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Master P rose up from the projects in New Orleans to become one of the most commercially successful rappers and music entrepreneurs of all-time. For Percy Robert Miller, his immense success all started with $10,000.
Master P has a net worth of nearly $200 million, but he wasn’t always the super-rich music tycoon. Percy Robert Miller was born on April 29, 1970, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The No Limit Records founder was one of five children of a family that lived in the Calliope Projects in New Orleans.
The Calliope Projects, also known as the B. W. Cooper apartments, had 1,546 united in Central City New Orleans. The impoverished neighborhood was known for its extremely high violent crime rate. Percy was crammed together with 16 people in a three-bedroom apartment.
Miller’s parents got divorced when he was very young and Percy was raised by his father along with his four siblings. Percy said that he was often hungry and there was no food in the family’s fridge.
Percy first realized he loved business when he saw one of his neighbors driving a brand-new Mercedes after being an insurance salesman. When he attended Booker T. Washington High School, Percy started his own business of selling cell phones. Miller was interested in starting his own business since his relatives had a difficult time getting a job.
Percy secured a basketball scholarship at the University of Houston. Miller dropped out of the university and transferred to Merritt College in Oakland, California. That’s where he majored in business administration.
While he was in college, Master P’s grandfather passed away and Percy inherited $10,000 as part of a malpractice settlement. Percy invested the money into his own business — a small record store in Richmond, California. The name of the store was No Limit Records.
In the early 1990s, Percy’s record store became massively popular thanks to hip-hop artists like Snoop Dogg and Silkk the Shocker visiting the store. That allowed No Limit Records to blossom into the powerhouse rap record label.
On February 15, 1990, Master P released the cassette tape Mind Of A Psychopath on his own label. Percy lost his brother Kevin Miller was killed in New Orleans the same year.
On February 12, 1991, Master P released his debut studio album Get Away Clean followed by his second album Mama’s Bad Boy in April 1992.
In 1995, Master P moved back to New Orleans and relocated No Limit Records from the San Francisco Bay Area. Master P finally got his first hit single with the Mr. Ice Cream Man that was released on April 16, 1996.
One of Miller’s rules at No Limit Records was to kept 100% ownership of all master recordings. He also managed to keep 85% of sales, which was unheard of in the music industry, especially for unproven talent.
Then Master P and No Limit Records achieved mainstream success with the smash hit single Make ‘Em Say Uhh! featuring Fiend, Silkk The Shocker, Mia X and Mystikal from the 1997 studio album Ghetto D that was released on September 2, 1997.
The 19-track album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Ghetto D went Platinum 3-times on August 4, 2006, by selling 3,185,221 copies.
Master P would go on to win five Grammy’s and three American Music awards.
Master P branched out to other businesses such as No Limit Clothing, No Limit Films, real estate firm P. M. Properties, No Limit Communications, No Limit Sports Management, Advantage Travel and the television network Better Black Television. Master P is also the CEO of P. Miller Enterprises, Bout It Inc. and No Limit Enterprises. Master P even became an actor and an executive producer on TV shows including ones that his daughter and son starred in.
Miller launched No Limit Forever Records label and put his two sons, Valentino and Romeo, in charge. As of 2019, Master P’s net worth is said to be nearly $200 million.
Percy Miller’s financial advice is to get “at least get a piece of the piece.” Master P told Yahoo: “It has to start with owning property, owning your business.”
“I tell people, if you get in a business, you need to know everything about your business,” Miller explained to Yahoo Finance. “You need to know what the janitor is doing. You need to know what the guy who’s cooking the burgers is doing. You need to know what the mailroom is doing. You need to know everything about your business to be successful.”
“I think anybody that want to be in business need to realize you need to be committed if you want to be an entrepreneur,” he said. “And I was committed back then to put up that type of money. That was a lot of money.”
Master P is a big fan of Theodor Seuss Geisel and references Dr. Seuss as a lesson on how to succeed in business.
“They was going to throw his books back in the garbage can and his friend said, ‘No. These are worth something.’ You got to find that person that’s going to push you, instead of running with people that’s just running with you,” Miller said of The Cat in the Hat author. “If you want to be successful, you have to find somebody that’s going to push you all the way over the finish line.”
You can read the entire Master P interview HERE.
[Yahoo]