Jermaine Dupri Quotes

People know me, and want to know me, as a baller more than anything else.

We`re just welcoming people to our city.

My father was a promoter of Fresh Fest, and they needed an opening act. He got me a slot as a dancer. We tried it out the first time in Atlanta and the crowd went crazy. I was the opening clown.

Because I was in Atlanta, people didn`t realize I`m one of the real forefathers in the game.

I go to clubs and if I notice the DJs are playing the records faster, then I`ll push the beats a little on the next record I make. A lot of people don`t know how to watch out for things like that.

People always ask me how long somebody can last as long as I`ve been lasting and continue to keep doing it, so I figured that people didn`t really know how to do that.

I wanted to feel like an artist for once in my life. I wanted to use other producers for respect, to let them know that I listen to other people`s music and that I`m just not out here on my own page.

If you don`t know by now, you`re never going to know.

My last record, people were a little confused because I was trying to prove a production point. This time, my production credit is there.

They keep the song as street as it needs to be. It`s got a good catchy hook where it can do what it needs to do on the radio, but they keep the song street where it will keep credibility in the hood.

When I came out rapping on my record, a lot of people said, Oh, you just want to be like Puff.

It`s one of the hardest feats in the music industry, maintaining and continuing to keep doing at the same pace for a lengthy amount of years.

I`d go dance at talent shows, and because I was young I had the upper hand on a lot of other crews. People thought it was cute. I used that to my advantage.

Everybody`s got to stop acting like they wear bandanas all day, every day. You`ve got to face the facts that you do sit on the phone sometimes.

So So Def has been one of the most successful and consistent labels in the game in the last 10 years.

All the records I`ve made have pretty much been big club turntable records. You need to feel the rhythm.

People want to associate me with money.

I`m one of those guys a lot of people watch, imitate, and then make it seem like they were the ones who did it first.

We haven`t had a slew of artists, but the artists we do come out with have always had the same momentum.