Jermaine Dupri has thrown down the gauntlet ahead of his reported Verzuz matchup against Diddy, warning that he is a much tougher opponent than some may realize.
While talking about his prowess as a producer, JD told the hosts of The Goats And Underdogs podcast that he believes Diddy might be the only music executive with a comparable career.
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Shifting to talk of their upcoming battle, Dupri admitted that he might not be favored to win, but cautioned that he shouldn’t be counted out in a contest that would see their artist and production catalogs go head to head.
“We going into this Verzuz, me and Puff, I’m the underdog; a dangerous underdog too,” Jermaine Dupri said. “And I say danger because people don’t really know my records. We know all Puff’s songs, he don’t have no hidden records that I’m like, oh, I didn’t know he did. I got a bunch of records that he don’t even really be thinking about.”
The So So Def mogul added that even fans seem to underestimate the length and breadth of his career.
“They start screaming Usher, they start screaming Mariah,” he said of his doubters. “‘Jermaine Dupri, you was one of the hottest producers in the ’90s.’ Bow Wow, Confessions and The Emancipation of Mimi is all 2000s. I don’t even recall Bad Boy having a record on 106 & Park when Bow Wow came out.”
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The So So Def imprint was most active from 1993 to 2014, during which time the label’s roster included Xscape, Da Brat, Kris Kross, Jagged Edge, Anthony Hamilton and Bow Wow. In addition to writing and producing hit records for all of the artists under his umbrella, Jermaine Dupri also has a storied discography as a producer for others.
Over the course of his career JD has also contributed to projects by artists including Chris Brown, Ludacris, JAY-Z, Destiny’s Child, Janet Jackson, Nelly and Will Smith, to name a few.
While it has been a rumor since September 2021, Jermaine Dupri confirmed that a JD/Diddy Verzuz was in the works during a performance in Atlanta this past October.
During an interview with V-103 in the wake of the original announcement last year, Dupri kept the same braggadocious energy as he did in his most recent comments.
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“I am in the Songwriters Hall of Fame,” he said. “Puff Daddy’s not in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. Steve Stoute and the Trackmasters are not in the Hall of Fame. I shouldn’t have to play nothing. I am in a seat that Puff Daddy can’t pay for.”
By the time Jermaine Dupri appeared on the New Rory & Mal podcast in January, however, he said a Verzuz battle between him and Diddy was unlikely to happen.
