Every parent wants their children to have a bright future. It’s why we make them eat their vegetables and master their math facts. But that desire is often even more personal for Black parents who understand that their kids will often have a lot more doors closed in their faces than their white counterparts. Celebrity parents like Master P, Rick Ross and Nas are just a few who have overcome adversity to achieve massive success and are now trying to share their knowledge and resources to make things a little easier for their offspring.
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From wise words of advice to a lifetime of royalties, these are some of the Black celebrity parents who have set their children up for success.
Nas
Grammy award-winning rapper Nas wasted no time setting his oldest daughter, 30-year-old Destiny Jones up for a lifetime of success. In 2001, he named her as Executive Producer on his album “Stillmatic,” ensuring she would receive royalty payments.
Destiny Jones
Destiny clearly inherited her dad’s business sense. In 2014, she launched her LipMatic line of lip glosses that honor her dad’s first album, Illmatic. The company has since grown into Matic Cosmetics, a full-fledged line of makeup products inspired by New York City.
Beyoncé & Jay Z
Beyoncé knew her oldest daughter, Blue Ivy’s name would be worth a lot of money, which is why she started trying to trademark it from the moment she was born.
After years of trying, Bey finally won a legal battle against a Wisconsin boutique to trademark the phrase ‘Blue Ivy’ in January 2025, according to The Daily Mail. The action means that no one else will be able to make a profit off of the oldest Carter kid’s name, something Jay-Z told Vanity Fair in 2013 was important to the couple.
“People wanted to make products based on our child’s name, and you don’t want anybody trying to benefit off your baby’s name,” he said.
Blue Ivy Carter
At just 13, Blue Ivy has already established an impressive career of her own. Besides wowing audiences while performing on stage with her mom during her NFL Christmas halftime show and on several stops on her Renaissance Tour, she also voiced the character Kiara in the feature film “Mufasa: The Lion King.” Oh, and did we mention that she’s also the second youngest GRAMMY award winner in history, winning the award for best video for “Brown Skin Girl” at just 9 years old?
Kanye West
To say that Ye is a little unhinged is a huge understatement, but the man definitely looks out for his kids. The rapper has been cultivating his daughter North’s love of music, giving her songwriting credits and collaborating with her on beat-making sessions in the studio.
“This little girl made me love music again,” he captioned a now-deleted January Instagram post. “She asked me to make beats for her. I got back on the ASR, chopped up beats for her album and chopped every beat with my bare hands for Bully.”
North West
So we know she’s lip synching here, but North is showing us that she definitely has some serious stage presence.
Master P
New Orleans rapper Master P made a name for himself not just as an MC, but as a music executive and business owner. He’s shared his values of hard work and entrepreneurship with his children. His son Romeo followed in his father’s footsteps to become an artist and business owner, and his sons Hercy and Mercy are talented basketball players who have inked lucrative NIL deals. His children credit him with instilling them with values that propelled them to success.
“My pops, you know the world may know him as Master P, this mogul, this trailblazer this [and] that and I always tell people having a strong father figure makes the biggest difference,” Romeo told ET in an interview. “Just seeing the way he moves. Growing up, the way he [operated]. It prepared me for life. It’s probably like watching The Lion King. You could probably go rewind and see me say that in a million interviews, but The Lion King is the movie I related to most because this my Mufasa right here.”
Romeo Miller
These days, Romeo is the Chief Brand Ambassador at Trion Supercars, a private brand of luxury high-performance electric and hybrid supercars.
“We never gave up on this vision, and now because of our success at CTEC and with the city of Fresno, we are able to bring this opportunity worldwide. Next up is Africa! The plan is to give the future-world builders the tools and opportunities to create a greener future,” he said in an Instagram post.
Ludacris
Rapper Ludacris and his oldest daughter Karma Bridges have collaborated on several projects together, including “Karma’s World,” a Netflix animated series about helping children become more confident. The series also inspired a line of toys, clothing, satin bonnets and pillowcases.
Karma Bridges
Karma, a film student who graduated Summa cum laude from Spelman College, credits her dad with supporting her dreams and helping to instill her with the confidence she needs to be successful.
“Working in the arts, you’re going to hear more no than yes. You have to have a lot of faith in yourself. My dad is one of my greatest inspirations. He really helped me during a lot of the obstacles that I’ve gone through,” she said in an interview with Atlanta’s 95.5. “I feel so blessed to say I have an amazing tribe who is always there for me. Believing in myself. If I was chosen to be there, I was meant to be there.”
Rick Ross
Rapper Rick Ross is always on his hustle. Besides making records, he’s also a businessman, and he tries to share the importance of hard work with his children. On a 2021 episode of “The Real,” he shared that he gave his son a Wingstop franchise for his 16th birthday, a gift he thought would be far more valuable than a car.
“It was important to me to make sure he understands entrepreneurship and working for yours is the foundation of being a man,” he said.
Monica
Back in 2023, singer Monica shared a beautiful tribute to her son Rodney on his 18th birthday on Instagram.
Rodney Ramone Hill III
In this touching video, she told him she was giving him $1800 in fun money and $18,000 to invest in himself and his business – with her help, of course.
“We’re gonna sit down and map out your business plan how you want,” she told him.
Shaquille O’Neal
Basketball star and sportscaster Shaquille O’Neal is teaching his kids the value of money the hard way. In an interview with INSIDER, Shaq says he prefers to use “respectable nepotism” with his kids and makes them present a business plan to him if they’re looking for an investment from him.
“Since you want me to be the bank, I’m gonna do exactly what the bank is going to do to you,” Shaq told he said. “I’m not just gonna give you money for a party.”
Myles O’Neal
One of Shaq’s sons, Myles O’Neal is a Miami-based DJ who entertains crowds at clubs and events across the country.
Serena Williams
Olympia Ohanian, daughter of tennis star Serena Williams and tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian is one of the youngest sports executives in history, as co-owner of the Los Angeles Golf Club and the Angel City FC soccer team.
Olympia Ohanian
Olympia’s dad said investing in the teams was important step in creating more opportunities for women in sports.
“As someone who spends hours kicking around a football with my two-year-old daughter, I want her to have a front row seat to this revolution,” Ohanian wrote in a May 2023 Instagram post.
Nia Long
Actress Nia Long knew she didn’t want her kids to have to take out expensive loans to pay for college, which is why she started saving for their education before her sons, Massai and Kez, were even born.
“One of the things is I started saving for my children before I became a mother. I took $3,000 and put it in this account. ‘I’m never touching that,’” she told attendees at Ally’s “Money and Mindfulness” panel at the 2024 American Black Film Festival.
Keenen Ivory Wayans
Although Keenen Ivory Wayans isn’t the patriarch of his famously funny clan, the director, writer, producer and actor has always looked out for his younger siblings, including Damon Sr., Marlon, Shawn and Kim – casting them in roles in his television shows and movies that ultimately launched their careers.
Damon Wayans Jr.
Damon Wayans Jr. is just one member who is keeping their funny family tradition alive, currently starring alongside his dad Damon Wayans Sr. in the CBS comedy “Poppa’s House.”
“Everybody’s funny in the family,” he told Stephen Colbert in an interview. “It’s just like, who wants to go on this ride?”
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