Damian Lillard is one of the most popular NBA players today and is just growing his status with his most recent beef. His popularity does not just stem from his status as one of the league’s premier superstars. He also happens to be a rapper (known as Dame D.O.L.L.A.) and is quite good at it as well. Well, Dame made his way into the recent news and it was not for anything he did basketball related. Dame is now engaged in an all-out war on the mic with another former NBA star/ rapper, the one, and only Shaquille O’Neal. Let’s go ahead and talk about what started this beef and let you hear both of the disses. (Note, both songs are extremely good.)
Dame and Shaq Engage in Rap Beef
What Started the Beef?
In a recent interview on Joe Budden’s podcast, Lillard made a case for him being a better rapper than the Big Cactus. As one can see, word got back to O’Neal and he did not take too kindly to Lillard’s comments. Here is the exact quote from Dame: “People weren’t looking at it like it’s a real rapper. It was like, ‘that’s Shaq rapping.” Now, one can make the argument that Shaq may have taken this a bit out of context, however, it certainly does seem like Dame was trying to take a shot at the Big Diesel. Not to mention, he literally said he thinks he raps better than Shaq right after this line. Let’s be honest, despite Shaq’s fun-loving personality, he still has an ego. That ego did not take much time to make a pretty good response.
Shaq’s “Freestyle (Dame D.O.L.L.A. Diss)”
We won’t go over every lyric in these songs. We would not want to deprive you of the pleasure of experiencing these “fire,” tracks on your own. However, there certainly are some lines which are stingers in this song. Shaq is rapping to the beat of Dr. Dre’s “What’s the Difference,” in this song, quite fitting for a Los Angeles Lakers legend.
One line which sticks out is when Shaq says “What’s in your wallet, American Express or Visa, talking like you ‘Bron you ain’t even Trevor Ariza!” This may have been the best insult of the entire song as it takes not one shot, but two shots as it also can be interpreted as a diss towards Ariza. Another line that sticks out is when he says “Got enough cash I can buy a whole team, oh **** I own the Sacramento Kings!” This is obviously alluding to the fact that Shaq does own a share of the seemingly often forgotten NBA team in California. Though he does not own the whole team, nevertheless, it is still a clever line. Now, it is time to look at Dame’s response.
Dame’s Response in the Beef “Reign Reign Go Away”
Dame’s song had some hard-hitting lines. Many of them were compact but still packed a punch. Of course, it would not be a beef with Shaq if Kobe Bryant was not brought up at some point. One of the best lines in Dame’s song is when he says ” We both could be workin’ at Kinko’s, and Kobe won you them rings though.” Another hard-hitting line from Dame D.O.L.L.A.’s response is the line where he says “All that money in the world, but traded you for Penny.”
Of course, this is a reference to the fact that the Orlando Magic traded him to the Lakers and decided to keep Penny Hardaway, another terrific player Shaq played with during his career. As most people know, much of this is subjective, so I personally am not going to say who the winner is in my book. However, if you love rap, then PLEASE do yourself a favor and listen to both of these tracks! All I can say is, the NBA season has not even started and we already are getting thoroughly entertained.
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