Master P is a top executive in hip-hop and, as the founder of No Limit Records, has always had a good eye for talent. However, in an interview, the Louisiana native (real name Percy Miller) unveiled that he was the first person to take an interest in 50 Cent before his fame.
In an interview with the WNBA champion Renee Montgomery on her podcast Montgomery & Co, Miller unveiled that he happily paid for 50 Cent to get his career off the ground and did it before Jimmy Iovine and Eminem showed interest in the lyricist.
Miller explained his role in 50 Cent’s career, stating, “I’m the first person to believe in him [50 Cent]. 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.”
Miller revealed that he paid for the ‘In Da Club’ artist’s first tour, divulging, “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!”
Explaining that he saw 50 Cent’s brand as phenomenal, Miller expanded, “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.”
During an interview with Big Boy on the LA radio show The Neighbourhood, 50 Cent confirmed Miller’s story, disclosing, “What I’ll say about P is he was slick. He came, he gave me the money for the eight shows, right? We did four of them. 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.'”
Although Master P helped 50 get his first live shows and was one of the first major figures to invest in him. Eminem, alongside Jimmy Iovine, was eventually the pair that presented him with a multi-million dollar deal.