Master P recently claimed that he, out of all the rap peers at the time, was "the first person to believe in" 50 Cent. For some fans, this might be a tough connection, given they're based in the West and East Coasts, respectively. However, let's not forget that 50's most iconic collaborators are Compton's Dr. Dre and Detroit's Eminem. Regardless, the No Limit Records boss recently spoke to WNBA star Renee Montgomery and her family on the Montgomery & Co. podcast. In it, he revealed just why he chose to take a chance on Fif.
“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]," he stated. "That’s basically what you heard. I think a lot of people when they interview people, they don’t say that." Moreover, he explained why he chose to fund his first four shows. “Nobody else believed in him," he elaborated. "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.”
Furthermore, he asked the podcast members to consider other people who are credited with the Queens legend's come-up. “Think about it," he said. "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. I just thought it was a great product," he went on. "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." On his end, 50 backed up much of what P talked about.
“What I’ll say about P is he was slick,” the "In Da Club" MC expressed. “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 motherf***er’s on fire! This is gonna go off.’”
Despite maybe feeling a bit finessed, Fif showed the Master nothing but love “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.” However, after his comments, many believed that 50 Cent actually called P out. Also in his conversation with the Montgomerys, P aired out his frustrations with Internet narratives.
“That’s why I got out of the music business to begin with,” the New Orleans native expressed. “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.” Interestingly, P and Fif also have father-son rivalries in common. In fact, 50 commented on the particular clash between him and son Marquise and compared it to P and his son Romeo Miller. While 50 doesn't have much hope when it comes to his relationship with his son, he believed that P and Romeo would reconcile. As it turns out, they did. As always, come back to HNHH for the latest insights, stories, and revelations in the wide world of hip-hop.
