Although he is taking steps to enter the world of adults, rapper Romeo is maintaining ties to his young fans, with a new educational children’s book and cartoon.
Romeo, along with his father Percy “Master P” Miller, recently introduced their new brand and character, Gee Gee the Magical Giraffe.
The book and cartoon carries a double meaning for Romeo, who plans on using Gee Gee as a vehicle towards making learning cool.
“If you reach kids with a positive message and instill the importance of education when they’re young, they’ll have that mentality for the rest of their life,” Romeo said. “Gee Gee is going to be a role model and teach kids trough music, books, song, dance, and animation.”
The new project will be a family affair as Romeo’s sister, Itali Miller, will help write the educational books.
The rapper also recruited cartoonists Ryan Hutchinson and Olatokunbo Betiku to work on the animated cartoon series.
For Master P, the cartoon provides a chance for him to follow his son’s example in providing an alternative to negative images youth are exposed to.
“There just aren’t enough positive characters out there for our kids to look up to and learn from,” said Romeo’s father, Master P. “Gee Gee is more important than any record or movie we’ve made. Romeo has inspired me to develop educational characters of my own. Instead of going into the booth to rap, I’ll be in the booth lending my voice to a cartoon character that can make a difference.”
Plans are currently underway for kids to see Gee Gee during a string of appearances at schools, community centers, theaters, shopping malls, amusement parks, and TV stations.
With efforts to ensure the character’s success, Romeo hopes to continue building his relationship with young supporters.
“Even though I’m growing up, I still love the kids – everything I do is for the development of young minds. Gee Gee is a way of staying connected with my younger fans,” the rapper said while admitting that his self-titled Nickelodeon show taught him a lot in terms of providing experience to help create the book and cartoon.
The first Gee Gee the Giraffe cartoon DVD is slated to hit stores in 2009. A Gee Gee film is scheduled to arrive in theaters that same year.