According to New Orleans rapper and entrepreneur Master P, he played a vital role at the start of fellow artist 50 Cent’s career. While speaking with Vlad TV, Master P revealed that he paid for the Queens emcee’s very first tour.
He says the tour took place shortly after Fifty released his Get Rich or Die Tryin’ single “Wanksta.”
“To be honest with you, I was the first one to put 50 Cent on tour. I paid for his tour. His first tour,” Master P said. “Yeah, I paid for [that]. Well, he had a hot record. I had the money to put out for the tour. I put out for the tour.”
Although P did fund 50 Cent’s first tour, the No Limit Records founder says that due to his low-key demeanor he didn’t associate with the rapper too much during the tour despite the two artists being on good terms with one another.
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“I mean, we was around each other a lot back then because I paid for the tour,” he said. “We was cool. I’ve never been a person to just hang out with people, so—like I’ve always been a loner, man. No disrespect to nobody. I just—Everybody got their own thing. We ain’t never been no groupies or nothing like that. You know? It’s like my homie when I see you ‘What’s up?’ We can do something it’s cool. I’ll go take care of money for the show and then go do what I gotta do. You know? And he was always 100, so it was cool.”
In addition to speaking on 50 Cent, Master P also mentioned Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons when asked to name a Hip Hop entrepreneur he looks up to. He then took note of the fact that Simmons has always managed to maintain his mogul standing despite what was going on around him.
“I mean, I would have to say Russell Simmons,” P said. “Russell Simmons is somebody that was able to maintain and not get caught up with all the negativity and stuff like that. So, I feel like [when] you think about somebody that’s a real mogul and a boss, you gotta look at Russell Simmons and say ‘You know what? Even though he was around all the foolishness he was able to maintain his status.’”
The release of Master P’s interview with Vlad TV comes shortly after Simmons appeared on Hot 97 to speak on Def Jam issues that have disappointed him. While speaking on artists who were unable to reach their full potential, he also addressed the artists whose entourages destroyed them.
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“Things that disappoint me are people that didn’t get to achieve all their greatness in some cases,” Simmons said. “Like I’ve experienced watching brilliant artists not become all they could have been…And I’ve seen many people and their entourages destroyed them. And I’ve seen people who have had to shed some of their entourage in order to keep going. My entourage that [I] kinda needed to shed died [or] went to jail.”
