“Rick told me a story when he met me a long time ago and he gave me his tape, his CD,” the four-time NBA champion explained. “He said I was nice to him. But I [re]met him in 2006 ’cause, you know, we wanna be us. So at the time when we was winning our championship, “Hustlin’” was killing the streets and that was my joint every time I rode to the games.”

He continued: “So that song, this fella helped me win that championship in Miami. And when we would always see each other, it was love. He sent me the remix first, and I was in the studio messing around, and I just did something. I was like, ‘Please like it, please like it.’

“I actually had the same feeling I had with him that I had with Biggie because when Biggie would come to the studio, I went in there like 100 times. If he don’t like it, I’m done.

“So when I sent it to him, he was like, ‘Big fella, that’s nice.’ And I was just messing around when I said, ‘Bro, you need to sign me to MMG.’ I was just playing, but this means a lot.”