​Shaquille O’Neal teams up with FREAKY on new dubstep track ‘BACKBREAKER’

Basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal has been getting to know his decks since his DJ debut at TomorrowWorld and first self-produced track ‘My Squad is LIT’ in 2015, now venturing past EDM and into the world of dubstep.

Teaming up with fellow producer FREAKY, Shaq - AKA DJ Diesel - has now dropped his latest track ‘BACKBREAKER’ after the pair met at bass music festival Lost Lands and brainstormed the idea.

Released via Subsidia Records, ’BACKBREAKER’ is a three-minute dubstep track returning to the early 10s Americanised sound first coined ‘brostep’.

Read this next: Shaq: "People think I'm a celebrity DJ, but I've been doing it since 1986"

After taking a swing at EDM, Shaq is now veering off in new directions after collaborating with some huge US names, including Steve Aoki, Skrillex, and Diplo.

The former NBA player first made his debut as a producer in 2015, although he later attempted to dispel the name of “celebrity DJ” and make a new moniker for himself as a respected DJ.

"I like doing festivals, but my set is more trap, hip hop and dubstep. For me, it's like… we have that adrenaline rush when it comes to rocking crowds. When you go to festivals, they’re there to just see a great performance,” said the basketball star in 2019.

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He added: “I just give them great music, with the way I put my blends and mixes together, and a lot of people — because they haven’t seen me do it — I guess they think I’m a celebrity DJ, but I've been doing it since 1986. It's about having fun and putting on a show for the people.”

DJing isn’t Shaq’s only musical talent, either, having gone platinum in the early 90s with the first of his four rap albums, ‘Shaq Diesel’. The former Lakers player has also spoken about working alongside The Notorious B.I.G around the same time in past interviews.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter