Former rapper and successful businessman Master P has never been afraid to speak out about issues affecting the hip-hop community. Following the April 2021 death of legendary emcee DMX, the Louisiana native called for a worker’s union for artists to avoid repeating patterns of addiction often seen in the industry.
While talking about his childhood in New Orleans during a recent interview with HipHopDX, the mogul shared how’d he always knew he wanted a better life outside of the Calliope Projects of New Orleans and didn’t want to die young. He then went on to share why he believes “hip-hop is dying so young.”
“Think about it. It’s because of the drugs and people not being held accountable. As a young person, we always say, ‘Oh, he’s young, but she’s young. Let them go, do. They going to figure it out.’ Everybody don’t figure it out. You either going to be a tragedy or testimony. A lot of people don’t get to be a testimony. It normally don’t work like your situation, my situation, it don’t happen that often,” the 51-year-old continued.
“Even that you look at this culture in hip-hop why we dying so young because we don’t have the right leadership or the right older people around us to tell us that we wrong because we just see the money. ‘Oh, these guys making money.’ Even the parents end up being friends,” the emcee added.
Master P, whose real name is Percy Robert Miller Sr., suggested that parents be more vigilant of how cool they are with their children, noting that it could involuntarily have negative harmful results. “One thing I love about my parents and my grandparents, they never was my friends. When I went to them, I know that I got the real,” he shared.
He added, “Stop trying to just have fun with your kids. I just think that’s the only way we’re going to save this culture.”
As a parent to four children, Master P has support his children and teaches them the values of ownership. The rapper and his oldest child Romeo, who is also a rapper, teamed up together for business ventures including “Growing Up Hip Hop” reality TV series and getting his son Hercy Miller brand deals as a college basketball player.
