Jermaine Dupri has been seeing people say he’s no longer “relevant” – and the legendary producer has a message for anyone who believes the statement to be true.
During a sit-down on the latest episode of the I AM ATHLETE podcast which arrived on Monday (February 13), JD addressed the critics who’ve labeled him irrelevant and reminded them all that he actually hasn’t slowed down at all.
“I done heard n-ggas say, ‘JD ain’t relevant no more.’ I’ve had a hit record every year that you can think of – you just don’t even really realize it,” JD said. When asked about 2020 and 2021, he was ready with receipts.
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“DVSN – ‘If I Get Caught.’ Ari Lennox, ‘Pressure,” he responded. “2020 was Usher and Ella Mai. By the way, if you from the rap world and you listening to only trap music, then you gon’ be like, ‘JD ain’t made no music.’ Cause you ain’t listening to R&B music. You don’t know. Matter fact – I left something out. I put out Anthony Hamilton album last year.”
He continued: “So I’m saying, if you not really into what’s going on, you might have missed it. So you can say what you want to say, but that’s a reckless statement for you to put it out there unless you know what’s happening.”
The legendary producer broke down why he’s been producing more on the R&B side in recent years in an interview with VIBE last month, explaining how it boils down to being unimpressed with the current state of rap.
“I feel like Hip Hop is definitely hurting and needs reviving,” JD said. “I have to go ahead and say this: For the last 20 years Atlanta’s always had at least five to six top rappers at one time. Right now, Atlanta’s dropped down to two top artists: Lil Baby and Future.”
“There’s a lot of talent in the city still,” he continued. “I don’t want anybody to screw what I’m saying, but that top tier where you have Ludacris, Jeezy, 2 Chainz, Migos, Future, Lil Baby – I mean, at one point, all of this was Atlanta. This was where all the top-tier rap artists came from.”
He added: “I’m not talking about artists that just make records, but No. 1 songs. Artists that people feel like define the game. Rap to me became a little stale, but I’ve never stopped making rap records. As a producer, people continue to want me to produce R&B records.”
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Jermaine Dupri wrapped up his thoughts by revealing that he does have something in the works on the Hip Hop side coming soon, however. “I do want to say this: I’m dropping a rap project with Curren$y.”
