Here’s your lesson on not only knowing your worth but adding tax!

Today, Master P’s net worth sits at an estimated $200 million and he tops the list as one of the most successful rappers turned entrepreneurs in the game, but he wasn’t always worth millions of dollars. 

As a matter of fact, the music mogul, born Percy Miller, came from the exact opposite as a product of Calliope Housing Projects, one of New Orleans’ toughest neighborhoods which gained notoriety as one of the most violent projects in the U.S. back in the 90s. In 1994, the homicides that occurred in the area were said to be the largest factor in the death rates in the city of New Orleans. In 2009, Master P partnered with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to rebuild the projects which are now known as the B.W. Cooper Housing Projects.

During his “UNCENSORED” episode on TV One that aired on March 20, Master P opened up about walking away from what seemed like the biggest deal of his life prior to getting started — a lesson we all could learn from.

The Million-Dollar Deal

Although Master P’s upbringing was housed in humble beginnings, he did not jump at the first big-money opportunity that came his way, instead, he challenged it.

After a visit to Jimmy Iovine, the co-founder of Interscope Records, Master P was met with a hefty check Yet even though he hadn’t reached the levels of success that he has now, he knew that he was worth far more.

“He wrote me a check for a million dollars and said, ‘you’re the next thing to go,’” Master P recounted. “By me going to college, I’m reading through the contract and I’m thinking about the Michael Jordan deal. It was a million dollars, I couldn’t use my name for seven years and all that stuff and they would take all my rights. I said, ‘Sir, I’m going to get something to eat and Imma come back.’ He said, ‘If you don’t come back, you’ll never get a deal in this town because I know everybody.’” 

It looks like Iovine had it all wrong though because although he left and never looked back, Master P built No Limit Records from the ground up and expanded it well beyond just the music.

Know Your Worth

Master P further explained that after learning that he had walked away from the million-dollar deal, he and his brother, Corey Miller (known as C-Murda) almost got into a fight on the flight home.

“Me and C were on the plane about to fight,” Master P recalled. “He was like ‘bruh why you didn’t take the million dollars?’ I’m like ‘Bro, that white man offered me a million dollars, how much [do] you think I’m worth?’ That shut him up right there on the plane. He just put his head down and I said ‘Man, I gotta be worth 30 or 40.’ I don’t know if I’m worth 5 or 10 or whatever, but in my mind, I’m just thinking, ‘You gotta know your self-worth.’”

Stay tuned for more of Master P’s lessons on ownership in an exclusive interview with Blavity TV premiering on Thursday, March 24 at 3 p.m. EST.