I write the songs that the whole world sing
I don’t know about y’all, but every night I sing
In the Ferrari or Jaguar, switching four lanes
With the top down, screamin’ money ain’t a thang
–Jermaine Dupri, “Money Ain’t A Thang”
Yeah, JD. You’re right. Money ain’t a thang, but a little loot sure makes puttin’ thangs together a whole lot easier. Take this past weekend for example. Had you or anybody else attempted to sponsor three days filled with non-stop partying, drinking, rapping and, yes, stripping, it wouldn’t have panned out. Let Jermaine Dupri, the “mayor” of Atlanta, handle his bizness, though, and it works out smoother than a Michael Jordan fadeaway jumper. Exclusive get-togethers with members of the Atlanta Falcons, interviews on the radio, all-night parties at the city’s hottest clubs, a masquerade ball, fashion shows at the tittie bar. Man, when Jermaine Dupri wants to put it down, he puts it down!
Ray Charles can see that JD doesn’t mind gettin’ his drink and dance on, but the mega successful five-footer is aching to prove that there’s more to him than all of the material shit you might be thinking. So, do him this favor and scratch the things you read in that last paragraph. In fact, go back a few weeks ago, when Dupri decided to do something about the inner city’s involvement in the New York/DC disaster cleanup efforts. JD was able to get artists like Xscape, Lil’ Bow Wow, Monica, Montell Jordan, Cee-Lo and Pastor Troy together on Atlanta’s southside to raise money for various September 11 charitable efforts. Hell, the real ATL mayor couldn’t get bigger names than that together–but that’s just Jermaine. Dude makes stuff happen.
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Instructions, JD’s just-released sophomore crunk-fest, is about to make some things happen, too…Only this time they’re going to be on the sales charts and dance floor. The crazy-busy Jermaine Dupri talked about his new album, and a few other subjects, with HipHopDX. And as a surprise to many haters, he doesn’t mention Ferraris or Jaguars a single time.
Delayed a few weeks, Instructions is finally ready for the public. How does everything feel?
I feel good about [the album]. I think people gotta recognize me for more than being a one-dimensional type of person. They gotta understand that, as an artist, I’m going to give you what I feel, what I like and what I am as an artist. That’s what my album is. Then you gotta respect me as a CEO and as a person who really takes care of his people. [I’m] a person that brings out people like Jagged Edge, Da Brat and Bow Wow. I mean, just understand that I’m a multi-dimensional type of person.
What do you mean by that?
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When you listen to my album, don’t get all caught up in, “Man, he ain’t like that, is he?” That’s Jermaine Dupri, the artist. But my mind is much bigger than that, and everybody else’s mind is much bigger than that. We just gotta use the rest of our heads.
Hell, it took some kind of thinking to put together that September 11 fund-raiser. The hip hop community, more than anything, has really got to step up and let people realize that we don’t take [sensitive events] for granted. I hope [the fund-raiser] is a trend-setting event that other people try to follow. I know Dr. Dre gave like a million dollars, but he’s just one outta the whole hip hop community that talks about making money and this, that and the other. People always criticize me about saying how much money I got. Well, they can stop doing that and see me turn it around.
Tell me about that “What’s Going On” benefit single you helped put together.
I did that record, yeah. That was me giving back. So, when people say, “Jermaine, what are you going to do?” Well, I basically donated two weeks of my time for nothing [to make that song]. Nobody paid me or nothing. I just got in the studio and did a record. That was basically my way of giving back in the beginning, and then I said I don’t wanna be responsible for a whole city, but I think a lot of people out here look up to me so I gotta take charge and just do what we gotta do here in Atlanta.
