Baby Face and Jermaine Dupri at Entertainment Weekly's toast to Antonio "LA" Reid at STK-LA on February 10, 2008 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
Jermaine Dupri is reflecting on an early run-in he had with singer Babyface at the beginning of his career. As well as sharing more details about his former romance with songstress Janet Jackson.
The 50-year-old music producer and executive sat down for a recent interview on the MillionDollarz Worth Of Game podcast. He reflected on an early single that he produced for the Hip-Hop duo Kriss Kross, titled “Jump,” released in 1992. However, he surprisingly explained that he almost had to “check” Babyface over the single.
“I ran into Babyface, and this was before I had more success than Kriss Kross. Babyface was like, ‘Yeah, you the guy with the lil’ jump record.’ I looked at him like, ‘N***a.’ He almost made me disrespect him. He said ‘lil’ jump record.’ And I was JD cocky JD. I was like, ‘What? Little?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, you know, its cool you did that one time, but how many times can you do that?'”
Dupri went on to explain that despite his initial reaction, Babyface’s comments made him think more deeply about his career.
“At the time when he said that, I didnt think about it. I hadnt thought about it yet. ‘Yeah how many times can I make Kross Kross? How many times can I do ‘Jump?’ And I remember I sat for like two hours… I aint see, hear, nothing else for like two hours thinking about, ‘Oh damn. It dont mean s**t in this business if you cant do it again if I cant keep moving the needle.”
The producer explained that his focus forever shifted from that day moving forward.
“My focus ever since that day has always been like, ‘I did this, its time to move on.’ Once its halfway close to it being a finished piece of project or product, then I move into the next and thats where Im at. So I dont even get caught up in that. So when people be saying ‘you humble,’ I dont really even be in that space. I really be thinking about the next thing.”
Later in the interview, Dupri also clarified how his romance with songstress Janet Jackson began. According to BET, the pair dated for seven years before ending the relationship in 2009.
Gilllie, a co-host on the podcast, explained that he thought the pair’s relationship began due to Dupri producing songs for Jackson. However, Dupri explained that was untrue.
“I was just on some like ‘hang out’… It wasnt on no music s**t. We got in an argument about me not producing her because she was around me watching everybody else get hit records. I never wanted her to think that was what the agenda was because so many people was saying that.”
Dupri went on to firmly state that, despite the contrary beliefs, he never wanted Jackson to feel that their relationship was purely rooted in musical intentions.
“Im just saying. It wasnt never no situation where I wanted her to believe that I was trying to do this cause- nah it wasnt that.”
