There's NoLimit for this Legacy

Jun. 23—If you're part of the hip hop world, you may know Legacy NoLimit. If you're from Sanford, you might know him as Michael Prince.

Recently, Legacy NoLimit signed a new deal with Roc Nation, Jay-Z's label. But don't expect him to leave Sanford anytime soon. He's committed to the people of his hometown — though he'll be spending a lot of time on the road between here and New York — and all places in between.

He's been into the music scene since he was 13, and is not only an artist, but an engineer. He's got his own label — and even a studio here in Sanford.

Prince said he's worked hard to learn the business, not only on the performance side, but engineering and more.

"I learned a little bit more about the business and started working on my craft and doing more numbers to get where I really wanted to," he said. "The labels told me if I did a certain type of numbers then I could get what I need. Once I started doing that, everything started piling up."

Prince said the past few years have been successful for him.

"In 2019, before the pandemic hit, my album did over 500,000 streams," he said. "They sent me an email saying that on Spotify I had a platinum play. When I got that, everything boosted back up. Things started going the I wanted them to. Our work opened up doors for us that money couldn't get us into. As I realized that it's more about work than money, I started figuring out what I needed to understand. I started going to my dictionaries and books and calling for meetings and roundtables to understand what do I need. I'm doing everything — but what am I doing wrong? Once I got to that roundtable, they told me I needed to come up with my own formula — figure out a way to keep my engagements, keep my fans. I can't do videos and drop them and come back three months later."

Prince said he learned that he couldn't promote one song for an entire year.

"Once I built up my fan base again, I reached back out to the big leagues," he said. "Jesse Atkins pitched my stuff out to Roc Nation because I was already on their radar from a couple of years ago. Everything came back one the pandemic let up. I've been in contact with strong people who was in office and he was one of them. Now we've signed a distribution deal through Equity/Roc Nation. It's all the same label. My deal is 80/20 — they get 20, we get 80. Nobody has ever seen that here in North Carolina."

Prince said he's got a studio here in Sanford that will open up in mid-July.

"We've already got it pretty much ready," he said. "It's in Kendale. We'll be working out of New York and working down here. Whatever I can't do here, I'll do there, or if I can't work there, I'll send it down here. I've got people that I'm teaching how to engineer. I do my own beats, my own engineering — everything on my own. I just need one person to go into the studio and press record — then I take on my personal workspace and engineer it and make it better than what it is and keep everything going."

Prince said he wanted to locate a studio in his hometown.

"Basically, we're trying to give back to the community," he said. "We're trying to build a market in Sanford, so when you say North Carolina, they say Sanford. A lot of great people came from Sanford. I'm trying to help local artists who got it. You gotta understand — you've got to invest in yourself before people will look at you. If you're willing to take on the failures and everything that comes with it. Many people, the first time they hear a bad word, or someone criticizing them, they can't take it. They go back in their shell and give up."

What's next for Prince? He's headed back to New York on June 30 for more radio interviews and talks with media outlets.

"We're going to do a big meeting with everyone from the label," he said. "We're supposed to meet Jay-Z and his nephew, Rel Carter. Real is the one who singed me to Roc Nation. I've just been grinding, man. The hard work is paying off."

Prince said he's been performing a lot in the Fayetteville area and around North Carolina.

"We've done stuff in Charlotte, too," he said. "We've got a big name in Charlotte. We've got a big name in Atlanta. Our first show we did was in Lillington. It was a sold out show."

Prince said he's excited to have the studio and fan base in Sanford and the region.

""I'm bringing it back to my roots, my hometown," he said. "I'm trying to help people who need work, content, creative management — anything you can think of. I know the steps to get artists where they need to be. Life is pretty good right now. We're blessed. I thank Sanford for welcoming me home."