It’s no secret that Nipsey Hussle was a huge fan of Master P and the movement that he started with No Limit Records, but the respect that he had for the icon ran even deeper than that.
Prior to his untimely passing, Nipsey Hussle spoke on the relationship that he had with the New Orleans native during an interview with Billboard.
“Master P was an innovator in so many different ways,” the late Nipsey Hussle once told the outlet. “Puff gets his credit. Dame and Jay get their credit. Ruff Ryders, Irv Gotti and Chris Gotti, they get their credit. P don’t get his credit, man.”
When asked, “Why do you think that is?” Nipsey Hussle responded: “This is my opinion and I could be dead wrong: He got so successful in music. He was the first to do it the way he did it. He put his kids on — he put Romeo on. He turned into a businessman. He did films. He burned the game out. He maxed out.”
It seems as though Master P’s sentiments about the West Coast rapper are one and the same, because, during his “UNCENSORED” episode, he explained the relationship between the two.
“My relationship with Nipsey Hussle was 100,” said Master P. “He really believed in my movement and wanted to learn from me and I didn’t mind being an open book to teach him the game.”
Advice To Nipsey Hussle
Before his deal with Atlantic Records, Nipsey Hussle sought out advice from Master P.
“I read over Nipsey’s contract he had with Atlantic Records and I told him it wasn’t a good contract,” recalled the “Make ‘Em Say Ugh” emcee. “He was like, ‘Big Dog, I respect it, but this is something I gotta do because I put all these records out and they didn’t go anywhere.’ Nipsey don’t even know how famous he is because he was always fighting against the system.”
Nipsey Hussle Tha Great
During the episode, Master P explained how he just doesn’t understand how all of Nipsey Hussle’s recognition came after he passed.
“When he died, everybody jumped on him and that’s the part that’s crazy to me. He blew up so big when he died, but he was always telling me about how he can’t believe that his music is this good, but he ain’t doing the numbers.”
Following his passing, in which he was gunned down right outside of the Marathon Clothing Store that he built in his neighborhood, Nipsey Hussle’s music sales skyrocketed.
According to Nielsen Music, the rapper’s song sales went from 1,000 to 14,000. On the day he died, 2,000 copies of his album were purchased. Before he passed, he averaged about two million audio streams, but after those numbers quickly jumped to 57 million streams in a matter of a few days. His video streams also went from 900,000 to 9.7 million on the day he passed.
“The last project that he had, he probably sold 50,000 to 100,000, and then when he died he sold 3 million and that was crazy to me,” Master P continued.
The Marathon Continues
Much of what Nipsey Hussle built with his music is from a page of Master P’s book. No Limit Records, a store that Master P ran and operated in Richmond, CA, later became the model that was developed for No Limit Records, the music label. Now, it’s one of the most iconic record labels in music history.
“After inheriting $10,000 from his late grandpa, Miller opened a record store in Richmond, California called No Limit Records, forming the foundation of the future multi-million dollar rap label,” reports.
Nipsey Hussle’s All Money In record label and his Marathon brand were also built with the community in mind. Still to this day, they are both being used as a vehicle to pour into his Slauson community through various initiatives that include programs to encourage children to build careers within the STEM fields.
