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Jermaine Dupri: Young, Black, and Big Time
Amazingly, though, despite the fact that College Park is one of the more economically depressed sections of the area, and despite the general trend that most rappers have a hard-knock life coming up, Jermaine Dupri didn't have it too tough. Why's that? Well, for starters, his father had been Columbia Records president, and later was a manager and promoter for music acts.
So you could say that Jermaine Dupri has it in his blood to succeed in the business, which he started to do when he was just 18. 18? Yes, he was out in the business producing the likes of Kris Kross. Not impressed? Soon after, he was working with Ludacris, Usher, Destiny's Child, TLC, and Jay-Z. How's that for a lineup?
In Front of the Mic
The famous billboard for So So Def music, his label, can still be seen as you drive up the Connector highway into Atlanta, with the familiar logo of the cartoon black dude with the big afro and dark shades on. The label went big-time, as did JD, when he become head of Arista Black Music in 2003, followed by a move to Virgin in 2004, followed by yet another move to Island Records.
Not to be left behind in the production studio, JD has pursued his own musical career as well. Some of the Jermaine Dupri songs out there are usually efforts with other stars, such as the 1998 hit with Jay-Z called "Money Ain't a Thang," or the 2005 Jermaine Dupri song with Mariah Carey called "It's Like That."
Power Producing
Yet Jermaine Dupri can't get away from what he is good at. What's that? Producing, of course! In 2004, he was busy mixing up albums from Mariah Carey and Usher. He's worked with Kanye West, Twista, and Shyne, as well as Chingy and Nelly.
He put all of his best work, and some of his own Jermaine Dupri songs, on a compilation disk back in 2005 called "Jermaine Dupri-Young, Fly, and Flashy, Vol.1" One of the Jermaine Dupri songs on it was "Gotta Getcha," which had some limited success in the Billboard charts. What probably got the Jermaine Dupri song the most attention was the fact that his girlfriend was in it, doing a strip tease.
Who's that? None other than Janet Jackson. Speaking of which, rumor has it that this year he has proposed to Janet Jackson. What else would you expect from one of the top producers, and one of the richest men, in hip hop? A book? Right! Jermaine Dupri also released in 2007 a book called "Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul." I think that says it all.
