Master P "Ice Cream Man"

I first heard Master P in 1996… Yup… 30 years ago… I was 16 years old as a sophomore in high school and drove a ‘91 Volkswagen Fox to school. On weekdays during the schoolyear, that school bell would ring at 2:10pm and I would book it to my car to beat traffic out of the school so I could get home as quickly as possible. I would run in the house, heat up that oven to 350 degrees, turn on that big box 36” TV right there in the living room, and turn it right to channel 41, BET aka Black Entertainment Television. Back in the Mid90s, you could catch the show, Rap City from 2ish - 3ish in the afternoon where you had the chance to see your favorite music videos or maybe an interview and a freestyle from an artist you were into… or maybe an artist you didn’t know much about… and with these interviews and performances, you would get a glimpse of the artist and what they were like in real life.

I turned the volume up high on that 36” TV because I was home alone for an hour with my parents both at work so I took advantage of the freedom. I’d run down to our freezer and grab that box of Delimex Taquitos, throw like 6 of them in the oven, set the timer, and then just post up on the couch seeing what videos Rap City would have for me…. and fam… let me tell you… This song “Ice Cream Man” and its video hit me one afternoon and all of a sudden I couldn’t get that chorus and beat out of my head… Who was Master P tho?

I heard that “Ice Cream Man” single and went straight to The Wherehouse. At the local UTC mall (aka University Town Center) here in San Diego, we had 2 record stores at the mall. We had Sam Goody’s where I bought from but always shopped in… Then we had The Wherehouse. The Wherehouse had great prices and a good selection. Their pricing was always pretty good too. Not as low as Circuit City but not as high as Sam Goody’s. The selection wasn’t what Tower Records had but they did a great job stocking those shelves in ‘96.

After seeing the video for “Ice Cream Man” from Master P back in 1996, it made me drive 5 minutes to the mall that same afternoon to go straight to that Cassingles section and start looking through the newest releases to see if they had what I was looking for. But a single like Master P might not have as many copies as some of the other bigger artists who had more mass appeal in the 90s rap game… But The Wherehouse always had a good gangster rap colletion… So when I saw that “Ice Cream Man” cassingle there was no doubt that little amount of cash in my wallet was going to buying my first Master P cassette.

Cmon… Just look at that Cassingle right there… this was rap living back in ‘96 and when you saw that “Ice Cream Man” video on BET, you had to go buy the single. And then when you buy that single and you have it in your collection, you look at every detail of the artwork. And just look at that artwork…. how could you not support Master P and see where his vision would take him when he’s out here in all white with the celly in one hand and a drink in the other while flexing out in front of those Gold Daytons. I knew nothing about Master P but now knew I needed to buy his album too. A few weeks later, I gathered enough cash to buy the album on cassette from The Wherehouse.

Master P recorded this album in one week back in January of 1996 and his record label, No Limit Records, packaged it up and had it in stores in April of 1996… II believe it was with this album that the distribution deal with Priority Records had been established as Percy Miller was a student of the rap game from a rapper level and an Executive type level. He knew how to get his records in mom and pops record stores in the Bay Area and in New Orleans where he was from. P got to soak game from Bay Area vets like E-40 and Too $hort but he also watched the moves of J. Prince at Rap-A-Lot Records, UGK, Geto Boys and more. When Master P lined up the deal with Priority Records, he had already turned down a $1M deal from Interscope and sold 300K units independently so he knew what leverage he had.

The album Ice Cream Man went platinum and really pushed P to the masses for the first time. What followed next was crazy… No Limit Records just started dropping record after record and compilation after compilation. P always played the features game so well getting notable names from different regions to help pull in new fans to his movement. Let’s not forget that it was Master P who signed Snoop to get his off of Death Row Records.

Master P was one of the best hustlers rap music had ever seen. He built an empire and blazed trails nobody had before. At least not in the way he had it… He negotiated an 80/20 split in his distribution deal with Priority which was unheard of… He got 80% and the distributor took 20%… They got him into the stores nationally and P had promotion on lock through videos, albums dropping constantly from his label, and full page ads in the rap mags… And that 80/20 deal? He actually got it to 85/15… So why not drop a talking doll right? Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Of course I had one… What… you didn’t?

Opening up that booklet in your cassette or CD was always classic too… Get a look at this one…. Cmon… fire…

3 Mics in The Source was respectable too…

Go listen to “Ice Cream Man” right now and tell me that beat doesn’t stay in your head… you know that’s a Dr. Dre sample? Yup… Dre and Alonzo Williams produced “Turn Off the Lights” for their 80s group, World Class Wreckin’ Cru… Give this one a spin right quick…

Now give the chorus a quick run or two… Mia X and Mo B. Dick doing what Mia X and Mo-B-Dick did back in ‘96… “before you jump in the game, let’s get one thing understooooood, if you’re slangin’ an ice cream, you best to make sure its good… Mr. Ice Cream Maaaaaaaaaaaan…” HEAT.

I felt like I was on top of the world hearing “Ice Cream Man” for the first time… I still listen to the track and feel a certain way… It checked all of the boxes for a 16 year old me back in 1996… no cell phones… no streaming… no internet… you would buy these songs in the physical media format and literally press play on them on your portable CD or cassette players… or maybe you had a sick whip with some funk in the trunk… Buying a Master P release back in the Mid90s was chipping in on the movement of Percy Miller… Master is a goat… No doubt. Go bump “Ice Cream Man” one time and tell me it’s not str8 heat. I’ll wait….