Phoenix Suns
center, Shaquille O’Neal spit a
freestyle in a New York nightclub that was aimed at former teammate Kobe Bryant.

Taped alongside Corey
Gunz, Shaq rhymes lines like “You know how I be. Last week Kobe couldn’t
do without me.” and a crowd joining chant of “Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes.” Thatcan be seen in a video courtesy of TMZ.com.

The 2007-2008 MVP took his Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA
Finals, only to lose 4-2 to the Boston Celtics.

Shaq also takes
claim that Kobe Bryant is the reason
his divorce came to surface as Kobe
alleged that O’Neal paid up to $1
million to a women to keep quiet during his 2004 rape investigation.

“That’s why I’m
getting divorced. He said Shaq gave a bitch a mil. I don’t do that cause my
name is Shaquille. I love ’em. I don’t leave ’em. I got a vasectomy, now I can’t
breed ’em.”

Shaq later reached out to ESPN‘s Stephen A. Smith today (Monday) and issued the following statement, saying the freestyle was “done in fun.”

“I was freestyling. That’s all. It was all done in fun. Nothing serious whatsoever. That is what emcees do. They freestyle when called upon. I’m totally cool with Kobe. No issue at all. And by the way, don’t forget, six albums, two platinum, two gold. Anybody who knows me knows I’m a funny freestyler. Check the NBA DVD when I was wrapping about Vlade Divac during my first championship run. Please tell everybody don’t make something out of nothing.”

UPDATE: TMZ.com got a hold of Nas last night, as the rapper was seen coming out of a restaurant with R&B singer and wife Kelis.

“Shaq is my man, fuck Kobe,” said the veteran emcee. “Shaq is my man, biggup to Shaq.”

This isn’t the first time Nas has had something to say about Kobe. In his song “These Are Our Heroes” [click to read] off off the album Street’s Disciple, Nas criticizes Kobe:

“From OJ to Kobe, uh let’s call him Tobe/First he played his life cool just like Michael/Now he rock ice too just like I do/Yo, you can’t do better than that?/The hotel clerk who adjusts the bathroom mat?/Now you lose sponsorships that you thought had your back/Yeah, you beat the rap jiggaboo, fake nigga you/You turn around then you shit on Shaq/Who woulda knew, Mr. Goodie-Two-Shoes/He love a little butt crack, got enough cash/Little kids with they bus pass who look up to you/To do something for the youth, stupid spoof”

Additional reporting by Slava Kuperstein