Jermaine Dupri Recalls Working With JAY-Z and Mariah Carey For 2023 Billboard Music Awards

VIBE’s latest digital cover star Jermaine Dupri spoke about creating hit records with musical icons for Billboard’s “Hip-Hop Through The Charts” series ahead of the 2023 Billboard Music Awards.

Dupri—whose So So Def record label celebrates its 30th anniversary this year—sat down with VIBE editor in chief Datwon Thomas to speak about his illustrious career, touching on key collaborations with stars such as JAY-Z and Mariah Carey.

The Atlanta legend recalled his parent record label Columbia’s hesitance to push his 1998 hit single “Money Ain’t a Thang” featuring JAY-Z as the lead single from his solo debut album Life in 1472. According to Dupri, Columbia failed to see his vision as Hov had yet to establish himself as a megastar.

“When I did ‘Money Ain’t a Thang,’ the company, Columbia, they didn’t have really no idea what Jay-Z meant to the culture,” the 51-year-old told Thomas. “They were actually asking me like: Why did I want this song to be my first single when I had ‘Sweetheart’ with Mariah [Carey]? … They thought they could do more with ‘Sweetheart.’ It’s crazy, because that’s just like this era and this time of these 30 years ago. [It] was such a learning period for so many people.”

Dupri also spoke about the massive success of “Always Be My Baby,” Carey’s chart-topping 1996 hit, which the boardsman produced. The song was released as the third single from her fifth studio album Daydream, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, and sparked a collaborative relationship between the two that has now lasted decades.

JD touched on the lesson he learned from that period: to put the focus on the music while being confident that accolades will likely follow. “That record taught me that it wasn’t really about first and second singles,” he explained. “It’s just about great songs.”

Other artists who appeared on Billboard’s “Hip-Hop Through The Charts” segment included T.I. and Ludacris, the latter of whom shared the stage with Dupri at the BET Hip-Hop Awards 2023 during the celebratory So So Def tribute performance earlier this year.

Watch Jermaine Dupri’s “Hip-Hop Through The Charts” interview below.

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