Shaquille O’Neal claimed he warned The Notorious B.I.G. not to attend the VIBE party hours before the rapper was murdered, according to ESPN’s Amin Elhassan.
Biggie was killed in a drive-by shooting on March 9, 1997 after attending the event. O’Neal, a member of the Los Angeles Lakers at the time, wrote in his 2011 book Shaq Uncut: My Story that he planned to attend but fell asleep and didn’t make it out of his house. He mentions meeting Biggie at a tattoo parlor shortly before the incident but does not suggest a warning was issued.
Elhassan, who served as the Phoenix Suns assistant director of basketball operations during O’Neal’s time there, shared a different version of the story while guest-hosting Rusillo & Kanell yesterday. His anecdote can be heard at the 36-minute mark of this podcast and was transcribed by Hip Hop DX.
“Remember when the movie Notorious came out?” says Elhassan, who worked with the Phoenix Suns while O’Neal was a player there. “We got an advanced screening and watched it and, afterwards, Grant Hill was talking about how he was at the VIBE party that Biggie was at right before he got shot. So everyone was listening to Grant Hill like, ‘This is an amazing story.’ Except for Shaq, who was on the other end of the room and says, ‘That ain’t nothing.’ And then, he claims that he was at a tattoo parlor that afternoon and Biggie asked him what he was doing that night. He said, ‘Chillin’. What are you doing?’ Biggie said, ‘Going to the Vibeparty.’ And then he said, ‘Don’t do that.’ And then he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms as if to say, ‘And the rest if history.’”
O’Neal first met Biggie in 1993 and the two recorded Still Can’t Stop the Reign in 1996. During his book promotion circuit in 2011, O’Neal told ESPN’s Outside the Lines what happened the night the rapper was murdered.
“I was in my condo. I had on a cold white suit, white hat and all that. I was on my way. I was dressed, ready to go. “I just fell asleep. I woke up about 4 o’clock from a call from my mother,” Shaq added. “She said ‘Did you go to the party?’ I’m like, ‘No, what’re you talking about?’ She said, ‘You know, your friend was shot and killed.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ So then I hung up with her and called some people and they told me what had happened.”
Only O’Neal knows what happened that day between he and Biggie. He’s under no obligation to share every detail. It is a bit strange, however, that he wouldn’t include such a compelling angle to the story in his book. It makes a semi-interesting story much more captivating.
By Kyle Foster
Source: TheBigLead.Com
