Master P Addresses the Backlash to His Controversial Comments About Slavery

Master P took some heat on social media after recent comments he made about slavery. Now, the rapper-entrepreneur is speaking out and trying to clarify what he actually meant.

If you missed it, the controversial comments came from a recent Forbes interview in which the No Limit Records founder was asked what major surprises he’s experienced on his entrepreneurial journey. That’s when he shared that what surprises him most from other Black people he’s met along the way has been the “negative mindset” that makes them feel as if they can’t run successful businesses due to slavery.

“I think that’s the biggest thing for me, trying to get that negative mindset out of our culture. Because they’re still going back to slavery,” he said. “It’s like you still harping on that. I never harped on that because I can’t change the past, but I can change the future.”

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He went on to explain that Black people ought to get used to seeing themselves as successful and stop thinking that we can’t succeed because of our skin color.

As you might expect, his words didn’t exactly land all that well for some Black folks online, who wasted no time calling the “Mr. Ice Cream Man” rapper out.

“If that works for him, fine, but what works for him won’t necessarily work for other people. I must wonder, would Master P tell Jews to forget about the Holocaust?” wrote one user on X/Twitter.

“This is the reason why rappers can’t be our political leaders. We ain’t dumb, we know the difference between using slavery as an excuse to not bettering ourselves and acknowledging slavery for the harms it has done to us today as a group economically, politically, and mentally,” said another.

One other user wrote: “We are literally in the situation now because of slavery TILL THIS VERY DAY. Folks getting found hanged RN. This a wild take from someone who got it out the mud.”

Added another, “They are literally taking it out of history books, and rolling back Jim Crow area laws. Now is not the time to forget history and how it still affects us today.”

After learning about the negative discourse, Master P took to social media to push back against the “false narrative” he claims has been spread following his interview.

“For the ones in the back who can’t hear, stop making them false narratives. I love my people. When you talk about slavery, our ancestors been through so much and we not gon’ forget it,” he said in part. “But what I wanna tell y’all is, even though we gon’ always be aware of it, we have to do something to bridge the wealth gap. That’s what I’m saying. We can’t change the past, but we can change the future, and we gon constantly fight and educate our people.”