Former Hip Hop mogul Master P has completed his image makeover with a name change and the announcement to create his own cable television channel. P‘s reinvention of himself as Percy Miller, his birth name, was announced earlier this week via a press release, and the creation of his Better Black Television network would seem to signal the end of the old Master P.
“I believe that there is a market in our community for a new diverse network that provides a new brand of superior programming that caters to all aspects of television, from reality to original programming,”Miller tells the Hollywood Reporter. “We believe TV content can be positive and responsible and still have good ratings with great content.”
The move is in line with Miller‘s profanity free label, Take A Stand Records. As expected, the new network will be in direct competition with BET, whose founder, Robert Johnson, may have inadvertently provided its inspiration.
“I wanted to know TV, so I hung out with Bob [Johnson] and learned the TV game from one of the best in the business,” adds Miller.
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BBTV has already assembled an advisory board that includes Denzel Washington, NAACP Executive Director Vicangelo Bullock, DJ Kool Herc and several high-ranking people in the business world. The network’s list of developmental programming includes the video show Sunset and Vine, the stand-up showcase One Shot Comedy Show, Manage Your Money, the What’s Cooking TV Show and youth-oriented programming such as Gee Gee the Giraffe.
As far as Miller‘s decision to change his image, he released the following statement:
“I’ve branched out into so many different arenas that range from being the first African-American to have a clothing line at Wal-Mart, to writing books, and speaking on Capitol Hill, but all that gets overshadowed because I come from the hip-hop industry. There are a lot of people out there, who are afraid to grow up and change, but I’m not and P. Miller is the evolution of me, Percy Miller the entrepreneur, the business man.”
