Jermaine Dupri further expanded his portfolio in November when he announced he was getting into the vegan ice cream business with JD’s Vegan. The dairy-free frozen desert comes in several flavors, including Chocolate My Way, Key Lime Pie and Cookies & Cream.
The So So Def legend partnered up with Walmart and initially launched the flavors online at $6.47 a pint. But now, the line is officially in Walmart stores across America. On Wednesday (December 29), Durpi shared an Instagram photo of himself sitting in front of JD’s Vegan display and announced the ice cream was now in over 700 stores.
“We really did it!!!” he wrote in the caption. “Yes! I’m over the moon,736 @walmart stores out the gate. go to JDsvegan.com, type in your zip code and find what store is close to you.”
Dupri has been a vegan for over 15 years. During an interview with HipHopDXin August 2020, he talked about his new role as Creative Director at The Beet, an online magazine founded by former SELF magazine editor-in-chief Lucy Danziger, and how he likely influenced JAY-Z and Beyoncé to adopt a (mostly) vegan diet. The famous couple started their plant-based journey in 2013 and in January 2019 launched a vegan meal service called 22 Days Nutrition with Marco Borges.
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“I won’t say that I was responsible for them going, but I will say that we used to laugh about it,” he said at the time. “I was vegan and used to go to 40/40 all the time and have conversations with Hov and be like, ‘Yo man, when you going to put some vegan on the menu?’ And he’ll make a joke like, ‘Man, just have a hamburger. Don’t worry about it.’
Jermaine Dupri Used To Joke With JAY-Z About Going Vegan & Now, Hov & Beyoncé Are Plant-Based Food Advocates
“I was pushing him to do something at 40/40. This was a long time ago. Like, ‘Yo man, you need to get something on the menu for me that I can eat.’ And we used to have these conversations, then one day I woke up and he and Beyoncé was doing a vegan diet, a 24-day vegan diet. And I was like, ‘I can’t believe this shit.’ It’s a funny thing. I’m happy that they did it. And I’m glad that they did it. I can’t say I’m responsible, but we used to definitely joke about it.”
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JD’s Vegan ice cream flavors are inspired by Atlanta, the music mecca where Dupri was raised. As he said in a statement, “JD’s Vegan ice creams taste as good as, or better than, the real thing. “You don’t have to lose anything going vegan. JD’s Vegan ice cream proves you can gain nothing but quality foods with out-of-this-world flavor and taste.”
