NEED TO KNOW
- Grasp P is enjoying the Essence Competition of Tradition this weekend
- The rapper tells ipromiseyoumedia about his new calling and why he is making the pageant his ultimate present
- Grasp P was just lately introduced as the brand new head coach and president of basketball operations for the College of New Orleans basketball crew
Grasp P is gearing as much as make ‘em say uhh, one final time.
The rapper and music mogul, born Percy Robert Miller, is as well-known for his late ’90s hits like “Make Em Say Uhh” and “I’m Bout It, Bout It” as he’s for being the mastermind behind No Restrict Data, which helped usher in a brand new southern sound of hip hop that dominated the early to mid-2000s.
However these days are lengthy gone. Opening as much as ipromiseyoumedia this week, Grasp P, 55, displays on his new calling and why he’s throwing within the music towel after taking the stage at this yr’s Essence Competition of Tradition on July 6.
“My final present needs to be with Essence,” he says of getting ready for the grand finale of his decades-long music profession on the upcoming pageant in Louisiana. “It needs to be huge. A celebration.”
As for why he’s ending issues now: “I am rising to a different stage and I’m embracing it,” says the star, who was just lately introduced as the brand new head coach and president of basketball operations for the College of New Orleans basketball crew. Buying and selling in his stage identify for brand new moniker ‘Coach P’ was a call that got here naturally for the New Orleans native and former skilled basketball participant.
“It’s a blessing now to have the ability to transition into doing one thing that’s greater than me. Being a servant is my most essential job. I really feel like exhausting work acquired me right here, regardless that I didn’t know I used to be going to get this far in life. God spared my life and put me on this journey.”
Rising up in public housing in New Orleans within the ’80s, “I used to be only a child attempting to make it out the ghetto. I simply had so many huge desires and targets.” Certainly one of them was to play within the NBA, and the opposite was to make hit music. He first left residence to search out his approach within the San Francisco Bay Space. “That’s the place I acquired my hustle. I bear in mind being with E-40, E-A-Ski, JT The Bigga Figga and all them. I truly created No Restrict Data in Richmond, CA.”
After kicking off his profession promoting mixtapes out of his trunk, Grasp P moved again to New Orleans. The rap scene, then steeped in gangster tradition, was perilous. “I had a whole lot of shut calls,” he says. “I went from one dangerous place to a different, however I really feel like God saved my life for a motive. He knew my coronary heart.”
Grasp P managed to construct an enduring profession and keep away from a few of the pitfalls that befell his friends within the trade. “I thank my grandparents and fogeys for old skool values they instilled in me. Once I acquired into these completely different neighborhoods, Richmond isn’t any joke, I got here with respect, and should you include respect you’re gonna get respect.”
The star went on to search out main success and make thousands and thousands whereas bringing many in his neighborhood alongside for the journey. “We offered 100 million information, put out platinum information,” he says. Across the identical time he efficiently pursued his different purpose, touchdown a spot on the NBA’s Toronto Raptors preseason roster in the summertime of 1999. Later the daddy of eight, who misplaced daughter Tytyana to an unintended fentanyl overdose in 2022, launched a profitable movie profession together with his hit “I Received the Hookup” franchise and extra.
However relating to music now, “That chapter closed itself with maturing and rising up and never being afraid to develop.” Nonetheless, his determination to formally retire this yr, “was exhausting,” Grasp P admits, “however I really feel like that is the following part of my life. There’s a whole lot of damaging stuff occurring in hip-hop and other people don’t wish to speak in regards to the constructive issues. They are saying when you recognize higher, you do higher. That’s the part I’m on. I’m effective with rising up.”
He’s additionally enthusiastic about his new gig in sports activities. “That is enjoyable for me, like what I used to be made to do. I like these children. And I’ve acquired a chip on my shoulder as a result of individuals don’t perceive the extent of basketball and expertise and training I’ve in teaching. I wish to convey the entire metropolis up.”
