The 27-year-old producer/songwriter/artist/entrepreneur drops his sophomore solo album, Instructions, this week via his Columbia-distributed So So Def label. It’s the follow-up to his platinum-certified and Grammy-nominated 1998 debut, Jermaine Dupri Presents – Life in 1472: The Original Soundtrack.
Dupri raps on nearly every song on the 20-track “Instructions.” He and Ludacris open with “Welcome to Atlanta,” while Da Brat is showcased on the hot number “You Bring the Freak out of Me.” Xscape, also part of the So So Def family, is featured on “Rock With Me,” a melodic pop venture. Usher croons the hook to “Get Some” which also spotlights Boo & Gotti and So So Def artist R.O.C. Other notable guests include Jagged Edge, Bilal, Backbone, Kurupt, Too Short, Eddie Cain, and Field Mob.
“When I do a record as an artist, I want to feel like an artist,” Dupri says. “I feel like I’m cheating myself if I don’t get the full-fledged experience that an artist gets by being directed and letting other people contribute to the album. As a producer, it gives me a chance to work with all these new cats coming out, like Backbone and Field Mob.”
