Jermaine Dupri, aside from being an incredibly talented producer, has a reputation for bringing out the best in the artists he works with — to that point, he’s revealed the project he had the most difficulty working on in his career.
On Wednesday (June 28), the Atlanta MC took to Instagram to post the cover art of Da Brat’s 1994 debut album, Funkdafied. Produced entirely by him, the nine-track LP topped the Rap and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts in addition to reaching No. 11 on the Billboard 200 upon its release.
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As per the post’s caption, this wasn’t an easy accomplishment. “29 years ago today, out of all the albums that I made this was the most difficult, female rap wasn’t the wave, but I was determined,” he wrote.
“I knew how amazing @sosobrat was, so we worked and worked till we found it and the rest is history, platinum, and all that shit.”
Dupri has settled into his role as a behind-the-scenes talent in recent years. Though his name doesn’t always come up in discussions about Hip Hop and R&B’s greatest artists, participants of the culture always recognize his significance.
Earlier this month, during an interview with the Rap Radar podcast, Tyler, The Creator shared how learning about Dupri’s extensive songwriting background only made him respect the North Carolina native more.
“He has so much knowledge,” Tyler said. “Jermaine Dupri is one of our greats. Truly, one of our greats, like, I was listening to ‘Sweetheart’ by him and Mariah Carey off of that album. And I’m listening to this, and I’m like, ‘I didn’t even know Jermaine Dupri was writing these songs.’ And by the way: I didn’t know! Pharrell told me! And I’m like, ‘N-gga, what?’ Yeah! This n-gga be writing these songs!”
Dupri subsequently took to Instagram, reposted a portion of the interview and teased a potential collaboration between the two.
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“Yo!!! @feliciathegoat I was contemplating back-and-forth if I should even post this, but what I feel is what I write and I felt the need to let everybody know I truly appreciate your amazing words,” JD wrote. “Thank You [praying hand emoji] I’m in the studio right now waiting for you to tell me when you’re ready. lol.”
