(upbeat music)
- Hey, everyone, this is "BET Talks."
I'm Parris Rose and today I'm with one of the most
influential hip hop artists and businessmen of all time,
Master P.
Thank you for chatting with me today.
- Thank you for having me.
- How are you feeling?
- I'm good.
I mean, it's a blessing. We're alive.
- Exactly.
- A lot of people complaining
about what they're going through, but it's a blessing.
- Exactly. I'm glad you feel that way.
- [Master P] Yeah.
- So we're also celebrating 50 years of hip hop
and I wanna know how you feel about it.
Do you feel like it's crazy it's been 50 years
or it's only been 50 years?
- I'm like, it's only been 50 years.
We are growing, we're getting better.
We talk about entrepreneurship
and creating our own brands and business.
It's incredible how much we have grown as a culture
because a lot of people didn't think that we could do this
or we'll be around at this time that we are.
I'm just excited for the next 50 years.
- Your career has been crazy successful.
It's what people envision their career to be
if they started this as a rapper, singer,
anything in the entertainment business.
Is it what you envision for yourself?
- Like I said, it's just a blessing.
I put my trust and faith in God.
I didn't do it by myself.
I'm not self-made, I'm God made.
And to be able to have great partners
like Snoop Dogg is incredible.
We come from hip hop.
We talk about unity and what we're doing together.
We changing the game.
We going up against the giants.
When you talk about the food industry
and it is a blessing what we was able to create.
- I see you also brought some products here today
with Snoop.
So what is going on with that?
- Yeah, you know, well, first I wanna say
a big shout out to Rap Snacks
'cause this is where it started at.
With the Rap Snacks.
When you can't mention 50 years of hip hop
without mentioning rap's name.
Putting hip hop artists on the bag.
So that's the culture.
But when you look at what me
and Snoop has built as a family brand,
we look at all these major companies
that had all these big brands
that people tell us that we can't compete with.
Snoop Cereal, we here to stay.
We're one of the biggest brands in the world now
and you could go to amazon.com,
you go to Walmart, you go to Target, you go to Albertsons,
all your major chain grocery stores.
And salute to Post for believing in diversity.
Where we the first Black-owned company
with national distribution because of Post.
It's a blessing to be honest with you
'cause having Snoop as a partner.
And people always say, you know,
you gotta be a good student and then you could be...
I mean, Snoop, he was a great student
and now he's a great boss.
This is bigger than cereal
because we also educate the next generation.
When you look at one of these boxes,
I just want you to read
and see what you see on these boxes
and look on the sides and what they stand for.
We're tackling homelessness and just, it's all positivity.
- I love this.
It's actually a good cereal for a good cause.
I love that. - [Master P] Yeah.
- And so, when you look at what we are doing,
we want to show people that we've been eating cereal
all our life, but we never owned it.
So when you look at Broadus Food,
this is bigger than cereal.
We're tackling homelessness at the same time.
We're giving back, we're making a difference.
When you look at Captain Ace, he's a aviation pilot.
So to have the first Black aviation pilot
and have our own cartoon behind it is incredible.
So this gonna be around when we're not around
and the more we make, the more we give.
- I love that.
See, I feel like everything you touch turns to gold.
It seems like success after success after success.
But has there been something you failed at?
- Oh, I've failed so many times.
- Do you rebound?
- Oh, because I look at it as practice.
And never a loss is a lesson.
And so I constantly keep getting back up.
I want people to know when you fail, get back up.
But take your time.
You know, when I fall, I lay on the ground a little while
and think about my next move.
Don't look at life as that you are never gonna fail.
You're gonna fail so many times, but winning,
you don't learn from winning.
You learn from losing.
And so every time I lost, I just got myself together,
put my trust and faith in God and got back up.
It's a blessing to be able
to go and chase your dreams and your goals.
To be able to put money back
into our community and our culture.
That's what this is about 'cause people say it all the time.
People want to see you successful until you're successful.
Most people gonna hate you.
And most people not gonna like you.
Like even with us, our culture, when you look at...
We have some of the best tasting cereal in the world, right?
What's the first thing our people gonna say?
How much sugar is in there?
- Exactly.
Which is actually good.
I think you know.
- Okay, so how long Fruit Loops been around?
- All my life.
- A multi-billion dollar company.
We never ask that question one time.
So we have to stop there
but we know once we get on the shelves,
we're definitely gonna make organic product,
we're gonna make more natural product, but we gotta start.
It's so important 'cause when they take a cereal
off the shelf to put ours on there,
does that mean that they're eliminating the cereal?
And so think about it.
None of this product has ever came back
to our community and our culture,
talking about building economic empowerment.
And so this is the way we do it.
We get in the streets, we march, we protest,
and we're like, "Okay, what do we want out of this?"
We want economic empowerment.
And so we have...
That starts through education
and teaching our people in preparation
and so that's why I focus on the younger kids.
So that's why I built a curriculum with the cereal
with Snoop,
and we looking at this as not only opening up doors
for our culture but for all cultures.
'Cause this brand is for everybody.
We don't wanna just make cereal for Black people.
We want it to be owned by Black people
because we make a 10th to 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs
and we wanna change that narrative.
- I felt like you never felt
that you didn't belong in these spaces.
It was never a, "I can't be here.
It's not for me. It's not for our people."
- Yeah.
- How did you have this mindset?
- When you look at David and Goliath,
one slingshot took down the giant,
and so I'm like, you know what, we gotta do the same thing
when you talk about products in these grocery stores.
That's why I say Snoop and I
are the kings of breakfast food.
Nobody look like us have ever been
in that lane. - [Parris] Exactly.
- Because we don't think we can do it.
All these other companies are building family names.
- Yes.
- So these brands are family names.
And so when you look at these family names,
now you have Broadus Food, which is Snoop's last name.
- Okay, I love that.
- Yes.
- Keeps it in the family.
- That's what I'm talking about.
And being able to work together as brothers.
And so everybody got a job to do.
So Snoop is one of the most famous hip hop entertainers
in the world.
He's on everything.
And now we're owning our own product.
We're not just using our face product.
- You guys are both on everything.
- [Master P] Yeah.
- But you know, people love your life.
They see you, they admire you.
Was there anything you miss throughout your life
before fame, before success, before money.
- Yeah, it's just being able to just regular family.
Like being able to go wherever you want to go
and things have changed with the internet and social media
because people promote negativity.
I just wish that, you know, back in the days,
like, you could make mistakes, you could fail.
It's not a part of everybody's world.
And we gonna constantly go through this,
but now we have to learn how to live with this, with AI.
And I just love back in the days how
if a grandparent said something, it was law.
(Parris laughs)
Now these kids, if you say something to a kid now,
it's like, I'm still scared of my dad.
(Parris laughs)
For real.
- I'm scared of my mom.
- You know what I'm saying?
It's like the way we was raised,
it's like family over everything.
And it's like being able to just have that family time
besides being successful.
You know.
I miss that.
- Okay.
- [Master P] Yeah.
- Family time.
So I heard you mention also AI.
- [Master P] Yeah.
- And I wanted to ask you about that.
- [Master P] Yeah.
- Because everything in this industry is changing quickly,
but especially with AI.
How are you feeling?
'Cause I only feel negative thoughts about it.
- You know what?
I didn't know what to think the other day.
I went to this expo and they had a twin of me talking.
I'm like...
(Parris laughs)
I'm like and I'm like, this my twin?
This is like...
It was talking just like me, saying all this stuff
and I'm like, we going to have to be able to accept it
but it'll never be a real one of us.
But we gonna control the computer
so we just gotta be able to
do our part and not let the computers control us.
And so when you look at AI, to me it's still...
They still need us at the end of the day because-
- Hearing the AI songs, you know, that they could-
- Some of 'em sound pretty good.
- Right!
Isn't it scary?
Do you feel like they might be taking jobs?
- Well, you know, think about this though.
I think one good thing will happen,
even when we're not here, that you could still be...
- That's scary!
- I'm just saying that-
- Okay.
- 'Cause guess what?
You can't imagine yourself not being here.
- [Parris] Right. - Right?
Even though you know you're not gonna be here one day,
but AI will keep you here.
That's one thing-
- Does that give you comfort?
Like, thinking I might be gone
but AI's gonna be walking around with my voice, my face.
- You know what?
I seen a program where people was like, "I want you to come.
You could talk to your kids and talk to your family.
You could have this 20 years from now."
I'm like, do I really want to do that?
(Parris and Master P laugh)
So, I mean...
But some people want to do that.
I mean, this company is making a lot of money.
- All right, I know you have a business mind.
Are you trying to maybe get in on the AI too?
While it's still new? - Not really.
Not really.
I just like it because I like the technology
and seeing all these different things.
But yeah, I'm not afraid of it.
- Okay.
Out of all the things you've accomplished,
and it's a long list,
what do you personally feel most proud of?
- I feel most proud of being a servant.
We can't take this money with us.
We can't take this fame with us.
I'm more proud of creating future leaders.
I tell people, "You're not successful
unless you create other millionaires."
- [Parris] Yes.
- And so to be able to do that
I think God has continued blessing me and my family.
And I'm just thankful and grateful.
I'm not perfect, but I'm constantly growing,
educating myself,
and you know,
I think those are the things that I'm proud of.
And just watching my kids blossoming,
being able to chase they dreams and they goals.
- Now, how does it feel watching them also?
Like, they've had great careers too.
- [Master P] Yeah.
- You feel like proud dad?
- Yeah, yeah. Always.
Because I grew up in poverty, never had anything.
And now they making a TV series about my life, "No Limit."
So to be able to let my kids see the struggle and pains
that I grew up in,
and I think that's gonna be the thing for me,
knowing that this "No Limit" TV series
is gonna change the game.
But my kids will actually see, man,
I grew up with my grandparents,
so I didn't live with my parents.
I grew up with my grandparents
and I grew up in a three-bedroom project.
I never had a room.
I had lived in a house with 12 kids.
And you know,
it wasn't easy, but I never complained.
I've always thought
that one day I'll be living a better life here.
So that's my message to this generation.
But I'm gonna talk about this 50 years of hip hop,
which is so important because it's all about unity.
For us to be in this game this long is definitely unity.
And I wanna thank BET for bringing everybody together.
And I look at the south.
The south taught hip hop how to get money.
So I gotta shout out to Uncle Luke,
Rap-A-Lot Records, Swap House Records, Cash Money records.
- Yes.
- You know, 'cause when everybody see me and Baby
they think that it's beef.
It's never beef.
Friendly competition.
We both from the same place
but we've always rooted for each other.
We never try to hurt each other, kill each other.
That's what I love and respect about Cash Money and Birdman.
And I wanna send that message
to this generation of kids across the world.
Like, let's stop all this beefing and let's get some money.
We're dying young.
We have to change that.
So if you wanna leave a legacy,
and want people to remember you,
you gotta do the right thing.
And so that's what I love about our relationship.
That even though we never did anything with each other,
but guess what?
We never try to hurt each other.
And we always representing each other.
And so we could send that message to this generation
after these 50 years, I feel like we could save more lives.
- Yes, they need to see that for sure.
I'm gonna wrap this up but I wanna ask you,
is there a lyric of yours or any hip hop artist
that like resonates with you, that just stays in your head?
- For me, "Miss my homie."
You know, all the people that I lost.
It make me think about my daughter.
Everybody that I lost in my family
that when I hear that song, it just never ended.
I know, make 'em say, "Oh it's the favorite song,"
but, you know, that song for me is special.
- Well, thank you so much for your time.
- Thank you for having me.
- [Master P] Yeah.
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