Jermaine Dupri

Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ.

Raised in Atlanta, he began his musical career at the age of nine, as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin.

Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael Mauldin, a Columbia Records executive and grew up in College Park (Atlanta metropolitan area).

Dupri's artistic career began when he was nine years old.

His father, an Atlanta talent manager, had coordinated a Diana Ross show in 1982; to the delight of concert-goers, Dupri managed to get on-stage and dance along with Ross.

Dupri got his start as a dancer for the hip hop group Whodini when he was twelve.

He made an appearance in their music video for the song "Freaks Come Out at Night".

He began performing around the country, appearing with Herbie Hancock and Cameo before he opened the New York Fresh Festival, with Run-D.M.C., Whodini, and Grandmaster Flash.

In 1990, he produced his first act, the female hip hop trio Silk Tymes Leather.

In 1991, he discovered the teen hip hop duo Kris Kross.

He later formed the teen duo Kris Kross (Chris Kelly and Chris Smith) after meeting the boys at a local mall in 1991.

Dupri wrote and produced their breakout 1992 single "Jump," which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and was named the 23rd most successful song of that decade.

He established his own record label, So So Def Recordings in a joint venture with Columbia the following year.

Dupri has since signed artists including Xscape, Bow Wow, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, Dem Franchize Boyz, YoungBloodZ, and Anthony Hamilton to the label.

Meanwhile, he worked with Mariah Carey, Usher, Monica, and Nelly to produce a total of 11 chart-topping singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

As a recording artist himself, Dupri's debut studio album, Life in 1472 (1998) peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and was supported the top 40 single "The Party Continues" (featuring Usher and Da Brat) and the Grammy Award-nominated "Money Ain't a Thang" (featuring Jay-Z).

The group's first album, Totally Krossed Out, was released in 1992 and went multi-platinum due to the success of their singles "Jump" and "Warm It Up", both written and produced by Dupri.

He established his own record label called So So Def in 1993.

Shortly after, he discovered female R&B group Xscape at a festival in Atlanta and signed them to the label.

Their debut album, Hummin' Comin' at 'Cha, produced entirely by Dupri, went platinum with the support of the singles "Understanding", "Love on My Mind", "Tonight" and "Just Kickin' It", with the latter peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

So So Def Recordings entered into a distribution partnership with Columbia Records in 1993.

During the same year, on Yo! MTV Raps, he met Da Brat through Kris Kross and signed her to his label So So Def Recordings, releasing her debut Funkdafied (1994) which went platinum.

In 1995, he collaborated with Mariah Carey for the first time on the number one hit single "Always Be My Baby."

He contributed to Lil' Kim's 1996 album, Hard Core on the track "Not Tonight".

That same year, he produced and co-wrote singles for MC Lyte ("Keep On, Keepin' On"), The Braxtons ("So Many Ways"), and Whodini ("Keep Running Back").

Also in 1996, Dupri linked up with Kris Kross one last time for their third and final studio album, producing the entire album, as well as its moderately successful singles ("Tonite's tha Night" and "Live and Die for Hip Hop").

In 1997, Dupri co-wrote and produced several tracks on Usher's second album, My Way.

The lead single, "You Make Me Wanna", reached number-one on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

The follow-up single "Nice & Slow" went to number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and the last single, "My Way" peaked at number-two on Billboard Hot 100.

All three singles have been certified Platinum by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

A featured guest on the album, Monica, would also later become a protégé of Dupri, with her second album, The Boy Is Mine, dropping in July of 1998.

Dupri produced the single of the album "The First Night", which peaked atop the U.S. Billboard charts, with the album receiving triple platinum certification and universal acclaim from critics.

In 1998, Jermaine Dupri was involved in the release of Destiny's Child's eponymous debut album, producing and co-writing the track "With Me Part I".

Dupri renewed the focus on his own music career, which proved successful with release of the singles "Sweetheart" featuring Mariah Carey (US#126), "The Party Continues" featuring Da Brat and Usher (U.S. #26), and "Money Ain't a Thang" featuring Jay-Z (U.S. #52), the three singles from his debut studio album Life in 1472. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a month and half after release.

Also that year he met soon-to-be frequent collaborator and production partner Bryan-Michael Cox, as well as 11-year-old rapper, known then as Lil' Bow Wow and signed him to So So Def Recordings.

The two would later part ways after only 2 albums, but continued to frequently collaborate on later projects.

His second album, Instructions (2002) peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200.

In 2013, Dupri replaced Randy Jackson as Mariah Carey's talent manager.

He co-created a reality television series, The Rap Game with Queen Latifah in 2015.

He has received a Grammy Award from 12 nominations.