Basketball and hip-hop made me who I am today. As a kid coming from the projects, life is full of dreams ? when I saw LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C. and Eric B and Rakim rapping with those dookie rope chains and Kangols, and the cars, I wanted that. And when I’d go out on the basketball court and see guys playing smooth like Dr. J ? I wanted to be that, too.

I remember that! I took all the seats out, and put nothing but speakers in it. I called it The Van of Death [laughs]. When Ali was in my car I said, ‘Yo, this is my favorite song that you did.’ I played him [A Tribe Called Quest’s 1991] “Butter.”’ I was trying to show him why his production was so masterful, and Ali’s like, ‘Yo, man … can you turn it down?’ And I’m like, ‘No … this is your beat!’

I didn’t want to come on Arsenio with an expensive suit and talk about how much money I had. So Arsenio, who’s a good friend of mine, said, ‘What do you want to do?’ I told him I wanted to rap with the Fu-Schnickens. I used to bust freestyles, write rhymes and put songs together and all that stuff, but I never really performed. I thought Arsenio was going to say no, but he was like, ‘OK … I’ll hook it up.’

The Fu-Schnickens taught me how to put songs together, and how to be a professional rapper. I really owe a lot to them ? especially Chip Fu. He was the one that said, ‘Slow down, say this line like this … emphasize your words, double up on this.’ Chip taught me how to write with substance. He’d tell me, ‘It’s OK to rhyme about personal stuff. You don’t have brag all the time.’

They were thinking, ‘Oh, so this basketball guy wants to be a rapper.’ But when I went in there and spit, they were like, ‘Oh, s—. You serious.’

I had no fear. I was going to sell a lot of albums because people wanted to see what I could do. The haters would buy the album just to say, ‘This m—–f—-r can’t rap.’ That’s just the life I live. When you go to an opposing arena, you got your fans, you got some doubters, and you got some haters. But they all still come to see you perform.

Whenever Phife would come to the studio, I’d always want to talk about music ? but he’d always talk about sports. He knew more about basketball than me ? especially New York-area basketball. At times, I think he felt underappreciated, so when he went in the booth, he always went hard.

I could concentrate better when I was by myself in the studio. When it’s a whole bunch of people, I didn’t really do well. Erick played a beat for a few hours, and I’d write something, and Erick would say, ‘Let me hear what you wrote.’ I’d spit a verse and he would say, ‘Nah, Shaq … do it again.’ Not only were Erick and the other talent on the album great collaborators and producers, they were also instrumental in making sure I didn’t put any bulls— out.

I have to thank Chip and my mother for ‘I’m Outstanding.’ Whenever I’d let my mom hear some of the songs I was working on, she would say, ‘That’s OK … but you need to do something old-school.” One day, we were in the house and [the Gap Band’s 1982] ‘Outstanding’ was playing. That’s when I said, ‘Hey, Chip … see if you can get somebody to flip that ‘Outstanding’ beat.’

When I played ‘Outstanding’ for my mom, she started crying because that song is all about us.

Criticism only motivated me. For one, the reason I started playing basketball was because my favorite basketball player, Dr. J, was in a movie, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh . Kareem was in a movie ( Airplane! ). You can only work on your game three or four hours a day ? it’s obvious I did that because … I’m going to be first-ballot alongside A.I. [Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers] and Yao Ming.

I remember my marketing professor said, ‘Put together something that we can sell in the future.’ I came with the Shaq shoes, Shaq underwear, Shaq everything. And my professor says, ‘That’s good, but obviously you didn’t put much thought into it, because there’s a reason there are no big guys endorsing products. Big guys don’t sell.’ A few years later, when I got drafted, I made a bold move with Reebok. I said, ‘You guys need to let me produce my first commercial,’ which was the ‘Don’t Fake The Funk On The Nasty Dunk.’ That commercial put me on the scene.

I wasn’t even after record sales. I was making $15 million my first year in the NBA. When they handed me that platinum plaque, I was just thinking of me as a kid riding in my little truck with no rims listening to EPMD. I almost started crying. I have so much respect for what hip-hop artists do.

The reason I’m the only athlete to go gold and platinum is that I concentrated on music and basketball equally. On the way to the court, I mimicked all my favorite rappers. And when I got to the court, I mimicked all my favorite basketball players. I took hip-hop seriously.

I can say I’ve made music with Erick Sermon, Redman, Jay Z, Wu-Tang, Nas, Biggie, Fat Joe, Big Pun, DJ Quik, Snoop, the Fu-Schnickens, Heavy D, Michael Jackson, George Clinton, and Roger Troutman. That’s a hell of a discography. Like I said before, hip-hop made me who I am. So whether Shaq Diesel went platinum, gold, or wood, once I got in the studio with my favorite artists and put those songs together, I knew I’d made it. I knew I earned their respect. I want to tell everyone who took part in the making of Shaq Diesel : Thank you.