Jermaine Dupri Talks Putting Jay-Z On In The South, Janet & More! (VIDEO)

Jermaine Durpi is getting ready to celebrate 20 years of success with his So So Def Anniversary Concert in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The legendary producer sat down with GlobalGrind's own BlogXilla to chat about his career and some of the decisions that landed him at the top of the music business.

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One of those decisions was going with the street single "Money Ain't A Thang" featuring Jay-Z, over a more pop-friendly record with Mariah Carey. 

JD explains that today that move was brilliant, but back then no one in the South had heard of Jay-Z. The So So Def CEO explains:

"When I made that song nobody knew who Jay-Z was in the South, by the way. People knew who he was up here, (in New York), but when I made that record, people at Columbia Records were like, 'We should put out the Mariah record first. You're a successful producer, let's put out the big star song.' I said 'Nah, I'm putting out this rap record. This is what I want to put out.' It was a big record."

The rest is history. "Money Ain't A Thang" was the summer smash and so successful that Jay-Z put it on his Hard Knock Life Vol 2. album as a bonus cut. The single also got them a Grammy nomination. 

Check out Jermaine talking about Jay in the video up top.