"He dissed the f**k out of me" - Rapper Skillz shares Shaquille O'Neal starting beef with diss track

Shaquille O'Neal is a man of many talents. Legendary basketball player, hilarious television pundit, Hollywood actor, DJ and hip-hop artist are merely a few arrows in the quiver of skills wielded by Shaq. And while basketball was what he was best at, O'Neal also clocked platinum records as a hip-hop artist.

NBA fans are familiar with the trash-talking, loud-mouthed version of O'Neal, and as the saying goes, some skills are transferrable across avenues.

Naturally, Shaq made use of this particular skill in his rapping career, too. Disses are part and parcel of the rap game, and Shaq made them part of his work, inviting beef with MC Skillz, formerly known as Mad Skillz, a Virginia-based rapper who has eight solo albums to his credit.

The beef initiated by the Diesel was weird and unexpected to the world. But Shaquille O'Neal's words certainly had an impact on Skillz, as he said on a podcast appearance.

"Shaquille O'Neal, he dissed the f**k out of me," Skillz said before going on to describe how he got back at O'Neal.

"The Lakers lost to the Pistons. I hit up Ben Wallace, got a drop by," Skills said about his clapback to Shaq.

When asked about why the Diesel dissed him, Skillz said, "I dissed you because you were the best," describing Shaq's reasoning as described to a mutual friend.

Skillz was regarded as one of the best battle rappers of his time, so Shaq's diss certainly came as a surprise to hip-hop enthusiasts. Why poke a bear, was the general opinion on the then-Lakers star's decision to go at Skillz. Shaquille O'Neal got a diss mixtape as a response but clearly got under Skillz's skin with his diss.

Shaquille O'Neal referred to Skillz as "the fourth-best from Virginia" in his diss, notably

Shaq went for Skillz on his diss.

While Shaq's list of Virginia-based rappers is unknown to the public, he definitely made his feelings about Skillz known. The story described by Skillz about why Shaq dissed him does not add up with the content of the diss itself, but, hey, one shouldn't question a good story.

The highlight of their beef, however, wasn't Shaquille O'Neal's. In his diss mixtape, Skillz went for the jugular: Shaq's free throws. O'Neal's failures from the free-throw line earned him a lot of hacks on the court, and an entire diss track off it.

To the tune of Jay-Z's "99 Problems," Skillz made the track "99 Freethrows." The lyrics are absolutely merciless and rip apart the legendary center's failure to convert from the charity stripe.

Some of the highlights include:

"When you at the foul line, I feel bad for you, son. You could shoot 99 free throws and wouldn't hit one."

"You ain't hittin', sorta like your raps and flows. Lookin' stupid leanin' up on your tippy toes. It is goin' in, nooo! It's at the back of the board. Phil Jackson on the bench like, "Damn, good Lord."

Shaq may have demolished his competition on the court, but if the volume and quality of the disses during their beef are to go by, Skillz certainly won this battle.