September 20, 2021 • 40 mins
Carlos talks to American rapper, record executive and entrepreneur Master P about what he learned from his success and his entrepreneurial spirit.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Percy Miller, better known as Master P, was born in
New Orleans and had aspirations of becoming a professional basketball
player with the NBA. After having two contracts, When basketball
didn't pan out the way he thought it would, master
piece entrepreneurial spirit kicked in. He's become a successful rapper,
has had his acting debuts, real estate investments, written a book.
(00:23):
You name it, master P has probably already been involved
with it. On this episode of The Carlos Watson Show podcast,
master P reflects on what he's learned from his success
and his entrepreneurial spirit. Hey P, Yes, how you doing.
I'm good? How you doing? Good? Good? Nice to see you. Yes, sir,
(00:46):
a man, congratulations on your son. I saw the Tennessee
State News. Congratulations, Yes, thank you. Now were you surprised
or did you know that's what he was going to choose? Uh?
You know what, I was surprised. I was surprised, yeah, um,
and and pleased that that he chose it? Or or
did you have another favorite in your heart? Now? You know?
(01:08):
To be honest with you, nobody's being from Louisiana. L
s U seemed like a good fib like he has
to go to the school, so that was it was great.
I was excited knowing that it was an h B
c U and it's a Division one school. Uh, they
didn't sent a lot of players to the NBA, so
it all worked out. It all. It was a good
(01:29):
fifth point. How hands on the dad are you? Are
you very hands on? Dead? Yeah? Yeah, I'm definitely. I
think it's all about spending time with kids and making
show that they know that you love them. And and
you could get money back, but you can't get time back,
or you you find yourself critical or you tend to
give him a little more room knowing that they live
(01:50):
in your shadow. Now I give him a room. I
give him room, but I want them to make their
own decisions and charches, even their own mistakes and learn
from it. But I try to show them the the
you know, the good and the bad with my life
and and uh have them be able to weigh it out.
And uh, I think the most important thing, um is
(02:14):
just being the form and kind of like being on
the sideline and showing them support. I think that's the
most important thing that that kids need now today because
there's a lot of excuses out here. Well, I don't
have this. I don't have dad, I don't have my my, my,
my dad, my life, my mom and my life. It's
(02:35):
all kind of excuses, man. So it's like just being
there and being able to kind of like Holy hand
through the goods in the bad time. Then they realized
that they have a parent of a friend. And I
think a lot a lot of these parents just want
to be friends with these kids, specially kids that has talent,
(02:55):
and I think it go back to the old school
just being a parent. Now, are you a different kind
of dad with your daughter versus you are with your
sons or how does that work? Yeah? I mean because
I learned life through the whole team atmosphere through basketball.
Like some people you could scream mat some people you
gotta pat on the bag. Some people gotta talk seft
(03:16):
lya too. So it's it's it's just a difference. Uh,
it's knowing your team. So I think that's what that's
what makes our family. So you Nique, I know my team. Yeah, Yeah,
that's what a nice way to say it. I really
like it when you say it that way. Uh, knowing
your team, and I you know what I really liked.
(03:36):
I liked seeing your two boys together. I was watching
you with Charlemagne, who was a buddy of mine, and
I liked the way the boys were with each other.
They were good with each other, they were complimentary with
each other. Young Fellas said he was gonna wait and
see how the big brother did before he decided. But
Tennessee State. I kind of respected that. But uh, but
I like that energy. I like I like seeing that
(03:57):
it's a team. And when you say that, that resonates that.
That's what I saw when I saw the three of
you together, they felt like a team. Yeah, congratulate. It's
definitely important, um, knowing that you have a team and
every teammate is different, and you know, Uh, dealing with
my girls, I have to deal with them different. Dealing
with the boys, I have to deal with them different.
(04:18):
Sometimes I gotta be tough love. Sometime it has to
be let's push each other. Uh, Sometime it has to be.
But I think the most important thing that I teach
everybody in my family, I teach them hard work. Like
you don't want nobody to give you nothing. All you
want this opportunity. So I think that's the difference with
my kids, that that I see that it is a
(04:40):
difference because when kids, when kids just get whatever they
want from their parents because their parents are successful, they're
normally gonna feel because they it's a whole pride issue.
And I think that that was the greatest thing I
was able to do with my kids, instead of just
having nannies and stuff around, actually being a their lives
(05:00):
and teaching them hard work. It's not about how much
money you have. But when you understand what hard work is,
I feel like, and you understand who gold is, and
you understand right and wrong, then you could overcome anything.
And I think that's what that's what that's what I
I learned to do different than a lot of people say.
(05:22):
You know what, I gotta spend time with him. I
can't get time back. I could get money back, but
and I got to show them that I loved and
I gotta show them that it's every day. It's not
gonna be perfect. We're not gonna be a perfect family,
but it's gonna be loving his house, and it's gonna
be disciplined. It's gonna be uh difficult times, but you
(05:44):
have to trust the process. When you when you work
hard and make sacrifices, then then we could build generational well,
because we're not looking for somebody to give us something.
We're just looking to create an opportunity and and uh
and make the best out of it and get better
and grow. So yeah, people, what were you like as
(06:06):
a kid if I had met you or you like? Uh?
I was an entrepreneur cutting grass, carr and groceries for
the elderly. Uh, making my little twent fifty cent um
but feeling good about it, knowing that I'm doing something
(06:29):
to help my family and being able to go back
and because I lived with my grandparents, Uh, to go
back and give my grandparents the little money that I made.
You know, working at the story just made me feel good.
It never was about me. It always was about the
family and trying to make it up out of this property.
(06:50):
So uh, I've always was working. I understood sacrifice and
I understood family as as a young person. So I
think that was a good thing. And and my my
grandparents also made made sure that I went to church.
So uh, and that's what I passed down from generation
(07:12):
to generation. You gotta know who goal it is, and
nothing is gonna fall out the sky. You gotta be
willing to put the worker when did you have confidence
that things we're gonna work out? Because I hear you
with that work ethic. But but you know a lot
of people you you often talk about trust the process.
I hear you say a lot of things that say
(07:32):
it will work out, And you know, a lot of
us don't have confidence that it's gonna work out. A
lot of us have had bad experiences, or at least
perceived that we've had bad experiences. And well, confidence is
the most important thing. I teach that to my kids. Now,
you don't have to be the best player on the court,
but if you think you are, you will be. And
(07:54):
confidence is the key to success of a lot of
people don't realize that if you don't believe, nobody else
gonna believe. So you gotta get up every day with
that attitude that I'm the best, I'm gonna overcome this,
or never speaking negativity on yourself. Uh, always being positive.
(08:14):
Even when I was in the ghetto having nothing, I said,
you know what, one day, I'm going to be successful.
So I didn't dwell on the past. I think that
confidence will make you realize that you can't change the past,
but you can't change the future. So this is this.
I mean, this is the way I've always thought, even
even in poverty, I was always thinking that one day,
(08:37):
I'm gonna make it out of this, Like this is
only temporary. So a lot of people use negative words
like I'm a diet here, I can't make it out
of here. I never thought that way. I've always said
this is only temporary, like it's something bigger for me.
And do you think that is because you were with
grandparents and you were with older people that you had
(09:00):
because because you have you, you have that country sense
to you. Yeah, that the older people it wasn't about money.
It's always about knowledge and wisdom. And I think that's
what I was able to take with me, uh, the
wisdom that the elderly had to be able to soak
that up. I start realizing that anything I do, I
(09:21):
can't do it for money. I gotta do it because
I love it. I got to be passionate about it.
And that's that's what they taught me. And I think
that really built my confidence, knowing that I will be
successful if I do something that I that I'm passionate
about and I love so being around older people it
give you that mindset. They say you have an older
(09:44):
soul after that, because they're not gonna play with you
like older people are just gonna give it to you all.
They're gonna give it to you the truth, especially the
ones from the South. They just don't tell you. You You know,
it's not easy, but you can't make it if you
put the work at And it's how bad do you
want this? How bad do you want to be successful? Uh,
(10:06):
it's gonna take you. We did everything we could do,
but we invested in your education because it's gonna take
people like you to take us over the top. And
that's why I always invest in the next generation. I
feel like the elderly invested in me, and I want
to do the same thing with the next generation. Invest
in today education. I feel like if we educate the
(10:29):
next generation, then we're gonna be all right. He Who
(10:49):
are some of the people that you've looked up to
over the years, either when you were young and coming
up and trusting the process, or even today, Who are
some of the people you've you've admired or learned from
him or studied. Yeah, I mean I mind people like
Muhammad ali Um when you look at uh like just
business people. Uh, you know, I started reading this book,
(11:14):
why should white guys have all the fun? And I
mean this guy taught me a lot because what he'd
been through in the sixties and the sevenies and to
overcome and be a billionaire back then. That made me
realize that it's possible and understanding that this guy went
to UH College in Virginia, then he went to Harvard
(11:38):
and he wanted to see stuff on both sides. Um,
we have to think outside the box and and and
if we're gonna be able to build economic empowerment, we
have to be able to see it from the other side,
to not just from our standpoint. We have people not
going in the space. We got some of the top
(12:01):
CEOs in the world going into space, Like what are
they going to space? But they know something we don't know.
And guess what, it's no African American people on those spaceships.
It's like, you know, we gotta start thinking ten years
and twenty years ahead. Uh and UH. We have to
start to be able to to team up. We are
(12:23):
stronger together. I feel like as a culture we're not
putting the well together UM and and building together uh
and preparing for the future we we live in and
now other cultures live in in the future and it's
all about preparation and education. So uh yeah, I think
(12:49):
I want more. I want more black folks to be
able to come together in business and and build economic
empowerment or if you look at back in the days,
it was trying to do this with the Black Wall Street.
But think about it, we're not thinking like that, um
and and that's the way we take take away privity,
(13:11):
we take away the injustice that that we're going through.
Um and it's just about if you look at we
spend trillions of dollars, but we're not investing in anything.
We were probably one of the most uh spending cultures
in the world, but we're not investing a saving or
(13:31):
creating will and and that's the thing that that I
feel like, Uh, when we start teaching financial literacy to
our young people, we could bridge that gap. And p
Why do you think we have have been more of
a spending culture than an investing culture. Do you think
it's lack of knowledge, You think it's lack of will,
(13:53):
you think it's different priorities? Why do you why? I
think it's a little a little bit of all that
of we was taught that we need all these nice things,
but we don't know why. And like you said, it's
it's it's all about a lack of knowledge. We haven't
been taught investments, stock market, um, how to create well,
(14:18):
but we've been taught how to spend because we want
nice things that we see so um. But other cultures
they have nice things too, but they create a business
to go get those nice things. So now that they
they're using the business to buy some and build more,
will we just using the wealth that we have to spend?
(14:42):
And that's why a lot of us aren'tly successful for
a couple of years. When you look at as actor
least entertainers, it's a three to five years and then
it's back to together because of the lack of education.
Back to square one. Um, these these other uh cultures
of passing down generational wealth, and we're trying to figure
(15:05):
out how to get in the game. He take me
back for a second. When you broke through, when you
look back at your success musically first, and I understand
that you think about your success more so it's business,
even the music. But if you go back to your
success musically and breaking through, break it down, why do
you think you broke through. What happened that made you
(15:27):
one of the very few people that ended up with
hit records and millions of dollars and a successful music career. Yeah, well,
I think like you said, I think it's education, me
investing into myself. Uh. As a young kid, I went
to see Michael Jackson attorney and realized that Michael Jackson
was getting twenty two percent a record. And I had
(15:47):
to spend twenty five dollars with this guy to sit
down and talk to him and to realize that Michael
Jackson getting twenty two percent a record, what's the next
big deal? And the guy told me said, it would
be a distribution deal when you get eighty five percent
and a record company get fifteen percent, but you're gonna
need two hundred thousand dollars marketing and promotion. And this
(16:09):
was in the nineties, so I would had to go
back two selling CDs and cassettes at the trunk of
my carter. Raised that money to think I can get
a deal of that magnitude where I can own eighty
five percent in the company, not to give the record
company fifercent for distribution. Uh, it's all about education. Um.
And once I got that information even you know that
(16:32):
cost me twenty five tho dollars In the nineties, I
made an investment that took me to Forbes riches under
forty UM. It took me to a level of life
coming from privated to make hundreds of millions of dollars.
So you have to be able invest in yourself and
there's a lot of sacrifices that you have to make.
(16:54):
It wasn't easy. I had to get a great team. UH.
I had to find experts. I had to find publicist,
I had to find street teams. I had to find
corporate people to go in to these uh vendors to
sell my product because I'm doing this on my own independence.
We was the world largest independent music company UM in
(17:21):
black owned, which was never heard of. This is this
wasn't a business. To see people that look like us
with ownership. UH. We normally be just the artist and
to be the artist the CEO. UH. That was unheard of.
But it was a lot of hard work and it
(17:41):
was finding the right people, putting the right people in
the place. So I think that people have to realize
it's not all about you. It never just been about me.
It's been about having a great team and even to
this day getting into the product business and being able
to put UH food product into stories. It's finding the
(18:03):
right people, the right experts UH in building and creating
the right team. And that all come from me playing
basketball as a kid, and I use that same system.
I want to find the right team members to put
on my team. And it's not just about me. Um. Also,
as I matured and and start realizing that it's a
(18:27):
higher power and I start realizing that I put golf first,
the blessings will continue coming. And Uh, I feel like
now I'm I'm even most stronger than what I was
then because not only I have the right team, but
now I'm putting gold first and everything that I that
(18:47):
I do, so I feel like I could bless more families. Uh,
I could give more people opportunities. I could create more jobs,
more revenue for our people. And so it's a blessing.
And I'm constantly growing and I don't know everything. I
want to have people around me that's gonna push me,
I'm gonna push them. UM. So it's all the process.
I tell people, trust the process. If you want to grow,
(19:10):
you want to get better, you have to trust the process.
I feel like everything that I've been through with no
limit has made me stronger of a businessman to create
another impact, which is which is uh, what a lot
of white guys go through. Um they're successful, they feel
(19:30):
they lose millions to create billions. So it's it's a process, man.
It's it's about being at the right age limit to
to to be able to have the wisdom. And you
have to be able to go through something to be
able to take it to the next level. Um. Life
is like a so and go up and down, and
(19:51):
you have to be prepared. You have to be strong
men to love. You have to have a strong team.
And for me, I had to diversify my portfolio to
get through this. So when one business having a rainy
day or storm, another business I could take from that.
That's having sunshine. And I know they taught us the
traditional way back in the days you only have to
(20:14):
be great at one thing, and and that's not true.
If I was just great at one thing, I would
have been done my time when it came and went. Um.
So I just think, oh that I was able to
diversify my portfolio and when I met now to take
this to another level to be able to feed more family.
(20:34):
Can't take this or temporary success with us, but you
can't leave an imprint on this world that can change
this world. And so that's why I've always looked up
to the Reginald Lewis to Muhammad aliz Um successful. You know,
Reginald Lewis paid for my college. So I love I
love that you said that we were having trouble coming
(20:56):
up with money for me to go to college. And
I read about him in the Wall Street Journal. I
saw a picture of a black man at the cover
of the Wall Street Journal with the name of that book,
and I found his address in the library and I
wrote to him. I wrote to a lot of people,
and he was the one who wrote back and uh
and gave me a scholarship, which I know you've done
for a lot of people as well too. He was
(21:18):
amazing man. And UH, I just loved that journey to
see us doing something that right with They don't show that,
they don't brag about that. The media, UH don't celebrate that,
which is which is a shame because it was something negative.
This guy was getting in trouble. This will be everywhere
(21:39):
and I think those are barriers that we have to break.
Uh Like, even with me. You know, if my kids
was going to prison, it will be a big story
they're going to college, Like Okay, well that's not sexy
that that that don't make good news media. Uh Like,
that's where we have to break those, uh those stereotypes
(22:02):
that they put on us. And I think if we
celebrate that more, we're gonna have more kids wanting to
go to college. We have more kids wanting to do
the right thing. And so that's just the path I'm
on right now, saying let's breakthrough those barriers and let's
celebrate the ones that are doing positive that I educate
(22:24):
now people and that are that are growing because none
of us perfect, did you. Uh? I talked a while
ago to uh to Dion Sanders, and he was talking
about the fact that on the outside everybody saw a
prime time, on the inside he was having a tough time.
Michael Irvan, the playmaker, told me the same thing. Lots
(22:44):
of other people. You know, success it's not always shiny.
Have you had anything similar in that way or have
you had a smooth arrived And maybe those guys had
to think think about I've had a great ride but
everybody deal with struggles and pains different. I lost people
(23:07):
along the way. Uh, So it definitely make you think
and put you in those places to where you've got
to be on all the time because people chids want
to see you, business people who want to see uh.
And you don't get a chance to moan, You don't
get a chance to hold your head down because people
look at you like and which, uh, it's just being
(23:33):
a human and you just have to sometime you just
have to just get away and keep moving and spend
more time with your family and just know, like I said,
we all are human. So but when people look at
you to be the leader, you have to stay on.
You have to try to be stronger for the rest
(23:55):
of the family. And and that just come with with
everybody wrote and I mean like Dean Sanders and them
said like, if you're gonna be the leader of your family,
if you're gonna be the leader of your business, like
you're gonna have to make a lot of sacrifices and
you're not gonna get a chance to hold your head
down like a lot of other people. That just yes,
(24:17):
that come with it with what you want out of life.
And it's a blessing. It's a blessing to be able
to say that you've got so many people depending on you,
so you gotta do right. You gotta have integrity. Um,
you gotta hold your head up. You don't get a
chance to pry, You don't get a chance to to
(24:38):
uh do what normal people do because you chose a
different role. It's like Bill Gates is like an these
other successful people. It's like uh Elin Muss all those
guys like you won't get a chance to see the
normalcy that you would see and everybody else. But it
comes with the job and come with the life. Um,
(25:01):
it come with If you look at Muhammad Ali, I
mean even the life he went through, even at the
end when he got sick, he still was a strong man.
Like you're like, wow, I can't believe this guy actually
coming up doing what he's doing with what he's going through.
But it's the life he chose, and that's why people
(25:23):
remember him and knowing that the love that he had
for so many people. And I think people wait till
two people gone to be able to appreciate that. Like
I want to celebrate Dion Sammy's I want to celebrate
what he's done for African Americans to to to be
one of the first to go to HBCU, a guy
(25:44):
that comes from the pros and and and put it
on the map, uh and not and not being afraid
to go against the brain because the stuff that he's
doing to show the end balance that HBCU students go through.
When we have some of the top athletes, which Dean
Sanders exposed it this year, is like he got some
of the best players in the world, but they won't
(26:07):
even make the draft, but they'll make an NBA, they'll
make an NFL team because of their talent. They won't
get the big sign and bones, but those will be
the guys that are putting the pads on, bringing the
pain every day because they have chips on their showed. Uh.
We have a guy Rob Coverton played for the h
Portland Trail Blazers that went to Tennessee State and this
(26:30):
guy tearning was so tough, but he's one of the
toughest guys in the NBA now because he had that
chip on his show. He'd come from an HBCU. No,
it's not all of the glam and everything. Like even
going with my son Hersey being able to visit an HBC.
You have to coming from l A s U Vanderville
u CE, l A CE and all the things they
(26:52):
have in the weight rooms, the students centers and all
this stuff, and then you go to HBC. You it's like, man,
but you have the love and you have you know,
these guys getting up early in the morning, they worked
in harder, they make anse sacrifices, and when they make it,
they're gonna be ten times is better than the guys
that you see that has all the bells in the
(27:14):
whistle and uh, that was the experience I was able
to see from both sides. And I had to tell
my son, I like, you want the bells and whistles
or you want to grid, you want to chip on
your shoulder to go be the best, And that's what
you're gonna have to decide. And what I loved that
he decided that, you know what, I want to work
(27:37):
for this. I don't want to just given to me
when I leave a body here. I want to make
a difference. And I mean he's been doing that. He
had one of the most amazing camps this week, over
thousand kids, and he did it for free and and
he's only a freshman in college. So, UH Camp fifteen,
the Miller Family Camp. We've been doing this for over
(27:58):
twenty one years, but him to do it at Tennessee
State for the kids in the community. It was incredible.
I love that he did that. I love that you're
passing that on. Hey, take me back to some of
(28:27):
those NBA Summer camp tryouts. We got a young Percy
Miller in there. I don't know if he still had
a jump shot or not. I'm gonna let you tell me.
All right, well, you know what I had to see
if you're paying attention, So now, what was it? What
was it like? Because you were playing with real pros,
(28:47):
you played in two different teams summer ninety eight summer
ninety nine, did you a did you think you were
gonna make it and be what was the most interesting
thing that either happened or that you learned? To be
honest with you, I did it the right way. Uh.
I went to John Lucas at that time, he had
Nick Van next so Sam Coselle, Patino, Mobley, Baron Davis. Uh.
(29:12):
He had some of the top guards in the country
that he was training, and UH, for me to be
able to to go and train with those guys. I
knew where I was at and uh, I had gotten
the best shape of my life. And I think for
both of those teams, and wasn't about basketball that got
(29:33):
me sent home. It was and Charlotte it was my music.
Charlotte was a Bible built city and I was probably
one of the toughest guys on the team. I've come
to play every night. I could shoot the ball, I
could play defense. Um, and I think my music sometime
your past catch up with my music. What what was
(29:54):
got me sitting home? Uh? In Charlotte, I was the
last cut on the team. So you know, if you're
the last cut on any NBA team, you can play
for any other team and you're gonna get get called
up as soon as somebody get hurt. But I think,
uh and I want kids to know that that's why
you gotta have your you know, especially when you want
(30:15):
to do something different and something that's corporate America, something
to where the world is watching. You gotta have your
stuff together. Nobody want people around that they don't understand
uh uh, their lyrics not right. So that that's that's
what got me sent home in Charlotte. I'll probably one
(30:36):
of the better players on that team. I played with
with Dead Current step Current Dead and b J. Armstrong.
A lot of great guards on on on that team,
at and Mason rest in Peace and Derrick Coleman. So
that was a that was a pretty good team. And uh,
(31:01):
and then I went to Toronto, which I was about
to get a deal. Uh two nights before they let
me go. I was the last cut on that team
and played well. Uh, play with Charles Oakley. It was
(31:21):
a tough team. Ben. It was too much media on
Vince Carter. I don't know if you guys look it up.
A Vince Carter agent, Tank Black, hey got in trouble
and so they didn't want no more other media by me,
you know, being in the music and uh, Glenn Wall
(31:43):
was the gym at the time, and they said, you
know what, they just wanted to kind of like go
under the radar. That it was. It was. It was
bad because of h Tank Black whatever he got into
he was doing. He ended up going to jail. And
that was Vince Carter agent, and they didn't want no
more publicity and I ended up going. I was the
(32:06):
last cut. Nobody couldn't understanding. I was putting up buckets.
I was doing what I needed to do and uh,
normally when you're the last cut, you'll be back. Oh
you know all the plays, you know everything, and um,
it was just one of those. Uh. It didn't like
social media was big then. So if social media was,
(32:27):
then I would have been on the team because you
will be able to see everything I was doing. You'll
be able to see me playing in the games. Uh,
seeing how much hard work I put in. And people
don't realize that. I mean, I did it the right way.
I did it with hard work, and uh, I mean
I could have played on both of those teams. But
(32:48):
what people don't realize. At the time, I owned a
sports agency, No Limit Sports, and I had two of
the top NBA players in the country at the two
Who did you have at the time? I had Derek Anderson,
Ryan Mercy, Ricky Davis. I had some of the top
(33:09):
players in the country. I could have did a package
deal with them, but I didn't. I wanted to do
it the right way. I wanted to do it off
of just hard work in my town. You know what's
gonna you know what it's gonna be interesting. These boys
are gonna be good, These boys are yours are gonna
be good because I've never I've never heard anyone else
p talk about the chip on the shoulder as a
good thing. You talk about it like it's fuel. You
(33:30):
talk about it like it's a lucky charm. You talk
about it like it's white. Tom Brady's got seven rings.
I like that. I've never anybody talk about it like.
You know. With my kids, uh I never brought him
a cart. They get the corbage. I told him, I say,
you got to walk to school, you got to ride
to bike to school. That's what's gonna make you tough.
And uh I was in the gym the other day
(33:51):
with Lebrian hen and my kid was playing his kid
and and also my brother's son was on lebrian team
with his son. And the first thing Lebrian asked me, man,
who is number seven? That kid is killing them? I said,
that's my son. Say man, he played like from the projects.
(34:13):
But that's the way I told him, and that's the
way I trained them. Um is you know both of
my kids like so, I've always had a U programs
to where uh I deal with inner city kids. So
my kids never played only nice teams. They always played
with Oakland Soldiers, Uh, Jail three uh uh uh, California Supreme.
(34:42):
These are all inner city teams and they've been doing
it since they're five years old, so they a lot
of people don't realize, like you know, Masterpeake, kids are tough.
They got the chip on their shoulder. But I've never
took them away because I'm always about giving back to
the community. I said, I'm gonna be around these kids.
My kids have to be around this and seats, and
(35:02):
it just made them tough basketball players. My younger son
been playing Mercy. He's been playing boss and the basketball
since the eighth grade. And now, uh, his teammates is
gonna be the number four draft pick, Jail and SuDS
or Hersey. Him and Jail and SuDS is probably best
of friends. They've been playing together long time in high
(35:24):
school and so for him to see his homeboy about
to be forward in a draft pick, knowing that he
had to go up against him every day in high school,
it's like, we know we're getting close. And the difference
is we're not creating just professional athiletes. We're creating student
athletes like my kids. Understand economic banking, and they understand
(35:48):
how to create a business. They already created their own
business already. One that's going to college, the other when
it's still in high school. And so my thing is,
I don't want to create no more dumb jocks to
where he's financial who advisors taking advantage of you? These
agencies taking advantage of you. You're gonna know your contract,
You're gonna be able to read, you gonna be able
to write. Uh, You're gonna you're gonna understand uh, financial literacy.
(36:12):
You donna understand banking. You're gonna understand hard work. And
and that's what I want to change in the game
is preparation preparing now with you, especially the ones that
has talent, Like don't you speak talent? Let's go abub that.
Let's let's make a difference. Let's being able to use
(36:33):
our talent to help other people. I want to finish
up with a little rapid fire. You mind if I
do a little rapid fire with you? Yeah? Go ahead, Okay.
Who's the greatest player that you ever personally played against?
I would have to say it's to Michael Jordan and
Kobe Bryant. How did how did you do. I did well.
(36:53):
I mean, these guys is the greatest, But you know me,
like you said when he had that competence, I feel like,
you know what, even though I know these guys are
the greatest, I'm the greatest now that were on the court.
You know, they laughed there like man, you've got confidence, man,
like like you're gonna go hold I say, yeah, me,
(37:14):
I don't care what your name. Lets. I tell my kids,
we don't look at names. You look at numbers when
you're on the court, like you're just another number. Don't
get caught up into who somebody is. Even though I
respect these guys are the greatest, But at the same time,
when I get on the court with him, then we're
doing the same things. So I got to be just
as good. I can't back down from you because of
(37:36):
who you are. And I know you put a lot
of work into this and and I gotta keep doing
what I gotta do to get better. And that's what
I teach my kids. I say, if you want to
be great like these guys, then you gotta outwork everybody else.
So if you know a guy on your team working
two times a day, you have to work three times
a day. What's your favorite movie of all time? My
(37:58):
favorite movie of all time? Just Coming to America? Number
one or number two? Number one? Okay, okay, okay. If
you could have dinner with anybody, dead or alive, who
would you love to have dinner with? M hm, who
would I love to have dinner? I said, Uh, I
probably love to have dinner with Bill Gates. Yeah, I
(38:22):
just think I would like to pick his brain. I
like that people. Let me see, let me see if
afterwards we can exchange information. Me see if I can help.
Let me see if I can help. Most beautiful place
you've ever been, New Orleans home. Home. Ain't no place
like best food in New Orleans. Uh. I like oceanic
(38:45):
like I just that's where I'm going. The most interesting
thing you've learned about dreaming fearlessly? Um, the most interesting
thing I learned is, uh, it's never a loss. There's
always a lesson. So you got to keep going. It's
not a racist merrithon. Put your trust and faith and
(39:07):
gord and you can overcoming contain anything. Most interesting thing
you've learned in this life about love? You can't buy it. Um,
you gotta love yourself if you want other people to
love you. All they could do is add on to
to your love. Last time you were afraid, I guess
(39:28):
the pandemic. When the pandemic came, I mean I think
that it It made a lot of people think, like
it made me think. It made me afraid that I
could lose a lot of people close to me, just
not knowing, and just that's that's that's the fear of
not knowing. I so appreciate you what this was. This
(39:53):
was a treat I was looking forward to it and
uh and I appreciate you making all this time for
us and for me. Thank you for doing that. Yes, sir,
(40:15):
thank you for listening to this episode of The Carlos
Watson Show podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave
us a review wherever you listen to your podcast.
Percy Miller, better known as Master P, was born in
New Orleans and had aspirations of becoming a professional basketball
player with the NBA. After having two contracts, When basketball
didn't pan out the way he thought it would, master
piece entrepreneurial spirit kicked in. He's become a successful rapper,
has had his acting debuts, real estate investments, written a book.
(00:23):
You name it, master P has probably already been involved
with it. On this episode of The Carlos Watson Show podcast,
master P reflects on what he's learned from his success
and his entrepreneurial spirit. Hey P, Yes, how you doing.
I'm good? How you doing? Good? Good? Nice to see you. Yes, sir,
(00:46):
a man, congratulations on your son. I saw the Tennessee
State News. Congratulations, Yes, thank you. Now were you surprised
or did you know that's what he was going to choose? Uh?
You know what, I was surprised. I was surprised, yeah, um,
and and pleased that that he chose it? Or or
did you have another favorite in your heart? Now? You know?
(01:08):
To be honest with you, nobody's being from Louisiana. L
s U seemed like a good fib like he has
to go to the school, so that was it was great.
I was excited knowing that it was an h B
c U and it's a Division one school. Uh, they
didn't sent a lot of players to the NBA, so
it all worked out. It all. It was a good
(01:29):
fifth point. How hands on the dad are you? Are
you very hands on? Dead? Yeah? Yeah, I'm definitely. I
think it's all about spending time with kids and making
show that they know that you love them. And and
you could get money back, but you can't get time back,
or you you find yourself critical or you tend to
give him a little more room knowing that they live
(01:50):
in your shadow. Now I give him a room. I
give him room, but I want them to make their
own decisions and charches, even their own mistakes and learn
from it. But I try to show them the the
you know, the good and the bad with my life
and and uh have them be able to weigh it out.
And uh, I think the most important thing, um is
(02:14):
just being the form and kind of like being on
the sideline and showing them support. I think that's the
most important thing that that kids need now today because
there's a lot of excuses out here. Well, I don't
have this. I don't have dad, I don't have my my, my,
my dad, my life, my mom and my life. It's
(02:35):
all kind of excuses, man. So it's like just being
there and being able to kind of like Holy hand
through the goods in the bad time. Then they realized
that they have a parent of a friend. And I
think a lot a lot of these parents just want
to be friends with these kids, specially kids that has talent,
(02:55):
and I think it go back to the old school
just being a parent. Now, are you a different kind
of dad with your daughter versus you are with your
sons or how does that work? Yeah? I mean because
I learned life through the whole team atmosphere through basketball.
Like some people you could scream mat some people you
gotta pat on the bag. Some people gotta talk seft
(03:16):
lya too. So it's it's it's just a difference. Uh,
it's knowing your team. So I think that's what that's
what makes our family. So you Nique, I know my team. Yeah, Yeah,
that's what a nice way to say it. I really
like it when you say it that way. Uh, knowing
your team, and I you know what I really liked.
(03:36):
I liked seeing your two boys together. I was watching
you with Charlemagne, who was a buddy of mine, and
I liked the way the boys were with each other.
They were good with each other, they were complimentary with
each other. Young Fellas said he was gonna wait and
see how the big brother did before he decided. But
Tennessee State. I kind of respected that. But uh, but
I like that energy. I like I like seeing that
(03:57):
it's a team. And when you say that, that resonates that.
That's what I saw when I saw the three of
you together, they felt like a team. Yeah, congratulate. It's
definitely important, um, knowing that you have a team and
every teammate is different, and you know, Uh, dealing with
my girls, I have to deal with them different. Dealing
with the boys, I have to deal with them different.
(04:18):
Sometimes I gotta be tough love. Sometime it has to
be let's push each other. Uh, Sometime it has to be.
But I think the most important thing that I teach
everybody in my family, I teach them hard work. Like
you don't want nobody to give you nothing. All you
want this opportunity. So I think that's the difference with
my kids, that that I see that it is a
(04:40):
difference because when kids, when kids just get whatever they
want from their parents because their parents are successful, they're
normally gonna feel because they it's a whole pride issue.
And I think that that was the greatest thing I
was able to do with my kids, instead of just
having nannies and stuff around, actually being a their lives
(05:00):
and teaching them hard work. It's not about how much
money you have. But when you understand what hard work is,
I feel like, and you understand who gold is, and
you understand right and wrong, then you could overcome anything.
And I think that's what that's what that's what I
I learned to do different than a lot of people say.
(05:22):
You know what, I gotta spend time with him. I
can't get time back. I could get money back, but
and I got to show them that I loved and
I gotta show them that it's every day. It's not
gonna be perfect. We're not gonna be a perfect family,
but it's gonna be loving his house, and it's gonna
be disciplined. It's gonna be uh difficult times, but you
(05:44):
have to trust the process. When you when you work
hard and make sacrifices, then then we could build generational well,
because we're not looking for somebody to give us something.
We're just looking to create an opportunity and and uh
and make the best out of it and get better
and grow. So yeah, people, what were you like as
(06:06):
a kid if I had met you or you like? Uh?
I was an entrepreneur cutting grass, carr and groceries for
the elderly. Uh, making my little twent fifty cent um
but feeling good about it, knowing that I'm doing something
(06:29):
to help my family and being able to go back
and because I lived with my grandparents, Uh, to go
back and give my grandparents the little money that I made.
You know, working at the story just made me feel good.
It never was about me. It always was about the
family and trying to make it up out of this property.
(06:50):
So uh, I've always was working. I understood sacrifice and
I understood family as as a young person. So I
think that was a good thing. And and my my
grandparents also made made sure that I went to church.
So uh, and that's what I passed down from generation
(07:12):
to generation. You gotta know who goal it is, and
nothing is gonna fall out the sky. You gotta be
willing to put the worker when did you have confidence
that things we're gonna work out? Because I hear you
with that work ethic. But but you know a lot
of people you you often talk about trust the process.
I hear you say a lot of things that say
(07:32):
it will work out, And you know, a lot of
us don't have confidence that it's gonna work out. A
lot of us have had bad experiences, or at least
perceived that we've had bad experiences. And well, confidence is
the most important thing. I teach that to my kids. Now,
you don't have to be the best player on the court,
but if you think you are, you will be. And
(07:54):
confidence is the key to success of a lot of
people don't realize that if you don't believe, nobody else
gonna believe. So you gotta get up every day with
that attitude that I'm the best, I'm gonna overcome this,
or never speaking negativity on yourself. Uh, always being positive.
(08:14):
Even when I was in the ghetto having nothing, I said,
you know what, one day, I'm going to be successful.
So I didn't dwell on the past. I think that
confidence will make you realize that you can't change the past,
but you can't change the future. So this is this.
I mean, this is the way I've always thought, even
even in poverty, I was always thinking that one day,
(08:37):
I'm gonna make it out of this, Like this is
only temporary. So a lot of people use negative words
like I'm a diet here, I can't make it out
of here. I never thought that way. I've always said
this is only temporary, like it's something bigger for me.
And do you think that is because you were with
grandparents and you were with older people that you had
(09:00):
because because you have you, you have that country sense
to you. Yeah, that the older people it wasn't about money.
It's always about knowledge and wisdom. And I think that's
what I was able to take with me, uh, the
wisdom that the elderly had to be able to soak
that up. I start realizing that anything I do, I
(09:21):
can't do it for money. I gotta do it because
I love it. I got to be passionate about it.
And that's that's what they taught me. And I think
that really built my confidence, knowing that I will be
successful if I do something that I that I'm passionate
about and I love so being around older people it
give you that mindset. They say you have an older
(09:44):
soul after that, because they're not gonna play with you
like older people are just gonna give it to you all.
They're gonna give it to you the truth, especially the
ones from the South. They just don't tell you. You You know,
it's not easy, but you can't make it if you
put the work at And it's how bad do you
want this? How bad do you want to be successful? Uh,
(10:06):
it's gonna take you. We did everything we could do,
but we invested in your education because it's gonna take
people like you to take us over the top. And
that's why I always invest in the next generation. I
feel like the elderly invested in me, and I want
to do the same thing with the next generation. Invest
in today education. I feel like if we educate the
(10:29):
next generation, then we're gonna be all right. He Who
(10:49):
are some of the people that you've looked up to
over the years, either when you were young and coming
up and trusting the process, or even today, Who are
some of the people you've you've admired or learned from
him or studied. Yeah, I mean I mind people like
Muhammad ali Um when you look at uh like just
business people. Uh, you know, I started reading this book,
(11:14):
why should white guys have all the fun? And I
mean this guy taught me a lot because what he'd
been through in the sixties and the sevenies and to
overcome and be a billionaire back then. That made me
realize that it's possible and understanding that this guy went
to UH College in Virginia, then he went to Harvard
(11:38):
and he wanted to see stuff on both sides. Um,
we have to think outside the box and and and
if we're gonna be able to build economic empowerment, we
have to be able to see it from the other side,
to not just from our standpoint. We have people not
going in the space. We got some of the top
(12:01):
CEOs in the world going into space, Like what are
they going to space? But they know something we don't know.
And guess what, it's no African American people on those spaceships.
It's like, you know, we gotta start thinking ten years
and twenty years ahead. Uh and UH. We have to
start to be able to to team up. We are
(12:23):
stronger together. I feel like as a culture we're not
putting the well together UM and and building together uh
and preparing for the future we we live in and
now other cultures live in in the future and it's
all about preparation and education. So uh yeah, I think
(12:49):
I want more. I want more black folks to be
able to come together in business and and build economic
empowerment or if you look at back in the days,
it was trying to do this with the Black Wall Street.
But think about it, we're not thinking like that, um
and and that's the way we take take away privity,
(13:11):
we take away the injustice that that we're going through.
Um and it's just about if you look at we
spend trillions of dollars, but we're not investing in anything.
We were probably one of the most uh spending cultures
in the world, but we're not investing a saving or
(13:31):
creating will and and that's the thing that that I
feel like, Uh, when we start teaching financial literacy to
our young people, we could bridge that gap. And p
Why do you think we have have been more of
a spending culture than an investing culture. Do you think
it's lack of knowledge, You think it's lack of will,
(13:53):
you think it's different priorities? Why do you why? I
think it's a little a little bit of all that
of we was taught that we need all these nice things,
but we don't know why. And like you said, it's
it's it's all about a lack of knowledge. We haven't
been taught investments, stock market, um, how to create well,
(14:18):
but we've been taught how to spend because we want
nice things that we see so um. But other cultures
they have nice things too, but they create a business
to go get those nice things. So now that they
they're using the business to buy some and build more,
will we just using the wealth that we have to spend?
(14:42):
And that's why a lot of us aren'tly successful for
a couple of years. When you look at as actor
least entertainers, it's a three to five years and then
it's back to together because of the lack of education.
Back to square one. Um, these these other uh cultures
of passing down generational wealth, and we're trying to figure
(15:05):
out how to get in the game. He take me
back for a second. When you broke through, when you
look back at your success musically first, and I understand
that you think about your success more so it's business,
even the music. But if you go back to your
success musically and breaking through, break it down, why do
you think you broke through. What happened that made you
(15:27):
one of the very few people that ended up with
hit records and millions of dollars and a successful music career. Yeah, well,
I think like you said, I think it's education, me
investing into myself. Uh. As a young kid, I went
to see Michael Jackson attorney and realized that Michael Jackson
was getting twenty two percent a record. And I had
(15:47):
to spend twenty five dollars with this guy to sit
down and talk to him and to realize that Michael
Jackson getting twenty two percent a record, what's the next
big deal? And the guy told me said, it would
be a distribution deal when you get eighty five percent
and a record company get fifteen percent, but you're gonna
need two hundred thousand dollars marketing and promotion. And this
(16:09):
was in the nineties, so I would had to go
back two selling CDs and cassettes at the trunk of
my carter. Raised that money to think I can get
a deal of that magnitude where I can own eighty
five percent in the company, not to give the record
company fifercent for distribution. Uh, it's all about education. Um.
And once I got that information even you know that
(16:32):
cost me twenty five tho dollars In the nineties, I
made an investment that took me to Forbes riches under
forty UM. It took me to a level of life
coming from privated to make hundreds of millions of dollars.
So you have to be able invest in yourself and
there's a lot of sacrifices that you have to make.
(16:54):
It wasn't easy. I had to get a great team. UH.
I had to find experts. I had to find publicist,
I had to find street teams. I had to find
corporate people to go in to these uh vendors to
sell my product because I'm doing this on my own independence.
We was the world largest independent music company UM in
(17:21):
black owned, which was never heard of. This is this
wasn't a business. To see people that look like us
with ownership. UH. We normally be just the artist and
to be the artist the CEO. UH. That was unheard of.
But it was a lot of hard work and it
(17:41):
was finding the right people, putting the right people in
the place. So I think that people have to realize
it's not all about you. It never just been about me.
It's been about having a great team and even to
this day getting into the product business and being able
to put UH food product into stories. It's finding the
(18:03):
right people, the right experts UH in building and creating
the right team. And that all come from me playing
basketball as a kid, and I use that same system.
I want to find the right team members to put
on my team. And it's not just about me. Um. Also,
as I matured and and start realizing that it's a
(18:27):
higher power and I start realizing that I put golf first,
the blessings will continue coming. And Uh, I feel like
now I'm I'm even most stronger than what I was
then because not only I have the right team, but
now I'm putting gold first and everything that I that
(18:47):
I do, so I feel like I could bless more families. Uh,
I could give more people opportunities. I could create more jobs,
more revenue for our people. And so it's a blessing.
And I'm constantly growing and I don't know everything. I
want to have people around me that's gonna push me,
I'm gonna push them. UM. So it's all the process.
I tell people, trust the process. If you want to grow,
(19:10):
you want to get better, you have to trust the process.
I feel like everything that I've been through with no
limit has made me stronger of a businessman to create
another impact, which is which is uh, what a lot
of white guys go through. Um they're successful, they feel
(19:30):
they lose millions to create billions. So it's it's a process, man.
It's it's about being at the right age limit to
to to be able to have the wisdom. And you
have to be able to go through something to be
able to take it to the next level. Um. Life
is like a so and go up and down, and
(19:51):
you have to be prepared. You have to be strong
men to love. You have to have a strong team.
And for me, I had to diversify my portfolio to
get through this. So when one business having a rainy
day or storm, another business I could take from that.
That's having sunshine. And I know they taught us the
traditional way back in the days you only have to
(20:14):
be great at one thing, and and that's not true.
If I was just great at one thing, I would
have been done my time when it came and went. Um.
So I just think, oh that I was able to
diversify my portfolio and when I met now to take
this to another level to be able to feed more family.
(20:34):
Can't take this or temporary success with us, but you
can't leave an imprint on this world that can change
this world. And so that's why I've always looked up
to the Reginald Lewis to Muhammad aliz Um successful. You know,
Reginald Lewis paid for my college. So I love I
love that you said that we were having trouble coming
(20:56):
up with money for me to go to college. And
I read about him in the Wall Street Journal. I
saw a picture of a black man at the cover
of the Wall Street Journal with the name of that book,
and I found his address in the library and I
wrote to him. I wrote to a lot of people,
and he was the one who wrote back and uh
and gave me a scholarship, which I know you've done
for a lot of people as well too. He was
(21:18):
amazing man. And UH, I just loved that journey to
see us doing something that right with They don't show that,
they don't brag about that. The media, UH don't celebrate that,
which is which is a shame because it was something negative.
This guy was getting in trouble. This will be everywhere
(21:39):
and I think those are barriers that we have to break.
Uh Like, even with me. You know, if my kids
was going to prison, it will be a big story
they're going to college, Like Okay, well that's not sexy
that that that don't make good news media. Uh Like,
that's where we have to break those, uh those stereotypes
(22:02):
that they put on us. And I think if we
celebrate that more, we're gonna have more kids wanting to
go to college. We have more kids wanting to do
the right thing. And so that's just the path I'm
on right now, saying let's breakthrough those barriers and let's
celebrate the ones that are doing positive that I educate
(22:24):
now people and that are that are growing because none
of us perfect, did you. Uh? I talked a while
ago to uh to Dion Sanders, and he was talking
about the fact that on the outside everybody saw a
prime time, on the inside he was having a tough time.
Michael Irvan, the playmaker, told me the same thing. Lots
(22:44):
of other people. You know, success it's not always shiny.
Have you had anything similar in that way or have
you had a smooth arrived And maybe those guys had
to think think about I've had a great ride but
everybody deal with struggles and pains different. I lost people
(23:07):
along the way. Uh, So it definitely make you think
and put you in those places to where you've got
to be on all the time because people chids want
to see you, business people who want to see uh.
And you don't get a chance to moan, You don't
get a chance to hold your head down because people
look at you like and which, uh, it's just being
(23:33):
a human and you just have to sometime you just
have to just get away and keep moving and spend
more time with your family and just know, like I said,
we all are human. So but when people look at
you to be the leader, you have to stay on.
You have to try to be stronger for the rest
(23:55):
of the family. And and that just come with with
everybody wrote and I mean like Dean Sanders and them
said like, if you're gonna be the leader of your family,
if you're gonna be the leader of your business, like
you're gonna have to make a lot of sacrifices and
you're not gonna get a chance to hold your head
down like a lot of other people. That just yes,
(24:17):
that come with it with what you want out of life.
And it's a blessing. It's a blessing to be able
to say that you've got so many people depending on you,
so you gotta do right. You gotta have integrity. Um,
you gotta hold your head up. You don't get a
chance to pry, You don't get a chance to to
(24:38):
uh do what normal people do because you chose a
different role. It's like Bill Gates is like an these
other successful people. It's like uh Elin Muss all those
guys like you won't get a chance to see the
normalcy that you would see and everybody else. But it
comes with the job and come with the life. Um,
(25:01):
it come with If you look at Muhammad Ali, I
mean even the life he went through, even at the
end when he got sick, he still was a strong man.
Like you're like, wow, I can't believe this guy actually
coming up doing what he's doing with what he's going through.
But it's the life he chose, and that's why people
(25:23):
remember him and knowing that the love that he had
for so many people. And I think people wait till
two people gone to be able to appreciate that. Like
I want to celebrate Dion Sammy's I want to celebrate
what he's done for African Americans to to to be
one of the first to go to HBCU, a guy
(25:44):
that comes from the pros and and and put it
on the map, uh and not and not being afraid
to go against the brain because the stuff that he's
doing to show the end balance that HBCU students go through.
When we have some of the top athletes, which Dean
Sanders exposed it this year, is like he got some
of the best players in the world, but they won't
(26:07):
even make the draft, but they'll make an NBA, they'll
make an NFL team because of their talent. They won't
get the big sign and bones, but those will be
the guys that are putting the pads on, bringing the
pain every day because they have chips on their showed. Uh.
We have a guy Rob Coverton played for the h
Portland Trail Blazers that went to Tennessee State and this
(26:30):
guy tearning was so tough, but he's one of the
toughest guys in the NBA now because he had that
chip on his show. He'd come from an HBCU. No,
it's not all of the glam and everything. Like even
going with my son Hersey being able to visit an HBC.
You have to coming from l A s U Vanderville
u CE, l A CE and all the things they
(26:52):
have in the weight rooms, the students centers and all
this stuff, and then you go to HBC. You it's like, man,
but you have the love and you have you know,
these guys getting up early in the morning, they worked
in harder, they make anse sacrifices, and when they make it,
they're gonna be ten times is better than the guys
that you see that has all the bells in the
(27:14):
whistle and uh, that was the experience I was able
to see from both sides. And I had to tell
my son, I like, you want the bells and whistles
or you want to grid, you want to chip on
your shoulder to go be the best, And that's what
you're gonna have to decide. And what I loved that
he decided that, you know what, I want to work
(27:37):
for this. I don't want to just given to me
when I leave a body here. I want to make
a difference. And I mean he's been doing that. He
had one of the most amazing camps this week, over
thousand kids, and he did it for free and and
he's only a freshman in college. So, UH Camp fifteen,
the Miller Family Camp. We've been doing this for over
(27:58):
twenty one years, but him to do it at Tennessee
State for the kids in the community. It was incredible.
I love that he did that. I love that you're
passing that on. Hey, take me back to some of
(28:27):
those NBA Summer camp tryouts. We got a young Percy
Miller in there. I don't know if he still had
a jump shot or not. I'm gonna let you tell me.
All right, well, you know what I had to see
if you're paying attention, So now, what was it? What
was it like? Because you were playing with real pros,
(28:47):
you played in two different teams summer ninety eight summer
ninety nine, did you a did you think you were
gonna make it and be what was the most interesting
thing that either happened or that you learned? To be
honest with you, I did it the right way. Uh.
I went to John Lucas at that time, he had
Nick Van next so Sam Coselle, Patino, Mobley, Baron Davis. Uh.
(29:12):
He had some of the top guards in the country
that he was training, and UH, for me to be
able to to go and train with those guys. I
knew where I was at and uh, I had gotten
the best shape of my life. And I think for
both of those teams, and wasn't about basketball that got
(29:33):
me sent home. It was and Charlotte it was my music.
Charlotte was a Bible built city and I was probably
one of the toughest guys on the team. I've come
to play every night. I could shoot the ball, I
could play defense. Um, and I think my music sometime
your past catch up with my music. What what was
(29:54):
got me sitting home? Uh? In Charlotte, I was the
last cut on the team. So you know, if you're
the last cut on any NBA team, you can play
for any other team and you're gonna get get called
up as soon as somebody get hurt. But I think,
uh and I want kids to know that that's why
you gotta have your you know, especially when you want
(30:15):
to do something different and something that's corporate America, something
to where the world is watching. You gotta have your
stuff together. Nobody want people around that they don't understand
uh uh, their lyrics not right. So that that's that's
what got me sent home in Charlotte. I'll probably one
(30:36):
of the better players on that team. I played with
with Dead Current step Current Dead and b J. Armstrong.
A lot of great guards on on on that team,
at and Mason rest in Peace and Derrick Coleman. So
that was a that was a pretty good team. And uh,
(31:01):
and then I went to Toronto, which I was about
to get a deal. Uh two nights before they let
me go. I was the last cut on that team
and played well. Uh, play with Charles Oakley. It was
(31:21):
a tough team. Ben. It was too much media on
Vince Carter. I don't know if you guys look it up.
A Vince Carter agent, Tank Black, hey got in trouble
and so they didn't want no more other media by me,
you know, being in the music and uh, Glenn Wall
(31:43):
was the gym at the time, and they said, you
know what, they just wanted to kind of like go
under the radar. That it was. It was. It was
bad because of h Tank Black whatever he got into
he was doing. He ended up going to jail. And
that was Vince Carter agent, and they didn't want no
more publicity and I ended up going. I was the
(32:06):
last cut. Nobody couldn't understanding. I was putting up buckets.
I was doing what I needed to do and uh,
normally when you're the last cut, you'll be back. Oh
you know all the plays, you know everything, and um,
it was just one of those. Uh. It didn't like
social media was big then. So if social media was,
(32:27):
then I would have been on the team because you
will be able to see everything I was doing. You'll
be able to see me playing in the games. Uh,
seeing how much hard work I put in. And people
don't realize that. I mean, I did it the right way.
I did it with hard work, and uh, I mean
I could have played on both of those teams. But
(32:48):
what people don't realize. At the time, I owned a
sports agency, No Limit Sports, and I had two of
the top NBA players in the country at the two
Who did you have at the time? I had Derek Anderson,
Ryan Mercy, Ricky Davis. I had some of the top
(33:09):
players in the country. I could have did a package
deal with them, but I didn't. I wanted to do
it the right way. I wanted to do it off
of just hard work in my town. You know what's
gonna you know what it's gonna be interesting. These boys
are gonna be good, These boys are yours are gonna
be good because I've never I've never heard anyone else
p talk about the chip on the shoulder as a
good thing. You talk about it like it's fuel. You
(33:30):
talk about it like it's a lucky charm. You talk
about it like it's white. Tom Brady's got seven rings.
I like that. I've never anybody talk about it like.
You know. With my kids, uh I never brought him
a cart. They get the corbage. I told him, I say,
you got to walk to school, you got to ride
to bike to school. That's what's gonna make you tough.
And uh I was in the gym the other day
(33:51):
with Lebrian hen and my kid was playing his kid
and and also my brother's son was on lebrian team
with his son. And the first thing Lebrian asked me, man,
who is number seven? That kid is killing them? I said,
that's my son. Say man, he played like from the projects.
(34:13):
But that's the way I told him, and that's the
way I trained them. Um is you know both of
my kids like so, I've always had a U programs
to where uh I deal with inner city kids. So
my kids never played only nice teams. They always played
with Oakland Soldiers, Uh, Jail three uh uh uh, California Supreme.
(34:42):
These are all inner city teams and they've been doing
it since they're five years old, so they a lot
of people don't realize, like you know, Masterpeake, kids are tough.
They got the chip on their shoulder. But I've never
took them away because I'm always about giving back to
the community. I said, I'm gonna be around these kids.
My kids have to be around this and seats, and
(35:02):
it just made them tough basketball players. My younger son
been playing Mercy. He's been playing boss and the basketball
since the eighth grade. And now, uh, his teammates is
gonna be the number four draft pick, Jail and SuDS
or Hersey. Him and Jail and SuDS is probably best
of friends. They've been playing together long time in high
(35:24):
school and so for him to see his homeboy about
to be forward in a draft pick, knowing that he
had to go up against him every day in high school,
it's like, we know we're getting close. And the difference
is we're not creating just professional athiletes. We're creating student
athletes like my kids. Understand economic banking, and they understand
(35:48):
how to create a business. They already created their own
business already. One that's going to college, the other when
it's still in high school. And so my thing is,
I don't want to create no more dumb jocks to
where he's financial who advisors taking advantage of you? These
agencies taking advantage of you. You're gonna know your contract,
You're gonna be able to read, you gonna be able
to write. Uh, You're gonna you're gonna understand uh, financial literacy.
(36:12):
You donna understand banking. You're gonna understand hard work. And
and that's what I want to change in the game
is preparation preparing now with you, especially the ones that
has talent, Like don't you speak talent? Let's go abub that.
Let's let's make a difference. Let's being able to use
(36:33):
our talent to help other people. I want to finish
up with a little rapid fire. You mind if I
do a little rapid fire with you? Yeah? Go ahead, Okay.
Who's the greatest player that you ever personally played against?
I would have to say it's to Michael Jordan and
Kobe Bryant. How did how did you do. I did well.
(36:53):
I mean, these guys is the greatest, But you know me,
like you said when he had that competence, I feel like,
you know what, even though I know these guys are
the greatest, I'm the greatest now that were on the court.
You know, they laughed there like man, you've got confidence, man,
like like you're gonna go hold I say, yeah, me,
(37:14):
I don't care what your name. Lets. I tell my kids,
we don't look at names. You look at numbers when
you're on the court, like you're just another number. Don't
get caught up into who somebody is. Even though I
respect these guys are the greatest, But at the same time,
when I get on the court with him, then we're
doing the same things. So I got to be just
as good. I can't back down from you because of
(37:36):
who you are. And I know you put a lot
of work into this and and I gotta keep doing
what I gotta do to get better. And that's what
I teach my kids. I say, if you want to
be great like these guys, then you gotta outwork everybody else.
So if you know a guy on your team working
two times a day, you have to work three times
a day. What's your favorite movie of all time? My
(37:58):
favorite movie of all time? Just Coming to America? Number
one or number two? Number one? Okay, okay, okay. If
you could have dinner with anybody, dead or alive, who
would you love to have dinner with? M hm, who
would I love to have dinner? I said, Uh, I
probably love to have dinner with Bill Gates. Yeah, I
(38:22):
just think I would like to pick his brain. I
like that people. Let me see, let me see if
afterwards we can exchange information. Me see if I can help.
Let me see if I can help. Most beautiful place
you've ever been, New Orleans home. Home. Ain't no place
like best food in New Orleans. Uh. I like oceanic
(38:45):
like I just that's where I'm going. The most interesting
thing you've learned about dreaming fearlessly? Um, the most interesting
thing I learned is, uh, it's never a loss. There's
always a lesson. So you got to keep going. It's
not a racist merrithon. Put your trust and faith and
(39:07):
gord and you can overcoming contain anything. Most interesting thing
you've learned in this life about love? You can't buy it. Um,
you gotta love yourself if you want other people to
love you. All they could do is add on to
to your love. Last time you were afraid, I guess
(39:28):
the pandemic. When the pandemic came, I mean I think
that it It made a lot of people think, like
it made me think. It made me afraid that I
could lose a lot of people close to me, just
not knowing, and just that's that's that's the fear of
not knowing. I so appreciate you what this was. This
(39:53):
was a treat I was looking forward to it and
uh and I appreciate you making all this time for
us and for me. Thank you for doing that. Yes, sir,
(40:15):
thank you for listening to this episode of The Carlos
Watson Show podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave
us a review wherever you listen to your podcast.
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