Master P talks the art of negotiation on AB+L’s Day1 Radio

When Master P talks, you’d be wise to shut up and listen. This is the man, after all, whose late-’90s No Limit southern hip-hop hustle still serves as the blueprint for independent label success.

He gives AB+L Radio’s Day1 the business this week in a rare 60-minute interview with hosts Maurice Garland, Brandon Peters and Nadine Graham. P tackles topics ranging from his disregard for ageism in hip-hop to personal matters to future film and business endeavors.

But things get really real when he explains how he scored the groundbreaking 1995 distribution deal with Priority Records, which allowed him to retain 100 percent ownership of his masters and 85 percent of his record sales.

“I made more than the record company that helped me put my record out,” he says. “I always was studying, going to the library and looking up deals, and I found out that Michael Jackson had the biggest deal.”

He goes on to detail how he tracked down Michael Jackson’s attorney, who required a $25,000 retainer before he would even talk to P. After he returned with the retainer fee, the lawyer told P that the key was to go after an 80/20 distribution deal, which the lawyer didn’t even believe Master P would be able to secure. “Probably because I was black and from the projects,” P says. “Who figured I was going to get that?”

But P was so confident, he says, that he turned down a $1 million dollar advance from Interscope in order to pursue a distribution deal with Priority that eventually paid off to the point that he “started employing half the people at Priority.”

The interview starts around the 22-minute mark, but it’s definitely a classic Day1 episode worth a full listen. When it comes to the art of negotiation, self-worth and independent hustle, P proves he’s still the master.

Catch back episodes of Day1 Radio on AB+L’s Soundcloud.