A Talk With JD

07/22/1998 4:00 PM, LAUNCH
Miles Marshall Lewis

Producer Jermaine Dupri, barely into his mid-twenties, is already celebrating a decade of hits in the record industry with the upcoming release of Life In 1472 on his own label So So Def. More in the vein of past efforts by Quincy Jones than his contemporary Sean "Puffy" Combs's solo album, Life In 1472 showcases Dupri as the man behind the music of many multi-platinum guest talents: Mariah Carey, TLC, Usher and Aretha Franklin have all sought out Dupri's Atlanta-based muse throughout the '90s for radio-ready rhythm and blues delivered with his signature slickness. On the verge completing the album at the Hit Factory studio in New York City, Jermaine Dupri squired away an hour to say a few words.

LAUNCH:
What should we expect from this project, Life In 1472?

JERMAINE:
Probably expect the unexpected, personally. 'Cause I'm doing records with people, and I know people sittin' around like, "Oh shit, another compilation; just a song with another person," or whatever. But I'm trying to pull out of the artist to do records that y'all wouldn't expect them to do. Like the Mase record that I got. It ain't nothing like nothing that's on Mase's album, basically. Mase rock a little bit! I felt that this would be perfect for my record. It'll be something that's special, 'cause he's a special person, but at the same time, he got a different type of flow on my record. It's a special record by a special person like Mase that the public will be like, "Oh shit--you heard Mase doing it like this?" Like I said, you just gotta expect the unexpected. Like Slick Rick, I did a record with him. And that was like one of my idols. I mean, even all the way down to the talking and sounding like him and whatever. You know [how] he do his vocals where he go back and forth with himself? Well, I'm the second person, so I'm going back with him. I basically sound like him.

LAUNCH:
Like his infamous alter-ego, MC Ricky D. Is the entire album made up of collaborations?

JERMAINE:
Kinda-sorta. If I do a whole record by myself, then it's somebody singing the hook, that's of notoriety, that's a name. So like, [the] Dru Hill record that I got at my house is basically gon' be a whole R&B record; but I'm just gonna put a rap version there. I mean, [I'm] pretty much just showing production skills, and writing skills. I'm just giving you Jermaine Dupri that's the full-blown producer. Like when people got Back On The Block with Quincy Jones, didn't nobody complain about him not being heard on the record. Y'all know what he do, and y'all know what his job. So that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm trying to make everybody respect--the fact that y'all know my job is the producer. So if you hear a Dru Hill record where they sing all the verses, and you think, "Well damn, where's Jermaine?" That's my song. I wrote it, I produced the song. That's what you gotta look at it like that. So that's how the record is. I'm just expressing my Talents through other people.

LAUNCH:
Is the completed yet? Why did you title it Life In 1472?

JERMAINE:
Nah. 14 is like JD--that's the number for the letters. 10 would be J, and four would be the D. So life in JD, the life of JD. And I was born in 1972.

LAUNCH:
I remember Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 being a similar concept; the 1814 were the letters corresponding to the "RN" of the title. Didn't you write all the lyrics for Da Brat's Funkdafied debut? And Kris Kross also?

JERMAINE:
Yeah, yeah. I wrote Kris Kross's first whole album; I wrote every song on their album. Brat's first album, I basically wrote 50% of the album. And I rapped on her first single, "Funkdafied," that was the first platinum single for Da Brat. She was the first solo female to go platinum, before [Lil'] Kim and all of them. "We Gon' Give It to You" was a gold single, "Funkdafied" sold platinum-plus. And then the album was 1.8 [million]. She came out right for her first time.

LAUNCH:
You started So So Def when you were 19. Did you consider becoming an artist before that point?

JERMAINE:
Yeah, I always did that. But I always had a feel that maybe I wasn't that artist that I thought I was, so maybe I should put it into other people.

LAUNCH:
Who are the artists on Life In 1472?

JERMAINE:
Me, Brat and Nas is on this one song that we doing today. I got me, Mase and Lil' Kim on a track. Me and Slick Rick did a song. Me, DMX and my new artist Rock got a record. My record basically is just a dream record for me. At the end of the day, I don't really care if people criticize me for doing songs with other people. 'Cause I'm not that full-fledged, 24-hours-a-day artist-type person. That's not me. I'm not trying to be that full-fledged artist nigga. So people ask me a lot of times, "Why you ain't doing a lot of songs by yourself?" I don't really wanna try to focus in on me as being that artist-type nigga. I want y'all to be focusing on me as being the multi-producer that can do it when he want to, write hit songs like the ones that's out. That's what I want people to focus on me. I could do it when I want to, just know--that's one thing. I got a record with me and Busta Rhymes. Me and Mariah doing a record. I got a record with me and Outkast. Me and Master P got a joint.

LAUNCH:
That's phat. There was criticism that Da Brat sounded like Snoop, and that Funkdafied was a watered-down Doggystyle. How did you respond to that?

JERMAINE:
Yeah, I heard that. I don't really care, 'cause I look at myself as the underdog, being from Atlanta. So a lot of people try to throw shade at us, thinking that it's gonna knock us down. But that ain't stop the public. People said, "She sound like Snoop"--so what? A million motherfuckers went out and bought her record. I listen to what the public got to say. The media, they don't do nothing for me as far as me. 'Cause I always felt like I never got my proper dues from the media as it is. I know with this record I'm probably gon' get interviews where a lot of people say, like I seen in The Source, "like Puffy." I'm cool with the Puff thing, but Puff ain't what make me rap. I been rapping, and I started rapping before Puffy started rapping. And I made records rapping before he was rapping. But that's not the issue. That's not what I'm here to talk about, and say, "Oh, I did this before Puff Daddy." I don't care about that. I just know that's the bullshit that I know a lot of writers be on. Like, "JD--you doin' this 'cause Puff Daddy done..." You know they gon' put that in there. Let that man do what he gonna do; I'm doing it 'cause people asked me to it. And I think people asked me to do it 'cause of Puffy, like, "Damn, well if Puff can do it, you know you can [come] out with that." That's what people say. But I'm cool with the comparisons. Like Brat, she stayed strong and did her own thing.

LAUNCH:
Yeah, Brat is raw now.

JERMAINE:
Like my man Rock said, people don't like something that they don't know already. It's hard off the top. Like Prince when he first came out--didn't nobody know where he was coming from. So it's like, you're compared to whatever you think it sounds like that you do like. Snoop was the shit back then, so she sound like a female version of Snoop. But ain't nobody ever say nothin' like Lil' Kim sound like the female version of Biggie. Probably 'cause she said that, so she set that already in your mind, like, "I'm the female version of Biggie," so all the little bad press, wouldn't nobody even...That's probably why she did it. Brat wasn't trying to be the female version of Snoop. She just was a girl that had the country twang and the same dialect. My beats was a little more gangsta-oriented than the New York sound or whatever; a little bit more bass-heavy, [Roland] 808s and a lot of little shit that West Coast rappers use. And I still got that type of stuff now.

LAUNCH:
The only reason I ask about the Snoop /Brat thing is because of the inevitable Puffy/ JD comparisons on their way.

JERMAINE:
It don't get on my nerves. Like I say, me and Puff is cool, and I respect everything he's doing. I like all his records, and I don't hate what he's doing. So if somebody compare me to him, good--I hope I sell as many records as he just did. Compare me, and buy my records like y'all bought his; that's the way I look at it.

LAUNCH:
Tell me about your recent time in the studio with Aretha Franklin and TLC.

JERMAINE:
It was cool. Aretha was one of them artists that basically know what they want, and don't got too much time to be talking to you. Just lay down the song the way you want it, she gon' sing it just like you sung, especially if she like it. She don't have time for the criticism once you get in the studio, so she do what she gotta do and get the hell out of the room. And she know what she want as far as the way her mic sound, and she sing it, and she give it her all, so I just thanked her. That's the Queen. TLC gon' be a little bit more harder, meaning a little bit more edgier to the hip-hop beat-wise, and the music gon' be a little bit more...Pair it in-between where "Waterfalls" was. That's probably where their album gon' end up lying. You gon' like the beat, and a couple of songs gon' have a message that go wit' it. That's kinda where they at right now, they wanna say something, instead of just having the regular, just run-of-the-mill whatever type singing group record.

LAUNCH:
Subject-wise, you and Puffy keep things light, your defense being, "We make dance records." But Parliament-Funkadelic had messages in their jams that were danceable and funky. Do you ever feel that you should add something of substance?

JERMAINE:
Nah, not right now, 'cause my album basically reflects on my life. The people buying my record, they basically want to know how I'm living. And basically, that's all my record is. It's a playboy-lifestyle type of album. It's about girls, a lot of money, fast life. That's basically the life that I live, and that's how my records are. My records talk about those things, and I gotta keep it specific, 'cause that's the person that I am. All I do is make records and try to make money. It's hard to even categorize me right now. When people say, "Jay, all you do is make records that make people dance," I gotta say, yeah, in one aspect, but then on the other side, I got a number one record right now that's a slow song [Usher's "Nice & Slow"]. I don't even know if people even know how to bridge it. 'Cause they don't wanna look at that, really. They don't wanna look at it and say, "Which way is he? Is he whatever-makes-them-dance person, or is he really just an all-around songwriter?" So that's what I'm trying to get off me. I'm trying to make people realize that I'm just a complete circle songwriter.

LAUNCH:
Are there any ballads on your album?

JERMAINE:
Nah, not on my record. Like I say, my record is purely the JD lifestyle. The song that I'm a do with Dru Hill--it's already written--it's just...I'm a single man, that's the attitude of a single man, a bachelor that's got a little bit of money, couple of cars, big house, party all the time, whatever. That's basically my lifestyle. I don't know nothing else besides my childhood. And that's the thing people gotta realize about me. From 16, I been making a lot of money. At the age of 16, Kris Kross's first record sold eight million records.

LAUNCH:
Worldwide?

JERMAINE:
Yeah. So it's a lot of rappers that's talkin' about a lot of money that ain't even sold two million records. And I'm talking about Kris Kross sold eight million on the first record, and I wrote every song. So that's 100% publishing. It's bad that I have to keep takin' it to that point, but I just want people to realize that that's my life. [Glances at my book, Veronica Webb Sight, written by the supermodel] Damn, I never seen that. Veronica Webb Sight--that's hot.

LAUNCH:
Yeah, she considers herself a writer a little bit. I remember the song you and Veronica Webb cut with Funkmaster Flex on his last album, Talkin' Shit.

JERMAINE:
I mean, that's basically what it is. I'm just trying to let everybody realize that I'm a full-fledged producer, and I'm the full-fledged producer of the '90s. Even when you could put me in the same category as Puff Daddy or somebody, it ain't really nobody else that's like me. I don't wanna be stroking myself [but] I don't know nobody else, like Jimmy Jam & them--they don't write raps. I could be wrong, but I don't know if Puffy even really writes songs, as far as like solo, like "You Make Me Wanna" [by Usher]. I could be wrong, but I wrote that song and sung the melody, and all that to him. And then at the same time, I'm in here making records with Nas that's gon' be real, a real rap record. I'm flipping it back and forth. You gotta get everybody to try to figure out where I'm going.

LAUNCH:
Comparisons-wise, people used to team you with producer Dallas Austin all the time, 'cause y'all are near the same age and operated from Atlanta. Are y'all cool like you're cool with Puff?

JERMAINE:
Nah, it ain't the same relationship. Me and Dallas, we just ironed out little differences or whatever we had out, and we cool. We don't really speak, and we don't do things together, but we cool people. I still definitely respect all the works that he do. I think he feel the same, mutual, we got the same feelings for each other.

LAUNCH:
What's next for So So Def?

JERMAINE:
Well, Xscape album coming out. It's finished, and it's called Traces Of My Lipstick. I'm really excited about this record, because Xscape has been platinum success for me for two years. This [is] they third record, and its time for us to take it to that four-million-plaque status, if we can go there. If we can stay platinum and consistent, then that's cool. But they'll become one of those groups that's like a real group. I'm happy to say that I got a group that's here longer than a year. That's my group, I made 'em, put 'em on my label, and we've been able to continue to keep making records. They ain't just come out with one record that was a big hit and then it disappeared. So that's how I'm kicking it.

LAUNCH:
The recent Whodini record you produced didn't do well. What went wrong?

JERMAINE:
Yeah, I was real disappointed. I think the public in general, they didn't accept the record. They didn't believe the record, rather. As a MC, you gotta do stuff to get the people into you. When I did they record, they was a little nervous about a lot of things, and they was a little shaky. The bad part about that is that I got a record label, and they my homeboys, and I had to drop 'em. That was the worst part of my whole career, just because I had to really turn into a real businessman, and look at it like, we spent a lot of money, we doin' videos but the records ain't doin' nothin'--where do I go from here? So that was the only thing, but I still fault them for their not doing a lot stuff that a lot of other artists do. They wasn't really hungry, shoving it down people's throat. Like, "We coming out with a new album, we here!" One thing I kept trying to get them off of was the "old school, old school." They don't gotta kill people with that. That's my point for any old school artist. If you old school, you old school. Let that be something that you did that's like a stepping stone. At that point, move on and just get in the mix of what's going on now. Don't keep thriving on that, 'cause the littler kids, they ain't ready to hear no old school. And we all know that at this point now. I was tripping out today. I did Yo! MTV Raps, and they was callin' Kris Kross like, "We gon' play the old school jam, 'Jump.'" And then I thought, and I'm like, "Yeah, that shit was nine years ago!" I guess that is old school. But Kris Kross, they won't kick it like they old school! But that's how these old school artists gotta be. And even with me, that just go back to show people--damn, y'all talking about I'm just now doing this; I did this 10 years ago, almost.