Jermaine Dupri set the internet ablaze in July 2019 after an interview with People Magazine went viral. During the conversation, he answered a question about mainstream female rappers and essentially compared artists such as Cardi B and Nicki Minaj to “strippers rapping.”
“They all rapping about the same thing,” he said. “I don’t think they’re showing us who’s the best rapper. For me, it’s like strippers rapping. As far as rap goes, I’m not getting ‘who is the best rapper.’ I’m getting, like, ‘Oh OK, you got a story about you dancing in the club, YOU got a story about you dancing in the club, you got a story…OK. Who’s gonna be the rapper?”
But during a recent interview with HipHopDX, the So So Def mastermind made it clear his comments were misunderstood and used a quote from Cardi B to illustrate his point.
“I still feel like people misconstrued what was said and what was asked to me,” he tells DX. “The rappers that are trying to push lyrical content — I think people are missing that part of the conversation and understanding that if that’s what you’re looking for, that’s not what you’re hearing. If that’s what you’re looking for then …
“Cardi B said it best — ‘the fans don’t seem to want to hear this.’ It’s not about the industry. The fans, the people. Just like with Cardi B’s record [‘WAP’] going No. 1, the fans put that shit at No. 1, the people. The industry don’t have nothing to do with that. The fans put it at No. 1. So she said it best.
“If the fans want to hear females rap, they’ll make it that way. They’ll make that happen. But as for right now, that’s not what they want. That’s not what they want to hear. They want to hear what they’re hearing. So it is what it is.”
Jermaine Dupri Used To Joke With JAY-Z About Going Vegan & Now, Hov & Beyoncé Are Plant-Based Food Advocates
And what it is are songs such as Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP,” which are breaking streaming records and owning the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Dupri stresses it’s up to the consumers to change the mainstream rap landscape.
“Y’all not being loud enough if that’s not what you y’all want to hear,” he adds. “I saw many conversations about that Cardi record. I saw a lot of people saying if you don’t like the song then you don’t like rap music, because we dealt with the 2 Live Crew and we did this or we did that.
Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion's 'WAP' Should Be Renamed 'Record-Breaker' Because That's All It Does
“Like I said, Cardi B said it the best. She said she put out a record that the fans didn’t really react to. And she put out this record and look what happened — it went gold and it was No. 1 as soon as it went out. So, I totally agree with what she’s saying. It’s on the fans. If the fans want to hear different rap, they will definitely say it and they’ll make it where the artists have to make that type of music. But for right now, they want to hear what they hear, and they have spoken.”
Dupri recently took on the role of Creative Director at The Beet, an online publication dedicated to plant-based living. Read more about it in Part I of the DX interview here and find Part II here.
We went from Roxanne Roxanne, MC Lyte, Queen Latifa, and Lauren Hill to ….. ..Cardi B.
If you do not realize that the white devil is behind this you are blind and stupid.
Evil white men in suits working for the industry may be the ones responsible for pushing a watered down product , but dumb black kids in the hood are the ones eating up records like WAP. Everyone is a problem in this equation .
Majority of rap fans who listen to rap and go to concerts is white.
Not true that assumption is based on research that looked at sounds an sales decades ago. Literally based on one study. Yet ppl quote it as if gospel truth forever.
Most who attend concerts may be white because they have the economic resources to pay for admission . However , black folks still control the direction that hip hop takes.
no they dont are you insane. whoever gets superstar famous is based of what white people buy. its been that way for a while now.
Oh please shut the phuck up with your ‘evil white man’ bullshit. There’s plenty of poisonous black men and women messing up their own people….look no further than Keith Ellison, Ellison’s son and his city council twats, Ayana Pressley the bald headed commie, BLM founders who burn black owned businesses, Ilhan Omar aka Sleeper cell, Jay Z, Oprah the child trafficking louse, Obama ‘if I had a son’, Mikey O, Maxine Waters, R Kelly, Snoop, you all claim Shawn King, so throw his ass in there too, D Wade and his witch wife who pimped out his boy, shit all of the NBA and NFL… should I go on? You all poison your own. Stop blaming others
that’s a massive gap from Lauryn Hill to Cardi B. smfh
The industry has everything to do with it JD!! They are the ones who push the buttons and push certain artists. Companies aren’t making the same money since the streaming era began so they want quick bucks regardless of the stupid ass content. He as a producer should know this. They microwave these artists instead of building with them. All they do now is push these wack ass shit. You see what the fuck Def Jam has been doing lately??? You should see their dumbass Facebook page
Dude rapped himself and his Bama ass was no Nas. Also, he made money off of 10 and 11 year olds. He doesn’t need to pretend everyone he put out was like Da Brat.
NO ONE still uses the word “Bama” … NO ONE.
Of all people Jermaine Dupri claims about lyrical rap?? Wasn’t So So Def the label put out a bunch of non-lyrical booty shaking pussy poppin Miami Bass compilation back in 90s??? What’s so different between WAP and them?
You got your facts all wrong my brother. So So Def was based out of Atlanta. You are talking about Luke Records and the 2 Live Crew… more like the mid-80s until the early 90s.
They also had animals mating in that video and a a snake! Rolling around on her sexy body WTF?! This is 666 they are getting our children to worship the devil! Nasty b!tches they’ll probably do tha whole nine!
Sorry I was trying to reply to personal bottom yolanda I think name was, who said majority rap fans r white
Nigga shut the fuck up.. If you don’t want to listen to the music ain’t no one forcing you to. Close your goddamn fucking ears… What you know about 666? You open your skanky mouth to talk shit about someone else’s music, I’d love to see you make music dumb fuck, ingrate
Meg bars were fire and Cardi b bars were gud. The rap was is lyrical. They allowed to rap about wtf they want. Jermaine STFU. No one wants dusty miracle lyrical sh1t except Eminem fans
Think we’re talking about two different fanbases here. The people that listen to lyrical rap ain’t fucking with Cardi. All the casuals that listen to whatever’s popular, are the ones responsible for this bullshit getting shoved down our throats. Not sure why this idiot is acting like it’s all the same people.
i agree with on that song by cardi b why would she make a disrespectful song like this sge have a daughter thats going hear that stupid shit .Have some respect for other child and the young lady thats growing up already fucked up world.
I totally agree with you me personally I don’t listen to none if these females rappers .these days because truth they all talking bout sex and shit honestly I’m over it that’s not the type of rap I like to hear I can’t stand to hear all these females talk about their body parts and all of that give me something real to hear damn
Nigga I would slap your bitchy ass mouth if you don’t close them…. Stop talking shit, if you don’t like the music ain’t no one forcing you to, close your ears, all these shit you saying ain’t gonna change anything they still gonna make their money, you can’t even support your fellow woman, you should be ashamed of yourself. Later you go about saying you women should be comfortable in their own skin
I agree I got bashed on Facebook twice for not agreeing with it. I’m done.
100%. If you stop buying shallow trash, industry figureheads will stop pushing it. Unfortunately, there are an overwhelming amount of retards in this country that just love to hear about Cardi’s soggy snatch.
I’m 35 yrs old. I like music w/a story, meaning, and of course, nice beat. This generation is garbage, but JD is right and it’s very ?
I think it’s foolish for Cardi to then have an interview with Biden. Make your videos and songs but realize people will use that same energy to garner the negative attention and mobilize off your video.
I totally agree! These female rappers do and show to much. I have a little girl and i have to explain to her that these rappers are no kind of role model. The new WAP song and video i just dont even watch because it reminds me of a baby porn video. Im far from a hater, just gotta little class and want my little girl to represent herself the same way. Ladies put your clothes on! Geesh!
Times change and music change also Lil Kim, Trina did the same thing when they came out which open doors for females to talk about life experience as many drug dealers do everyone has a story tell it. So like it leave it $ WAP $