Jermaine Dupri don't like it if it don't gleam gleam. That's how the Atlanta producer describes his taste in Ferraris on the single "Money Ain't a Thang," but the line could just as easily refer to his master-crafted pop songs. |

While still a teenager, J.D. discovered the kiddie-rap sensation Kris Kross. Dupri went on to start his own label, So So Def, and turn out hits for the likes of TLC, Dru Hill and Usher. Now twenty-six, J.D. is riding the success of his first (and, he insists, last) solo album, Life in 1472, which features guest shots by Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Mase and a host of others. J.D.'s own rhymes smoothly straddle that fine line between healthy braggadocio and low-grade megalomania. Much like his conversation.

What's the best song of '98 that you had nothing to do with?

Probably Jay-Z's record "Can I Get A . . ." I think it's a real creative record for Jay-Z, coming from New York, in the sense that he captured the bounce that we have in the South. Not that he took it -- he gave the South props for thinking up something. And then the rhymes was excellent.

When you were strictly producing, were you always thinking, "I should be up there"?

Uh-uh. I didn't wanna make my record as an artist, because that artist shit is a whole different animal. It's more work, and people take artists for granted. As the artist, I've gotta sit through a lot of stuff, stuff I know I don't have to sit through -- just stupid questions people ask me. It's funny for me, because my heart is on the other side. I just did the record to make my fans happy.

Were you intimidated by rapping yourself?

Naw. If I was to let producing go and be a full-fledged rapper, I would be one of the best rappers in the game. I would be one of them rappers that y'all keep talking about, like Jay-Z, Method Man, Nas. I would be up in that range.

What's harder: producing your own stuff or someone else's?

It's harder to tell if my stuff is good. I go by my instinct. I never listen to people. All my groups, they come in and be like, "Jermaine, uh, I don't like that song you want us to do. I don't think that's my style." Xscape, they didn't like "Just Kickin' It" [as their first single]. So I said, "Yo, listen, what's gonna happen is, y'all gonna let me give that song to someone else and it's gonna be a big record." They did it, but they didn't like it. And that was a Number One single. I don't think it hit them, but I was like, "Y'all so stupid." I like that. I like when the artist try to go against me.

Tell me about your movie.

It's called The City of 1472. It's like a hip-hop version of The Wizard of Oz.

And you're the Wizard?

Yeah, I'm the Wiz. And people come to this city to make things happen bigger in their life. You know, I help a lot of people, and I just want people to see that what I'm doing is like a world upon its own. All these people always come to me and say, "OK, Jermaine, we got a record now that's Top Five. Can you give us one of them Dru Hill remixes and it'll be Number One?" It's almost like they coming to me looking for a magic trick. It's like, "Y'all Top Five! How the fuck can I make you go Number One?" I don't say that, but I look at them like, "Jesus Christ!" So can't nobody get offended that I'm trying to be too egotistical. It's like a real situation in life that I go through every day.

Is that a lot of pressure -- people expect you to change their lives?

Naw, 'cause I let people know off the top it ain't gonna happen to everybody. It'd be stupid for me to believe that what I did with Usher I can do with Joe Blow. Usher got talent that I can't take away from him. I just had to bring it out.

So you couldn't just pick some random guy off the street?

I probably could pick someone off the street and we'd do good, but it wouldn't be Usher.

Did you ever consider coming up with a catchy nickname for yourself, like Puff Daddy?

Naw. I said "Don Chichi" one or two times on the record, but I never really thrived on it.

Don Chichi?

I think he was the only person in the Godfather movie that had the nuts to shoot the godfather. Remember him? So I felt like if I had to be a gangster, that would be my role. I wouldn't be scared to shoot the head man. I feel like a lot of times, I'm trying to stick my head out there to show people I got a lot of nuts. Even with Usher, a lot of people looked at me like I was stupid, like, "Jermaine, why you putting all your time in an artist that flopped the first time?" He didn't flop. . . . But four years ago, Usher wasn't in Rolling Stone.

Usher lived with you while you recorded. Did you become a father figure to him?

Not a father figure. I take the blame for turning Usher out, I guess, because I took Usher to strip clubs, I let him do things he wasn't supposed to do, probably.

You corrupted him?

Yeah, I corrupted him. But I turned him into the Usher that people see today, and that's basically what he wanted. I know how to do that. I know how to take an artist and make 'em turn into their own self.

MARK BINELLI(December 30, 1998)