NBA Hall-of-Famer, entertainment personality, musical artist-producer, entrepreneur, and international artist Shaquille O’Neal has released a new single with emerging hip-hop artist Blackway called “King Talk”. Produced by Koko, the song and official lyric video are out now on all streaming platforms via Hive Music/Position Music.
O’Neal first teased the song on Feb. 7 on his Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, in a viral animation video that celebrated LeBron James surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabaar as the all-time leading scorer in NBA history. Shaq has over 60 million combined social media followers, and the video featuring “King Talk” has now been viewed over 16 million times, leaving many people in the comment section asking Shaq when the song will be officially released.
“King Talk” is one of Shaq’s first steps back into rapping after dropping his notorious hip-hop albums Shaq Diesel and Shaq-Fu: Da Return in the mid-90’s. With the NBA Playoffs in full swing, Shaq and Blackway decided today was the perfect day to drop it.
“KoKo and I have been sending beats back and forth for a minute now and after he played me this one, I knew I had to jump on it. I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment for a collab with Blackway and this was it. This is the type of record that gets me hyped like I’m walking out for game seven of the finals. The lyrics and vibe of this track was so perfect for the moment when LeBron James set the NBA scoring record and I knew I had to share it with the world—a king recognizes a king. It was crazy to see so many people connect with the song when they heard the teaser, just like I did when we created it,” says O’Neal.
“King Talk” was in the works with O’Neal, Blackway and Koko for months and the trio have plans to release more music together in 2022 and beyond.
Blackway, a Ghanaian-American afrobeat and hip-hop artist, is no stranger to his tracks going viral. In 2018, his song “What’s Up Danger” with Black Caviar was used in Marvel’s award-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. “What’s Up Danger” went RIAA certified gold single and the official Grammy-nominated film soundtrack eventually went on to become double-platinum. Blackway is currently working on his own EP release, and released his latest solo-single “Lion” on March 10.
More recently, Beyonce used Blackway’s “It Feel Good to Be Me” in her “Halls of Ivy” Ivy Park x Adidas collection announcement video. In addition to Blackway’s music being used in film, TV, and advertisements, Blackway has features with Kiana Ledé, Gucci Mane, Busta Rhymes, and Rotimi among others.
“King Talk” is about being imperious, unbeatable, at the absolute top of your game,” says Blackway. “When KoKo and I were working on it, we wanted to get into the mind of a great athlete—a true GOAT and convey that energy. There’s no one that fits that description like Shaq himself. We sent the track to him and next thing we know, we see a video of him dropping it in a DJ set, in front of tens of thousands of people. It got even crazier when he agreed to hop on the record. For those who don’t know, Shaq’s never had a bad verse and this is no exception. I still can’t believe we have a song with my personal favorite athlete of all time.”
Last year, Blackway signed a global record deal and publishing deal with Hive Music and Position Music.
KoKo is one of Blackway’s main musical collaborators and has produced for other artists such as Rotimi, Justin Love, Jackie Cruz, Bobby Saint, Emilio Rojas, and Ari Dayan.
ABOUT SHAQUILLE O’NEAL:
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant basketball players in NBA history and is now also one of the greatest entertainers on earth. At 7’1″ and 325 pounds, Shaq’s larger-than-life personality and powerful athleticism have resulted in worldwide admiration and one of the most passionate fan bases in sports and entertainment. The Hall of Famer first discovered electronic dance music after crashing the festival TomorrowWorld in 2014, a milestone event that changed his life forever after being exposed to DJ’s such as Steve Aoki and Skrillex. From there DJ Diesel’s career was born as he cemented the title of ‘the biggest DJ in the world.’ DJ Diesel has graced main stages around the globe from Lost Lands to Tomorrowland, EDC LV, Lost Lands, Lollapalooza, Electric Zoo, Forbidden Kingdom, Beyond Wonderland and even launched his own festival series – Shaq’s Bass All Stars – all while balancing a Las Vegas residency at the WYNN (XS Nightclub and Encore Beach Club).
ABOUT BLACKWAY:
Influenced by Big L, Jay Z, Eminem, Biggie, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, J. Cole, Nick Grant, Tory Lanez and others, entertainment runs deep in Blackway’s blood— the son of Ghanian actor Kwaku Sintim-Misa, Blackway moved from Accra, Ghana to Long Island with his mother in 2006. In 2018, Blackway collaborated with DJ duo Black Caviar on a track forThe Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack called “What’s Up Danger”. The song has been played over 300M times since its release. Blackway has continued his success and has collaborated with the likes of Kiana Ledé, Gucci Mane, Busta Rhymes, Rotimi, and many more. His music has been used by Madden, Ivy Park x Adidas, the UFC, House of Ho, Siesta Key, The NBA on TNT, Fortnite, and more.
