Jermaine Dupri: The Man Behind Black Music's Biggest Teen Idols

Jet, May 21, 2001

First there was Kris Kross. Then there was Usher. Now there is Lil' Bow Wow. When it comes to creating stars that make the girls scream, cry and faint, Jermaine "JD" Dupri is "so so def" as the man responsible for sculpting some of music's biggest heartthrobs.

"God put me here to do something different than what everyone else is doing. I like creating image makers," says the 28-year-old CEO of So So Def Records.

JD has conquered the hearts of young Black girls by giving them one of their own to scream for. "I feel like Black girls shouldn't be screaming about the Back Street Boys and N' Sync. That's a sign to us as the Black community that we are getting lazy if our community starts following what they do. When those groups took over, there was no one for girls to scream for. You've got these rappers, but rappers don't want to be looked at like that. I said I've got to find something to fill the void."

Looks are everything when it comes to working with a potential heartthrob, he says.

"When it comes to little guys or guys period, if the girls or anybody thinks they are cute, that's the first key. This business is show business," JD explains. "It's all about people looking at you and making sure people look at you. If you have something that is automatic that makes people look at you, you've got one-half of your foot through the door."

At the age of 19, JD was the mastermind behind Kris Kross, the first kid rap duo in music history. The cute duo, Chris Kelly and Chris Smith, won fame with their braided hair, backwards clothes and fun, profanity-free party raps.

The group sold millions of records with the smash album Totally Krossed Out that churned out the songs Jump and I Missed The Bus. A later hit song, Da Bomb, defined a new hip-hop term for "very good."

Six years later, JD whipped up his heartthrob potion again when he worked with handsome Usher Raymond on Usher's multiplatinum-selling album My Way, which spawned non-stop top-sellers like My Way, Nice & Slow and You Make Me Wanna.

"You can see the gaps and see where gaps are," he says when deciding to groom an artist for superstar status. "It's like being at a football game. Those up in the box seats can see the field better than the coach. That's what I consider myself, as someone in the box. I can see what's going on.

"I'm basically the youth. I try to make myself become like them. It takes time to be on the same page with youth because it changes daily. But you have to keep up because that's the key to staying in the game," he says.

Artists under JD's So So Def record label also include Xscape, Jagged Edge and Da Brat, who became the first female rapper to record a platinum album.

He's also been noted for his remixes on Dru Hill's In My Bed and Destiny Child's Jumpin' Jumpin', to name a few. And, he's been behind such songs as Monica's The First Night and Mariah Carey's Always Be My Baby.

In 1998, JD released his first album as a performer, Life In 1472, which earned him a Grammy nomination as did the single Money Ain't A Thing, which featured Jay-Z. A new album, The Instructions, is due out later this year.

He's also acted. Recently, JD, along with Bow Wow and Da Brat, appeared in MTV's movie Hip Hopera: Carmen.

So So Def will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. But, throughout his stellar career, it's amazing that some people still don't know who he is.

"I don't care because it has allowed me to have longevity. A lot of people who get critical acclaim and lots of press off the top usually burn. Then those people look at me wondering, `How do you keep going from year to year?' I look at me like I'm the last man standing. In a minute you won't have anything else to write about but me."