Hip-Hop mogul-turned-food-titan Master P and his Rap Snacks partner James Lindsay recently conversed with AllHipHop‘s Nikki Duncan-Smith.
The discussion centered around the significance of imparting valuable knowledge to the upcoming generation of Black food company owners, just ahead of their 2nd Annual Disrupt Summit in 2024.
During the interview, they delved into their successful partnership and the importance of self-empowerment and revealed some insider tips for thriving in the competitive food industry.
Additionally, the New Orleans and Philadelphia natives emphasized their commitment to collaboration within their community and the shared belief that sharing information is a calling they are dedicated to fulfilling.
AllHipHop: We’ve been watching you all over there at Rap Snacks and how you guys have created an empire in a space that you traditionally don’t see Black and brown people in. Talk to me a little bit about your passion for expanding this space in food and snacks and beverages for African-Americans and people of minority backgrounds.
James Lindsey: If you go through a traditional grocery store, and I’ll ask the public that question, you see Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s. You don’t see anything that truly represents us as a culture. And we feel like Rap Snacks is the first brand that really truly represents the culture, first and foremost. And then in addition to that, we feel like we can monetize our brand in a multitude of categories because we’ve been that consumer that’s been consuming everybody else’s product. And it hasn’t just been snacks. It’s been snacks, it’s been noodles, it’s been lemonades, it’s been everything that we consume on a daily basis but we haven’t had a chance to monetize anything.
Just make everybody else rich and feed everybody else’s communities and not monetize and give back to your own community. So here at Rap Snacks, me and P, we’re changing that now and in the near future.
Master P: And like James said, I mean, it’s about to be Martin Luther King’s birthday. They always tell us about dreaming. When you look at these products on the shelves, you don’t see nobody look like us that own this. How do we build economic empowerment without ownership? And what Rap Snacks stand for, we talk about disrupting the industry.
We did in the music industry, how come we can’t do it in the product game? And with me and James together, I feel like we’re unstoppable because we’re going to do what it takes, not just for us. We want to open the doors for other people that look like us, Black and Brown, that don’t get a chance, the mom and pop stores, to be able to excel, putting product that’s owned by us in those stores.
I grew up, like James said, my grandmother sent me to the store to buy Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s. And she died thinking that people like us owned that, but we didn’t. So it was like mockery of us but we’re going to change that because we’re relentless. It’s going to get out here and fight for our people and educate our people and start with education.
And so that’s what Rap Snacks is doing. We are changing the industry because everybody look at us, they look at me and James, and people think the only way we could make it is through sports, entertainment. This is a different game. This is the way we build economic empowerment and we’re going to do what it takes to show our people and educate our people to go on this journey with us.
James Lindsey: And they can’t fool us either.
Master P: Yeah.
James Lindsey: They can’t fool us. When you have the information, you know what you know, right? So it’s going to be hard for them to fool us and to continue to run our business like our ancestors. We want to move forward and be a lot more progressive and give the game to people that are coming behind us.
AllHipHop: I’m glad that you said that about doing business like our ancestors. When we look at even before segregation, our ancestors actually had their own things. And when we talk about self-empowerment and economic empowerment, I see that’s what you guys are doing with even some back of this brand. It’s just a whole expansive level of not just getting a brand, but getting the brand on the front shelf. That shelf space is really limited. Look, P, I know you make them say, “Uh,” right?
Master P: Yeah.
AllHipHop: But James, you think I don’t know you too. You from Philly just like me. I’m from Philly.
James Lindsey: Oh, wow.
AllHipHop: And I’m saying, “Forget Herrs. We got Rap Snacks.” You went to Cheyney, you went to Cheyney, HBCUs. So we’re about self-empowerment.
James Lindsey: Oh, absolutely.
AllHipHop: Talk to me a little bit about making sure that you guys reached down so you can reach back up.
Master P: Yes.
James Lindsey: We have a boss of nonprofit that we really reach back in our communities and to teach our kids starting out at a young age. I remember with my first job out of Cheyney University, I worked for Mr. Johnson, which was a very successful black haircare company. And when I look back at my career, I look back at what was very important to me, understanding what I wanted to do, is that I had a role model with him. I saw another successful black man running a hair care company. And looking at him, I said, “Well, I want to be like him.”
So we need more of the role models. We need more of the examples of people winning out here. He was going against the grain. That’s really important.
Master P: Yeah. I want to speak on, we talk about, disrupting this industry. We got to do this for the little old lady on the corner that come up with a product or the man up the street or the kid that has a product. When you look at all these other cultures, they’re able to do this at a younger age. Their products are into these stores. They always speak diversity about us or put us in a diversity department.
What me and James is doing, they’re no longer putting us in the diversity aisle. We’re going into the mainstream stores and we’re going to fight for what we’re supposed to have. And we know we have great product, but this is going to be the year that we disrupt the industry to teach our people and educate them on how to get their products in these stores and not to be shortchanged on these shelves.
James Lindsey: And another thing, this is really a Jim, because I’m going to tell you guys. Back in COVID and you had the Floyd situation happen and you had a lot of these companies really talk about how they want to help black businesses.
But what happens is they’ll give you the opportunity and they know that you’re going to fail because when you go into a store and you have a brand that’s not really known, they’ll put you in those shelves, right?
Master P: Put you in the back of the store.
James Lindsey: Right, right. They know that you have a couple of issues. You might have issues with distribution and you might have issues with production. So if they expect you to move a certain amount of product off the shelves every day, so you’re competing with a national brand that’s spending billions of dollars.
AllHipHop: And we’ve known it for years, and we’ve known that brand forever.
James Lindsey: Exactly.
