Master P

Bio

Percy Miller is Master P. He is, in any honest survey of independent music-business success in the 1990s, the most successful do-it-yourself executive the genre produced. He sold over 75 million records on No Limit Records, a label he founded out of a record store in Richmond, California, and he kept basically all of the money. That is a story worth understanding.

He was born in New Orleans on April 29, 1970. His grandfather raised him. His brother Kevin Miller was murdered in 1990 in a robbery in New Orleans; Percy took the insurance settlement (a few thousand dollars) and used it as seed capital to open No Limit Records, a hip-hop section in a record store he was running on the side. By 1995 he was making his own albums, distributing them out of the trunk of his car, and selling them faster than the majors could keep up with.

The break came when he negotiated a distribution deal with Priority Records in 1996 that kept 85 percent of net revenue. This is unheard of. Most artists kept maybe 12. The deal worked because Master P had volume — he was releasing six to eight albums per year on No Limit, and the No Limit Soldiers (his roster of family members and local New Orleans rappers) all sold tens of thousands of copies. Ice Cream Man (1996). Ghetto D (1997). MP Da Last Don (1998). All multi-platinum. He himself, on his own albums, was not the best rapper on his own roster. He did not need to be. He was the brand.

The No Limit run was 1995 to 2003. He signed Mystikal, Mia X, Snoop Dogg (briefly, in 1998, after Suge Knight's Death Row collapsed), C-Murder (his brother, who has been incarcerated for murder since 2009 in a still-disputed conviction), Silkk the Shocker (his other brother), and dozens of others. The records were not always good. They almost always sold. He invented a kind of post-modern rap mogul template that Roc-A-Fella and Cash Money would later refine.

He also launched a film production company. Played one preseason game for the Charlotte Hornets in 1999. Coached his son Lil Romeo (born 1989) to a brief teen-rap career. Got involved in basketball, real estate, food brands, and a presidential campaign (briefly, in 2024). He is, in 2026, fifty-six years old and still running businesses.

The thing he proved, that other rappers spent decades trying to copy, is that you do not need a major label to be massive. You need a distribution deal, a roster you can feed albums, and the willingness to put out volume. Master P built that template. Other independent hip-hop labels (Bad Boy, Cash Money, Quality Control, Top Dawg) all owe him for the template, whether they would say so or not.