Respect is the fourth studio album by American basketball player and rapper Shaquille O'Neal. It was released on September 15, 1998, through T.W.IsM./A&M Records. Production was handled by DJ Clark Kent, DJ Quik, Duran Ramos, Dutch, Japhe Tejeda, Ken Bailey, Majah League, Rodney Jerkins, Russell "Russ Prez" Pressley, Sean "Barney" Thomas and The Storm. It features guest appearances from K-Raw, Peter Gunz, Sonja Blade, 1 Accord, Deadly Venoms, Loon, Public Announcement, Sauce Money and Trigga, as well as O'Neal's Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant performs at the start of the track "3 X's Dope", though his name was not listed on the credits.
It peaked at number 58 on the Billboard 200 and number 8 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. As of 2004, the album has sold 104,000 units.
Respect received mixed reviews from music critics. Noah Callahan-Bever of Vibe believed that all tracks on the album "straddle the line between mediocre and unlistenable". Brent Rollins, in his review for The Source, wrote that the album "surely won't have anyone crying for him to give up his day job for a full-time rap career". He highlighted the improvement of Shaquille O'Neal's vocal performance, but added that "at his best [he] doesn't match up well when he's sharing mic time with rap professionals". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic thought that Respect is a "well-constructed album that isn't devoid of good moments [...] but it's also not particularly distinctive". Describing it as "background party music", he added that "the musicians who made the record probably had a better time than the listeners at home".
Sample credits