The Tickle Me Elmos, Furbies, and Beanie Babies of the world may soon have competition from the most unlikely of playthings -- a 16 1/2-inch doll version of gangsta-rapper and No Limit Records chief Master P.

The hip-hop doll of the mega-successful rapper is getting ready to join them on store shelves this holiday season.

"The Talking Master P Make Em Say Uhhh Doll" comes dressed in camouflage, with miniature Versace sunglasses and a gold tank medallion. When squeezed, the doll lets out Master P's signature "Uhhh!!, Na-na-na-na!" -- the hook to his hit song "Make Em Say Ugh" (popularly pronounced "Uhhh") (RealAudio excerpt).

"There were 6,500 Master P dolls made, and they were snatched up immediately [by stores]," No Limit publicist Betsy Bolte said.

The Master P doll is the first release from the newly formed No Limit Toys, an arm of Master P's ever expanding empire that now includes a record label, a film production company, a sports management firm and a book-and-magazine publishing house. The doll was first advertised in an insert placed in the No Limit compilation We Can't Be Stopped. It is set to hit store shelves this week at $29.99 per doll.

"It's being mostly sold in record stores, though it will probably pop up in a few toy stores as well," Bolte said. "They're just getting shipped out, so they might be kind of hard to find."

Calls placed to toy stores and record stores in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Master P's adopted hometown, Baton Rouge, La., yielded no dolls. Retailers said they either had never heard of the doll or did not yet have it in stock.

"If I did have them, I probably wouldn't have them for long," joked Barry Hightower, a sales associate at Blockbuster Music in Baton Rouge.

Master P is the latest popular musician to issue a likeness of himself in doll or action figure form. Makeup-clad metal-pop act Kiss issued action figures of themselves in the late '70s that can fetch up to $400 in mint condition and in their original boxes. For those not willing to part with that kind of cash, the rock veterans re-issued the dolls in conjunction with their latest, Psycho Circus.

At the peak of his popularity in the early 90s, chart-topping rapper MC Hammer was the star of his own cartoon called "Hammerman" that came with an accompanying media blitz -- action figure included.

More recently, controversial Detroit rappers Insane Clown Posse announced plans to issue action figures in their face-painted likenesses. They are due to hit record stores along with the release of their next album in spring 1999.

Brian Kellogg, a partner at Connected Music Collectibles in Oakland, Calif., said Tuesday that he doubted dolls or action figures from artists such as Insane Clown Posse and Master P could fetch the kind of money the original Kiss dolls do.

"They may be of interest to their hardcore fans," Kellogg said. "But with Kiss, you're talking about a global phenomenon that was marketed to millions of kids from all walks of life. Down the road, I'm not sure the kids who are into them now will want to reconnect with the toys the way that the Kiss fans want to."

"I'm just an old white guy, but I think it sounds cool as hell," said Jacques Vroom, founder and president of Vroom .. a music memorabilia catalog. He noted that one of his catalog's best sellers was a doll made in the likeness of deceased Grateful Dead guitarist/singer Jerry Garcia.

"And that doesn't even talk," Vroom said.

If there are Kiss, Hammer and Garcia dolls on the market -- and a Master P on the way -- could a Snoop Dogg be next?

According to Bolte, there are more toys forthcoming but nothing is set in stone ... or, in this case, molded in plastic.