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Transcript

Master P’s Ownership Playbook: From No Limit to an Empire · Clone Wars: The Spinoff

• 0:00
  Imagine holding a million dollar check in 1994, like, fresh out of the Calliope
• 0:05
  projects in New Orleans, and just...
• 0:07
  walking away from Jimmy Iovine.
• 0:09
  Man, Jimmy Iovine from Interscope!
• 0:12
  Most cats back then would have, er, signed that contract so fast the pen would catch
• 0:17
  fire.
• 0:17
  Right?
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  But Percy Miller, Master P, he turned down that million.
• 0:22
  He took a ten thousand dollar malpractice settlement instead,
• 0:26
  moved out to Richmond, California, and opened No Limit Records and Tapes.
• 0:31
  That is pure survival discipline.
• 0:33
  See, a million dollar advance is just a loan you gotta pay back with your soul.
• 0:38
  Ten grand of your own cash?
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  That is real freedom.
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  And here is the precise financial lever he pulled in 1996.
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  Master P noticed the major labels were giving artists ten percent profit splits
• 0:49
  while keeping all the masters.
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  So what did he do?
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  He paid Michael Jackson's attorney twenty five thousand dollars out of pocket to
• 0:56
  negotiate a distribution deal with Priority Records.
• 0:59
  Wait, wait, twenty five grand just to talk to Michael Jackson's lawyer?
• 1:03
  Yes!
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  And that lawyer delivered an unprecedented deal.
• 1:07
  No Limit got an 85 to 15 distribution split, or 80 to 20 depending on the pressing,
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  where No Limit Records received the split's larger portion and maintained ownership
• 1:17
  of all recording masters, while Priority Records only handled manufacturing and
• 1:21
  store distribution.
• 1:22
  That was unheard of!
• 1:24
  In rap music back then, nobody owned their masters.
• 1:27
  Snoop Dogg literally said later that before Master P, there was no real money in
• 1:32
  rap.
• 1:33
  And think about how he sold those tapes, man!
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  No radio play.
• 1:37
  Pen and Pixel doing those vibrant, loud artwork covers that jumped off the shelf.
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  He put flyer ads inside every CD case for the next five upcoming albums,
• 1:47
  so every buyer became a repeat customer.
• 1:50
  Street level hustle, bro!
• 1:51
  Trunk to trunk, record store to record store.
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  That direct to fan pipeline pushed the 1996 album Ice Cream Man to over five hundred
• 1:59
  thousand copies sold, going certified gold with zero major radio support.
• 2:04
  Now compare that to these young artists today.
• 2:06
  They see a hundred thousand dollars on Instagram, sign away their publishing forever
• 2:10
  just to buy a chain, and end up trapped in a five album deal streaming for pennies.
• 2:15
  It is the difference between immediate clout and long term leverage.
• 2:20
  P was thinking like a business manager from day one, not just a rapper in the booth.
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  And P was not just thinking about himself either.
• 2:27
  Remember when he brought ten year old Lil Romeo right into boardrooms with high
• 2:31
  level suits?
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  Man, I remember that!
• 2:34
  A ten year old boy sitting in corporate executive meetings,
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  watching how contracts get negotiated.
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  That is operational exposure.
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  You are not just leaving your kids a trust fund, you are teaching them how the
• 2:46
  machine is built.
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  That operational exposure turned into a broader empire.
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  Master P extended his reach far beyond music into consumer packaged goods,
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  co owning Rap Snacks, founding Uncle P's food products, investing in real estate,
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  gas stations, even film production, accumulating an estimated eight hundred million
• 3:03
  dollar business enterprise.
• 3:05
  That is what staying lit really means.
• 3:07
  It is Supreme Mathematics applied to the game, man.
• 3:10
  Break that down, how do you see Supreme Mathematics in this blueprint?
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  First comes Knowledge: knowing the exact value of your masters and your publishing
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  before you ever open your mouth in a negotiation.
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  Second is Wisdom: executing ownership first contracts every single day,
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  turning down quick cash advances to keep your rights.
• 3:30
  And third is Understanding: the clear result, a multi generational enterprise that
• 3:36
  feeds your family for decades after the music stops playing.
• 3:39
  So let us translate that into three concrete, actionable steps for working creators
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  listening right now.
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  Step one: establish formal written split sheets and an asset holding LLC for every
• 3:52
  single master recording before it leaves the studio computer.
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  Step two: allocate at least twenty percent of all your music earnings directly into
• 4:01
  physical equity, like income producing real estate or tangible assets outside the
• 4:05
  music industry, just like P did.
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  And step three: set up formal family trust documents now so your catalog royalties
• 4:13
  and rights transfer directly to your heirs without going through probate court or
• 4:18
  label disputes.
• 4:19
  Own your work, feed your family, and build something nobody can take from you.
• 4:25
  That is the No Limit legacy right there.
• 4:27
  Alright, good chatting, talk soon.