The way NBA star Shaquille O’Neal sees it, he’s still the big cat, Kobe Bryant’s not where it’s at, and he’s got the rap to back up the fact. And the Miami Heat center isn’t crazy about the Detroit Pistons’ Ben Wallace or rapper Skillz either.

O’Neal, when he hasn’t been dominating basketball games, has dabbled in hip-hop over the years. His latest effort is a collaboration with DJ Vlad on the CD “Hot in Here Part Five.”

On “You Not The Fightin’ Type,” O’Neal sets out to even scores with several people: Bryant, who he believes got him traded from the Los Angeles Lakers; Wallace, whose Pistons defeated the Lakers for this year’s NBA championship; and Skillz, whose rap “The Champs is Here” celebrated the Detroit victory.

“I heard your little interview and what Ben Wallace said. I ain’t got no response for spider-web head,” O’Neal raps.

“Even with wings you never as fly as me,” he continues. “You remind me of Kobe Bryant trying to be as high as me … but you can’t … even if you get me traded … wherever I’m at, I’m Puffy; you Mase and you’re still hated.”

The latter line is an apparent reference to rapper P. Diddy and his former protege Ma$e, who left hip-hop several years ago to become a minister and criticized the music as violent and sexually degrading. Ma$e returned to the fold this year with a new album featuring clean lyrics.

Bryant, meanwhile, says he was not responsible for O’Neal’s trade to Miami.

“That upsets me. That angers me. That hurts me,” he said in a story posted on ESPN.com this week. “They did what they had to do. That had nothing to do with me.”

O’Neal and Bryant, who never got along that well, still managed to lead the Lakers to three straight championships from 2000-02.

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