reminder that “Since U Been Gone” is 20 years old and is still an absolute banger. Kelly Clarkson was really in her bag with that one. Secondly, DJ Diesel knows what the people want, which is a Kelly Clarkson interlude before going right back into some EDM. A true showman, through and through, who absolutely knows how to work a crowd — he hyped up the Guards as a World Series contender during his set as well.
