Much ink has been spilled about Shaquille O’Neal’s many, many, many brand deals. O’Neal, a Gold Bond salesman, General Insurance endorser, Papa John’s pizza hawker, IcyHot user, and Boston Celtics legend, once said he doesn’t know how many companies he’s endorsed. But when he’s not appearing in commercials, Shaq is into DJing. And you’ll be able to see him soon.
On Tuesday, O’Neal, who performs under the moniker DJ Diesel, announced that he’s bringing his talents to Texas this fall as part of a tour promoting Shaq’s Bass All-Stars, his annual electronic music festival in Fort Worth.
“I usually come to Texas once a year for my festival… but this year we’re mixing it up and doing a full Texas Takeover,” Shaq wrote Tuesday. “See you in September.”
O’Neal’s four-city tour will take him through El Paso, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. The omission of Austin is notable, considering that most acts just skip Houston entirely and take their talents to the capital. But finally, we’re getting something that Austin isn’t: a former NBA All-Star DJing. Take that!
Shaq’s “Texas Tour” itinerary is as follows:
El Paso: Sept. 17, 2026
San Antonio: Sept. 18, 2026
Tickets go on sale on Wednesday.
While you may know Shaq either from his 19 seasons in the NBA or from commercials, his musical career is just as storied as his time playing basketball and hawking junk at you through the TV. O’Neal began rapping in the ’90s to mixed reviews, though that never stopped him from doing it anyway. His DJ career goes back even further. O’Neal often DJ’d local parties in high school and as a student at Louisiana State University. Even when he did get into rap, he still tinkered with his turntables.
As someone who enjoys a DJ set, I have to say Shaq’s DJing is actually pretty enjoyable. Last month, he performed a back-to-back set with T-Pain at Electric Forest in Michigan. American dubstep isn’t really my jam, but watching Shaq wear gigantic basketball shorts while mashing up music from Adventure Time with hard drum and bass tracks is a lot of fun.
At various points, Shaq yells “Where the f–k my mosh pit?” before mashing “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye with “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne. Sure, why not? Let the man cook.