There’s a certain 7-foot-1 DJ who will be hard to miss when Electric Zoo goes down at Randalls Island Park this weekend. That’s NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, who, hot off a summer spinning at festivals such as Chicago’s Lollapalooza, Belgium’s Tomorrowland and Hard Summer in Los Angeles, will be pumping up the festival masses as DJ Diesel on Saturday and later at a Brooklyn Mirage afterparty. Here, the retired basketball star, 47, dishes on how he found his DJ groove, his toughest crowd and being “a black Skrillex.”
What first inspired you to get behind the turntables?
What made me want to become a DJ was I went to a Public Enemy concert. [DJ] Terminator X had the crowd rocking in San Antonio, Texas. I was like, “Oh, my God!” I lived by this pawn shop, and they had two [Technics turntable] 1200s and a Gemini mixer in the window. I worked my way, I cut grass, I did everything I could to get that. Taught myself how to DJ, used to DJ high school parties, make little mixtapes and all that stuff. Did the same thing in college.
What made you get back into DJing after basketball?
I went to TomorrowWorld [festival] in 2014 in Atlanta, and I was like, “Holy s - - t!” . . . It reminds me of a Game 7 [in the] playoffs. You’re up there, the crowd expects you to get a lot of points, shoot a lot of threes, get a lot of dunks. It’s like I’m Shaq getting a pass from Kobe [Bryant], throwing it down. A DJ and a top athlete, they have the same type of pressure. People pay their hard-earned money to see you perform — you gotta give ’em a good show.
How would you describe your DJ style?
I saw Skrillex in Miami, and he was mixing EDM with hip-hop, and I was like, “That’s my style right there.” Now I’m more like a black Skrillex. I do EDM, hip-hop and dubstep at all my shows. I just like to get the kids banging their heads, having a good time.
What made you connect to the festival culture, because that’s different from playing a hip-hop club?
Because in the festival culture, they come to do one thing: jam out. In the club, there’s too much going on . . . a lot of times I gotta make the announcement, “Hey, put those phones down. Let’s rock out first and then we can take pictures later.”
Your first rap album was called “Shaq Diesel,” so is that where DJ Diesel comes from?
Everybody knows me as Diesel. I’m considered like a big Diesel truck with no brakes. Once I get going, nobody’s gonna stop me.
What’s the toughest crowd you ever faced as a DJ?
One time I did a corporate event, and they told me I could play anything I want, but when I got there I had to switch it up and play all white-guy classics — a lot of Bon Jovi, a lot of AC/DC.
Has it been hard for people to take you seriously as a DJ?
I realize that when you step into somebody else’s culture, there’s always gonna be some doubts. I kinda take that personal, but the more I take it personal, the better my shows are. It’s like basketball or sports or anything in life — you have to prove yourself.
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