Master P

Throughout the closing years of the 1990s, Percy Miller constructed a hip-hop domain that operated largely outside widespread commercial attention. Serving as founder of No Limit Records, he guided an array of high-output performers who reshaped the genre via fresh beats and rhymes drawn straight from harsh urban realities across the United States. Beyond his executive role, Miller also performed as an artist, advancing from self-released projects in the early 1990s to broader recognition by decade’s end. Following the 1997 platinum-certified single “Make ’Em Say Uhh!,” he explored numerous enterprises beyond music, including acting, authorship, and professional wrestling, while issuing occasional recordings such as the 2016 album Louisiana Hot Sauce and the 2020 mixtape No Limit Chronicles: The Lost Tape.

Miller entered the world in New Orleans in 1974. Following his parents’ separation, he divided time between his grandmother’s residence in New Orleans and his mother’s home in Richmond, California. As a teenager he remained apart from narcotics and street trade yet nurtured a passion for basketball, securing an athletic scholarship to the University of Houston before departing to study business at Merritt Junior College in Oakland after relocating to Richmond. In the late 1980s an inheritance of ten thousand dollars from his grandfather enabled him to establish No Limit Records, which began as a retail outlet rather than a recording company.

While operating the store, Miller observed strong demand for gritty, funk-infused tracks that major labels overlooked. This insight prompted him to convert No Limit into a label in 1990. He issued his debut Get Away Clean the next year and achieved underground traction with The Ghettos Tryin to Kill Me! in 1994. Around the same period the compilation West Coast Bad Boyz, spotlighting then-emerging talents Rappin’ 4-Tay and E-40, spent more than six months on the charts. These releases validated his belief in an audience for direct, uncompromising hardcore rap, leading him to relocate No Limit to New Orleans and focus on record production.

By the mid-1990s the label had assembled its in-house production unit Beats by the Pound, consisting of Craig B., KLC, and Mo B. Dick, which handled every release. Roughly ten projects appeared annually under Miller’s oversight. The team constructed its signature sound, frequently borrowing from current hits, created visually dense artwork reminiscent of low-budget action films, and maintained a rapid pace that allowed some albums to be completed in as little as two weeks.

Miller’s own catalog formed part of this schedule. 99 Ways to Die arrived in 1995, followed by Ice Cream Man the subsequent year. With the late-summer 1997 release of Ghetto D, he had expanded No Limit into a substantial operation. The track “Make ’Em Say Uhh!” from that album achieved platinum status, while the group Tru, formed with his brothers Silkk the Shocker and C-Murder, scored Top Ten R&B albums. Success in music spurred him to self-finance the autobiographical film I’m Bout It, which bypassed theatrical distribution and debuted on video in summer 1997.

His follow-up feature I Got the Hook Up reached theaters in summer 1998 alongside the album MP da Last Don. Amid brief pursuits in sports—such as an NBA tryout with the Toronto Raptors, wrestling appearances, and handling the contract of Heisman winner Ricky Williams—Miller issued Only God Can Judge Me in 1999, then Ghetto Postage and Game Face. The 2004 double-disc Good Side, Bad Side reflected a new distribution arrangement with Koch. Ghetto Bill and Living Legend: Certified D-Boy both followed in 2005. The 2007 collection Featuring...Master P gathered selected collaborations.

Across the 2000s and into the following decade Miller sustained periodic releases while launching additional commercial and media projects. He appeared for several seasons in the sitcom Romeo! alongside son Romeo Miller and invested in a travel agency plus a toy company. Album output became less frequent, with notable gaps between Ghetto Bill in 2005 and The Gift in 2013. Early in the 2020s the BET series No Limit Chronicles documented his ascent, coinciding with the release of the mixtape No Limit Chronicles: The Lost Tape.