Master P has always had a good eye for talent and he’s spoken about how he believes he was the first person to see 50 Cent‘s star potential.
During a recent episode of Montgomery & Co. — a weekly podcast hosted by WNBA champion Renee Montgomery along with her mother Bertela Montgomery, sister Nicole Young and wife Sirena Grace — the No Limit Records mogul revealed why he came out of pocket in support of Fif prior to his rise to fame.
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“Ya know, the internet will take it and be like ‘Oh, you did this.’ No. I’m the first person to believe in him [50 Cent]. That’s basically what you heard. I think a lot of people when they interview people, they don’t say that,” he began, after being asked why he chose to bankroll the G-Unit mogul’s first four shows.
“Nobody else believed in him. I seen the vision, like this guy’s a hard worker. He has a lot of talent. So, I’m going to put my money up to put him on tour — which is a blessing.”
He continued: “Think about it. Would they say that about Jimmy Iovine or any of these other white executives? They wouldn’t say that.
“So, I invested in somebody I believed in — I don’t know what happened back at that time — but something just happened to where I’m like, I paid him for all the shows. I didn’t know he was going to blow up and sell two million records. Nobody knew that.
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“I just thought it was a great product. I invested in it and then something happened to where we had to come back and do it. His dates wasn’t available so by time he was able to do it [tour] it worked out. That’s why we’re able to be friends today,” he added, providing some context as to why they had difficulty when it came time to execute on the shows.
Master P’s comments came on the heels of 50 Cent recalling a moment early in his career, where the “Make ‘Em Say Ugh” rapper might have gotten one over on him due to his ability to for-see the trajectory he was on.
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During an appearance on Big Boy’s Neighborhood in January, Fif was asked about his thoughts regarding P’s recent public spat with his son Romeo Miller. He responded that, unlike his tumultuous relationship with his son Marquise, he expects the Millers will one day be able to reconcile — as it turns out, since 50’s interview, P and Romeo have indeed made up.
Fif then proceeded to praise Master P’s business acumen and revealed that his first tour did indeed come about thanks to the No Limit Records founder. Though 50 Cent suspects he was out-negotiated in the process.
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“What I’ll say about P is he was slick,” said 50 Cent. “He came, he gave me the money for the eight shows, right? We did four of them. He said, ‘Aw man, something happened we gonna have to take a break. We’ll just come back and do the other four later.’ When I came back to do the other four, I had already sold two million records. He had already paid me so I had to do the shows. He knew! He was like, ‘This muthafucka’s on fire! This is gonna go off.’”
Outside of feeling like he might have been finessed, the “In da Club” rapper had nothing but positive things to say about Master P.
“P is prolific, man,” he told Big Boy. “You see how Snoop’s respect for Master P is? He’s one of those guys where, he’ll find a way. Even if he’s hitting a spot at the moment: anybody who has a long enough career has peaks and valleys in it. But he’s one of those guys that’ll figure it out.”
Elsewhere in his interview with Montgomery & Co., Master P took aim at the internet following its response to Fif’s comments, alleging that people like to twist the narrative.
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“That’s why I got out of the music business to begin with,” P explained. “Say for instance a guy come to me and I pay for their rent, cars, put money in their pocket, for a year, two years, five years — never made no money. Now, you move on and go to somebody else and instead of saying, ‘Man that was a blessing. I came to Master P. He blessed me. He took me out the ghetto or wherever I was at, put me in a safe place or help me get out of prison, did all these things.
“But then, when you move on you trying to think, ‘Oh well what P do for me?’ P opened up opportunities for you and your career. That’s what I’ve done for a lot of people. But, it’s a shame people don’t look at it like that.”
