Master P Talks No Limit Legacy, Snoop Dogg, His NBA Stint & Why Rap Label Imprints Have Faded

The Calliope and Magnolia projects are separated by just a mile in New Orleans, but birthed a pair of hip-hop dynasties with Master P’s No Limit Records and Cash Money Records, which was founded by Birdman and his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams.

Cash Money and No Limit became part of the fabric defining Southern rap from the ’90s into the 21st century, with a global impact extending far outside the walls of the Big Easy’s Central City.

Over three decades later, Birdman and Master P are putting their competitive rivalry aside to join forces for the greater good, as Cash Money and the No Limit Soldiers will be on the same stage throughout the fall on a co-headlining arena tour, which kicks off on Sept.

11 in Houston.

It’s fitting that Master P’s rocking a bedazzled camouflage jacket in his visit to Billboard , with the military camo and tanks embedded into the No Limit branding.

“This tour should’ve been done a long time ago,” Master P tells Billboard .

“We live right up from each other.

I feel like timing is the most important thing.

I just want kids to go out and experience this and say, ‘These guys came together, and they’re grown up and they’re doing the right thing.’ Stop all this beefing and let’s go get this money.” Master P secured hip-hop’s version of the Louisiana Purchase, when he negotiated a game-changing 85-15 percent profit share split between No Limit and Priority Records.

“Michael Jackson’s [label] had 22 percent,” he contests.

P’s Pen & Pixel vision and shrewd business acumen set a new precedent for independent hip-hop labels.

He dominated as the face of No Limit, picking up a pair of No.

1 albums on the Billboard 200 with 1997’s Ghetto D and follow-up MP da Last Don less than a year later, while building up a roster that boasted Mystikal, C-Murder, Silkk the Shocker, Mia X, Mercedes and eventually Snoop Dogg and even P’s son, Lil’ Romeo.

As a rap renaissance man, Master P completed side missions that Grand Theft Auto couldn’t come up with, including starring in films, getting runs in a pair of pre-season NBA stints, launching food products and infiltrating the wrestling world.