Master P: raps about his rapper son, his $500 million empire and why he cleaned up his act - Interview - Cover Story

Ebony, June, 2002 by Kevin Chappel

A DUSTY orange and white U-Haul parked in front of Master P's new Beverly Hills home doesn't blend in with the panoramic view from the mountains high above Los Angeles. With a lowly $29.95 rental price splashed across both sides, the truck looks woefully out of place amid the multimillion-dollar California estates.

The dichotomy defied obvious explanation to possibly everyone who witnessed the scene at the new neighbor's house. Everyone, that is, except the new neighbor. To Master P, the U-Haul was more than a multicolored machine that moved important valuables. It was a rule-breaking ride that represented a crossing of boundaries and time lines.

"I'm from the ghetto. I ain't got no image," says Master P, a self-proclaimed "country boy" from the New Orleans projects, who--armed with a good idea, a good woman and a baby boy to carry on his name--turned a $10,000 inheritance into a half-billion-dollar empire that redefined the entertainment industry. "My image is with my family and the man up above and making sure I can be the best person I can be. That's it. As long as we're happy, I'm cool. I keep it real. I come from the streets. You got to accept me for who I am. I don't care about going back to nothing. Most people out here [in Beverly Hills] can't. They have to act a certain way. They are out here pretending."

So why would the 31-year-old Louisiana native who calls himself "Jed Clampett" and who calls Sonya Miller, his wife of 12 years, "Ellie May," choose to live so far from his down-home roots? Why would the man who made it cool to be country move from his Baton Rouge haunt to West Coast heaven? Why would Master P load up his truck and move to Beverly--Hills that is?

Well, for starters, it's the land of swimming pools, movie stars and, perhaps most importantly, well-heeled people who would, as he puts it, "appreciate me more."

That said, it was still a difficult decision for Master P to leave Louisiana. But out of it all emerged a more mature man who looks at life much differently now than he did just a few years ago.

Master P (Percy Miller) used to run on nothing but adrenaline. The same youthful energy and creativity that earned him a place on the cover of Forbes magazine as one of the richest Americans was the same energy that had landed him in unsavory, and at times, peculiar situations (although his explicit song lyrics didn't help matters). Master P admits that it was a learning process going from being dirt-poor to filthy rich, a process made tougher by some hometown people who had problems accepting his new status as a multimillionaire.

"I kept it real when I lived in Baton Rouge," says Master P, who, after he made his first millions by introducing Southern rap to the world, moved into a house in the city's most exclusive country club estate next door to the former governor of Louisiana. "I brought money to the economy. I was putting up jobs. I brought entertainers there. I think I made a lot of corporate people down there look bad because my house was bigger than theirs. I had more money than they did ... But you would think that after 10 years they would have calmed down and got used to me being there. But they never did. I tried. I tried for 10 years."

In the end, he says he grew tired of fighting those who resented him being among Louisiana's elite, tired of some people trying to stir up controversy and frivolous lawsuits. In the end, he realized that maybe he had become too big for some in Louisiana, too much of a success for some of the hometown people to accept.

He says he wanted to move to an environment he and his wife would feel totally comfortable in raising their family of six kids, including their oldest son, 12-year-old rap star Lil' Romeo (Percy Miller Jr.).

The family's new Beverly Hills estate, which took two years to build, is a mixture of contemporary earth tones and brilliant colors. There's a workout room, a game room, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and every bedroom has a bathroom. The gourmet kitchen is the gathering point for the family. Wife Sonya enjoys cooking. Master P says he enjoys eating her Southern-inspired dishes.

Although they are one of the richest Black families in America, Master P says they live a pretty normal life. "We dress average. We act average," he says. "We have rules in the house. We have to wash the dishes, clean the house. We sit around and watch TV like everyone else. We try to stay as close as possible to regular. We're not into the Hollywood-type of atmosphere, where you have a chauffeur, you got people all around you."

On a typical day, Master P gets up at 7 a.m. to take the kids to school. He says he's just like any other father. He helps with homework and helps with chores around the house. Part of his strong family commitment undoubtedly comes from his childhood experiences. "I look at my parents. They divorced, went their separate ways. It made me look at life. I want to make sure I keep the pieces together," he says. "I grew up without a father, so I want to make sure that my kids grow knowing that I'm in their life, no matter what the situation is."