Shaquille O’Neal Talks Carnival Cruise Ships, Hip-Hop and Lakers Future

In the past three decades, Shaquille O’Neal has successfully solidified his career as a man of many talents. Between his Hall of Fame career as one of the greatest players in the NBA and his music career, which produced a platinum album, O’Neal has made it clear that he’s about his business, which explains his various business ventures in entertainment and investments. 

In fact, ahead of the 2019 NBA Draft, 27 years after the Orlando Magic selected the legendary big man with the 1st overall pick, O’Neal opened up about his former team and shared his predictions on what LeBron James will be able to do next season in Los Angeles.

“They’ll do okay,” Shaq said. “at LaLa Land we’re used to winning multiple champions, but if LeBron can get it done this year… he will definitely be handed the keys to the city.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Shaq also opened up about his collaboration with Carnival Cruise Ships, saying, “Yeah, they allowed me to put Big Chicken Shaq on two ships, Radiance and The Mardi Gras on Spring 2020.” 

“I’m the Chief Financial Officer, it’s my job to ensure people that when they get on these cruise ships they have fun,” Shaq said of his position with the company. “Because I know you’re like me, you’re saying, ‘Oh, it’s a ship, old people..’ Nah…It’s like a top hotel in Vegas, on the water.” 

As the interview continued, the two shifted gears to talk music, highlighting Shaq’s successful history in the industry. 

“The good thing about me, especially me being a DJ. I like all types of music,” Shaq said. “So, right now I’m listening to Joyner Lucas, his new one “Isis.” Chris Brown and Drake just dropped a hot one. But a lot of the times I go back to the old school stuff. Like, for some reason I been on Earth, Wind and Fire and Mobb Deep lately, and I just mix it up. Matter fact, today I’ma start my Justin Timberlake phase, I’ma probably listen to Justin Timberlake about 100 times.”

“I got about 20 unreleased tracks, I may do something with it,” he said, as he reflected on his greatest music memories, which included his performance with Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z. “When I was doing it, my concept was nobody wants to hear a guy rap-who’s not a rapper do a whole album. So my concept was for me….I want to rap with my favorite guys and nobody has ever turned me down. Nobody has ever charged me and nobody has ever denied a song that I’ve did with them.” 

From there, the retired baller opened up about his business moves, saying, “Since 1992, I’ve never just taken anybody’s money just to take it. I actually turn down more deals than I take.” 

“You have to understand what you’re doing and two you have to have people around you that are smarter than you are,” Shaq said. “I don’t claim to know everything but I know people that know more than me. So as long as I have access to people that are smarter than me, I think that I could go as far as I want to go.”