Shaquille O’Neal and Damian Lillard have exchanged diss songs over the past few days, which has people talking in the music and sports world.
The back-and-forth began when Lillard talked about O’Neal’s rap skills on “The Joe Budden Podcast” last month. During his NBA playing days, O’Neal released four rap albums, and he was also an unofficial member of the ’80s/’90s rap group the Fu-Schnickens.
But Lillard, the Portland Trail Blazers sharpshooter who’s also a rapper and goes by the name Dame D.O.L.L.A, said O’Neal was just a novelty act and people didn’t take him seriously at all.
Lillard released a couple of rap projects as well, “The Letter O” in 2016 and “Confirmed” one year later.
“I think I rap better than Shaq,” he said. “I think he was viewed as Shaq. People [weren’t] looking at him like he was a real rapper. They was like, ‘That’s Shaq rapping,’ so of course it was a big deal.”
O’Neal responded to those comments on Thursday by posting a song to Instagram. “I except all challenges,” he captioned the clip that played the song.
“MVP candidate you are not one / Platinum plaques on my wall go and get you some / Lyrically, I’m three-time Finals MVP / I can’t believe some clown is testing me,” spit Shaq in the song.
Then on Tuesday, Lillard returned with “Reign Reign Go Away,” a reference to O’Neal’s 1996 LP “You Can’t Stop the Reign.”
“Nursery rhymes-spittin’, small car-sitting, oh, Icy Hot poster boy, TNT snitchin’ / You big man-hating, mad at my existence / Had a song with Bad Boy, and I’m Jordan to the Pistons,” rapped Dame D.O.L.L.A.
After Lillard shared his song, people started to talk about who won the battle.
Some claimed Lillard is the victor, because he had better lines. But others said O’Neal stands on top, because he has more overall success.
