On Monday (May 4), the rap mogul uploaded a video to his Instagram account. He was joined by his oldest son, rapper, entrepreneur and Growing Up Hip Hop star Romeo. In the brief clip, the No Limit Records CEO stressed the importance of Black entrepreneurship, commenting on how hard it is for independent business owners to get their product on the shelves at retail chain stores.

“There’s a lot of people that say they own a company but they [just] the face of it,” Master P noted. “And, to be African American owned, and an American-owned product, this is a blessing.” 

Master P acknowledged people’s criticism which was mainly based upon the notion that the line includes sodium-laden food items. He stated that he’s working on healthier choices with a low-sodium vegan option rolling out soon. But, he went on to pose a question to his detractors.

“I want to ask y’all one thing out there: who owns ramen noodles? Do y’all know?” he asked. “Probably don’t but this guy came over to this country and made a trillion dollar [business].”

He continued, “We've been buying this from somebody else. We put money back into the community [and] been doing it for over 21 years….and guess what, we gotta start somewhere. Trust the process.”

While many were saluting Master P for building a legacy of his own outside of the music business, his remarks sparked a conversation about the intricacies of supporting Black businesses.

“I'm all for ownership and entrepreneurship,” one user began. “My only knock is that we can't piggyback on products that are damaging to our communities and then justify it by saying what people didn't do to such and such.” 

Others agreed with Master P’s sentiments of keeping the Black dollar in the community. “Master P is (once again) 100% right,” a second commented. 

Check out the rest of the discourse below: