Ice Cube prevented rap fans from hearing a Shaquille O’Neal song titled “That’s Gangsta” produced by Dr. Dre. Shaq and Ice Cube reminisced about the latter shelving the track on The Big Podcast.
“Cube was executive producing one of my records,” Shaq said. “And he put me in the studio with Dr. Dre. I did a song called ‘That’s Gangsta.’ Cube heard it and was like, ‘Nope. We’re not releasing this.’ Dre did the beat.”
He continued, “I thought it was nice … And then I played it for Cube … He was like, ‘Shaq, you’re a f###### Laker, bro. I don’t want you talking about nothing gangsta. We not doing none of that s###.’ And it never came out.”
Ice Cube thought Shaq and Dr. Dre’s collaboration was good, but the BIG3 co-founder didn’t think it made sense for the NBA star to release a gangsta rap song.
“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,” Ice Cube said. “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.”
In the end, Shaq was grateful for Ice Cube’s decision.
“That taught me, Cube, stay true to who you are,” Shaq said. “‘Cause I ain’t gonna lie. You guys wanna be basketball players, I wanted to be y’all growing up.”
Listen to the two discussing the song around the 39-minute mark below.