More on Artists Going Corporate

Rapper and multi-talented entertainer Percy Miller (better known as “Master P”) has announced that he and his son Romeo will rerelease their clothing line, P. Miller Designs, exclusively through Wal-Mart.  The move comes years after the line had previously been released through the department stores Mervyn’s and Kohl’s, and serves as the latest example of a previously anti-establishment music act going completely corporate.

Given Master P’s impressive track-record of community involvement, not to mention his work with the NAACP, one would hope that he would be critical enough of Wal-Mart’s disproportionate effect on and discrimination against members of his own community that he would be unwilling to sign repeated exclusive deals with them.  With the launch of his new record label “Take A Stand” well underway, we hope that Master P won’t continue to fall to the fantastical rhymes of the world’s largest retailer.

Reuters has the story: Wal-Mart finds rappers Master P, Romeo a fashion fit

Master P and his son, fellow hip-hop hit-maker Romeo, have agreed to relaunch their P. Miller Designs apparel line exclusively through Wal-Mart, Billboard has learned.

The father-son duo’s brand of men’s apparel will be available at about 350 Wal-Mart stores starting in July and will include graphic T-shirts, fleece hoodies and fashion denims. The P. Miller line was last available at such retailers as Kohl’s and Mervyns “a few years ago,” Master P (aka Percy Miller) said.

The veteran rapper said that Wal-Mart was a logical vendor for P. Miller Designs, which he described as “high fashion at an affordable cost.” Master P said he has shifted most responsibilities for the clothing line to 18-year-old Romeo.

“Wal-Mart stands for everything P. Miller does,” he said. “It’s America and diversity. Our whole thing is price point. I want to put out affordable clothes where the masses can buy them.”

Wal-Mart’s partnership with a former gangsta rapper like Master P might seem surprising. But the hip-hop artist and entrepreneur has cleaned up his image in recent years, thanks in part to the success of Romeo (formerly Lil Romeo), who has charted with kid-friendly rap hits and starred in his own show on Nickelodeon.

Indeed, Wal-Mart’s sale of P. Miller Designs will be its second partnership with Master P. The big-box chain is the exclusive physical retailer of Master P and Romeo’s 2007 CD, “Miller Boyz: Hip-Hop History,” the first release on the elder rapper’s profanity-free Take a Stand Records imprint. (The album is also available for download at online music stores.)

Master P has launched other urban clothing lines through the years, including P. Miller Signature and P. Miller Shorties, a collection for children. Master P and Romeo won’t be the first celebrities to sell a branded apparel line exclusively through Wal-Mart, though. The retailer sells girls fashions named after tween sensations Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, June 30, 2008