Master P: Life Without Change Isn't Complete

Like it or not, Master P is a certified legend in the rap game with one of the best rags-to-riches stories to date. Coming up poor in one of the most notorious projects -- Calliope Projects -- in New Orleans, he rose from poverty to become one of the richest music moguls in his hey day.

In 1998, Forbes magazine ranked Master P (real name: Percy Miller) no. 10 among the list of America's 40 highest paid entertainers during the year with an estimated income of $56.5 million, and at one time, the estimated worth of his business dealings reached $661 million.

Making a living off gangster rap and several other related businesses, P has grown up as of late. Most recently, he made headlines when he announced he would clean up his lyrics in wake of the Imus debacle (see "Master P, Romeo Clean Up Their Act With Launch Of New Label"). Although he got flack for the move, it proved to be a recipe for success.

Now, on a mission to give back, Master P has released a book titled Guaranteed Success, where he gives some of the secrets to his success to accompany his clean album with his son Romeo. In a sit-down with BallerStatus.com, the veteran rapper, producer and business man discusses his new outlook on the music industry and what sparked it, all the way down to how he got his start in the game and what's in his immediate future.

BallerStatus.com: You have the book, Guaranteed Success, tell us more about that.

Master P: It's out right now. It's Guaranteed Success when you never give up. The way I look at it is you have Donald Trump and the knowledge he gives to his people. When I'm from, I'm always about saying "If I can make it, anybody can make it." So, I just give my secrets in this book for what it took for me to be successful. If people follow those same steps, it could help on they journey to success because if somebody is successful and they done been through it to become successful, then you know that it really can be done.

If we spread the world with nothing but negativity, kids ain't gonna wanna do nothing because they feel like "Man, we can't make it." My thing is: I come from the hood, I was able to change my life and guess what? We can go to Wall Street now. Not just from being in the music industry, but if you wanna be a real baller, you go off into other avenues. I just take my thing to Wall Street now where we can build equity funds because they don't expect us to do that, being hip-hop artists.

You take that and put it to another and grow to another generation. It's all about knowledge. Most of us think it's just about money, but it ain't. It's about the knowledge because if you have that, you can get the money.

BallerStatus.com: So, the book is not just about hip-hop? It's about business as well?

Master P: Nah, Guaranteed Success isn't just financially. It can be spiritually, it can be with your family, or as an athlete or financially, religion, anything. My thing is, even as African Americans, we always think we can't do it because we come hard times, from depression, from poverty. I'm saying that if we take that same energy and put it into business and think "Ok, I live in the ghetto, but now I'm gonna visualize myself not being there. I'm in a nice neighborhood, I can get there." Then you can do it. That's what I did. Even though I lived in the Calliope Projects, in my mind, I was in Beverly Hills, so one day, I'm gonna get there.

Not just apply it to work, but apply knowledge. Pick up a book and read it.

BallerStatus.com: How does your new album, Hip-Hop History, fit into that?

Master P: Me and my son put the first profanity free street record out -- the Miller Boyz, which is available at Wal-Mart. We changed the game by going to Wal-Mart. The internet and Wal-Mart blew this record up. A lot of people are talking about Kanye West and 50 Cent, but what we did by going straight to Wal-Mart and not having to put together a big publicity campaign or spending a significant marketing budget, we ain't got no overhead. We have one retailer and we cut the distribution cost out because we going directly to the retailers which is Wal-Mart. It can sell being profanity free with parents' approval. Man, that's being a baller: taking your BallerStatus to a whole another level. It's incredible.

If I would have known this back in the day? I was going to record companies, distributors and I'm thinking "Wow." I'm still waiting for my money to come back through them. It's changing the game with this because music is at an all-time low. Digital downloading and the internet is taking over. People getting their music straight through the iTunes, to their iPods and straight to their computers now.

Wal-Mart has such a good foot traffic. The music is positive. The families have been are biggest fans. I caught a lot of flack when I told the world I was gonna change. People think it's easy for you to change, but it's hard. In the Bible, it says "A life without change is an incomplete life."

We gotta educate these kids. That's what I wanna do with this book -- make sure we get it to the kids, the teenagers, the adults and say we have something for the whole family to share and take our financial level to the next level. That's the only way we gonna be able to change the community. Every athlete that has nobody with financial know-how fail the first time around. They waiting for the second contract.

Right now, where I'm at with this album, Hip-Hop History... we made history 'cause we changed the game. This is one of the highest selling records when it dropped with no video played and no radio airplay. It's crazy because the internet and Wal-Mart drove this product. That's why I take my hat off to people like ya'll because you put the word out about this product. In this game, the kids don't wanna do nothing positive if it ain't glorified. I'm glad you guys glorify both sides -- putting a balance. Let the 50 Cents do what they gonna do, but when they grow up, I've giving them something else where they can say "Hey, I can take it to this level of the game." It is a different level too because when I was hanging with Donald Trump, he was saying "That's my building, that's my hotel, that's my bank." All I could say was "That's my house, that's my cars." It was time for me to take my game to the next level because I know all these billionaires that build these equity funds.

BallerStatus.com: As far as taking your game to the next level, is that something you're trying to influence kids to do?

Master P: Our kids don't understand what equity funds is, what corporations is, what is LLCs are. It's sad. That's what I'm trying to do with this book -- get this knowledge out there for the ones who are seeking it. If you're not seeking it this won't be a powerful tool for you, but if you come from our world and are seeking a way out, this is the book for you.

I have created a way for our people where I'm the next generation of record company. Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer in the country. When these guys... when they record companies don't feel they important any more... the Eagles coming out, the Rolling Stones selling seven million records. Hip-hop ain't selling like that anymore. This is a way where you have an opportunity to really sell big numbers in the music industry and not put a lot of money behind it. I come from the streets and I changed my life. What I took from the streets, I took to the business world, but I'm leaving the negativity behind. In the streets, you take a small investment in something to make a larger payout. If you don't understand that, it'll be hard for you to survive. That's why a lot of these record companies are going under -- because they are spending so much money on videos, on marketing, radio and everything else. At the end of the day, with all the money spent, there is none left for the artist and now, the record company. The record companies now are going into these artists pockets for endorsements. Any endorsements, they sending them out and taking part of the money. They taking their artists for everything now.

BallerStatus.com: You have changed your whole outlook on things these days. What sparked these changes in you?

Master P: It's like a drug dealer in a neighborhood getting locked up, then getting out of jail and being like, "You know what? I ain't doing this no more. I'm going to get into the community and trying to influence these kids." If you done been in the jail and been through it, it ain't about you no more because the man up above done spared me for a reason. I got to fulfill my purpose. That's why I'm still here man because I used to live a very bad life. It wasn't the environment I was living in, it was the cards I was dealt. I'm just, now, gonna make sure my kids aren't deal that same hand. My parent raised me in the Calliope Projects. There was no other choice, I had to learn how to survive among the wolves out there. I said if I made it out my kids wouldn't have to go through that. That's all I'm doing.

I think anybody who get to my level can do the same and say "Let me give something back to the kids. Let the kids grow. Let them be doctors and lawyers." We're killing the next Oprah Winfreys, the next Will Smiths. I mean, let's glorify some positive stuff man.

You talk to any gangster who done got out of jail and they will tell you, they ain't talking the same stuff they was talking. I can honestly say I was doing wrong because when I put my music out, I was thinking about it. I was just doing what I felt because I was angry or been through stuff. I never thought about it affected the kids. When I have to cut down my music in my own car and it's affecting my own kids, it's time for me to grow up. That's why I got my son going to college -- [Romeo] just got a scholarship to USC to play basketball. That's the type of stuff that I'm proud of and excite me rather than how many records he sells or how many TV shows I'm on.

He's a part of the generation we're changing. I might not be able to see it, but he or his kids will see the changes we contributed to. We are a poor culture of people, but now, we now gonna change.

BallerStatus.com: Tell us a little about how you started your career. I know you started with a record store in Richmond, California, right?

Master P: Just like I say in my book, it's a vision. I was in Richmond, California, in the hood, but I visualized that this store was gonna be successful. I took the last $10,000 I had and said "I'mma turn it into millions one day." Instead of taking that $10,000 and saying, "Hey, I'mma buy me a nice little ride right now with some Daytons on it," I said "Nah, I'm about to do something that down the line, if I make an investment in myself, it'll pay off." If you make an investment in yourself, you can really take your game to the next level. That's the most important decision you can make. That's what I did.

I could of got a nice job, but then, I was still gonna be in the struggle and so are my people. I took the initiative and if I turned that store around, I could have something for me and my family. By the grace of God, I learned how to do music at the same time and it became successful. I learned the business from a retail standpoint, so my whole thing is marketing. I know my strengths. I'm not no smarter than any of the other guys out there, but I know my strengths. Like I tell them in the books, to find your strengths and prey on them. Build your weaknesses, but you gotta be able to come up with your strengths as well.

BallerStatus.com: What kind of feedback have you gotten from the new book and CD?

Master P: Aww man, Al Sharpton done endorsed this. This is crazy because they don't even endorse hip-hop and he endorsed my CD. It's going crazy now. The church people is buying it, the kids are buying it, the street people are buying it... guys on the street really understand what I'm talking about. They know P not talking about selling out. If you wanna talk about selling out, we sell out when we make a radio record. Also, we sell out when we make a clean video to go on TV. A lot of these guys are like "P is on to something 'cause P's saying 'If I make all clean records, then I can get my product into Wal-Mart and Targets and sell more units.'" These are the people selling units. The streets aren't selling records no more, they bootlegging them. If they get a record, they gonna get the bootleg and sell it for cheaper. They done put the mom and pops stores outta business.

We just all gotta respect the game and grow up. We buried the "N" word, now we gotta bury the "H" word, "hate." Everyone hate on each other, that's why we can't grow.

BallerStatus.com: So how much longer is P gonna be a rapper for?

Master P: Aww man, I'm done. I only did this for the kids -- to show them... somebody had to do this. Everybody else is afraid. They didn't wanna get flack or get anyone trying to say they ain't upholding the freedom of speech. Yea, do that, but it's better for all of us if you clean it up. They ain't saying change your content, they just saying take the cuss words out and think about what you say. Back in the day, they ain't had to cuss, but the music was still hardcore.

I'm about to be the Black Donald Trump. This record is a classic, I ain't doing no more records man. I did it for the kids, since everyone else is scared. I ain't trying to do no music man, I'm too old for that stuff.

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