Master P has cooked up an alternative to Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben's—two food products that have been widely criticized for using racial stereotypes in their names and packaging.
The hip-hop mogul announced this week the launch of "Uncle P's Louisiana Seasoned" food line, which includes everything from pancake mix and rice to beans and oatmeal to grits and syrup. Master P told CNN that he wanted to offer products that were not only Black-owned, but also gave back to the community. A portion of the proceeds from Uncle P's sales will go toward education initiatives for inner-city youth as well as care/assisting services for the elderly in Black communities.
"When you look at Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, a lot of those products are mockeries of African-American people and couldn't even feed our communities," he told CNN. "With Uncle P, the more we make, the more we give. And the only way to give is by owning these products."
He went to say the business will also provide jobs for the Black community and will lead to real estate developments in predominantly Black areas. Master P underscored the importance of the latter by referencing the riots in response to police brutality.
"Right now we're burning down our blocks and our communities while protesting injustice, but if we are able to own products and put money back in our community, we could buy those blocks back instead of burning them down," he said. "If they made billions of dollars off Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, imagine how much we'll make to give back to our own community. It'll be us helping us without having to wait for the government. We can actually change the world."
Uncle P's products are available now at select grocery stores.
