Jermaine Dupri: The black millionaire blueprint for success

By Terry Shropshire
Jan 16, 2013
8:17 am

Twenty years ago, Jermaine Dupri was a major part of the Atlanta (and Southern) explosion in hip-hop and popular music when he penned the smash hit “Jump” for up-and-coming rap duo Kris Kross, whose album went multiplatinum, created So So Def Recordings and then signed a bevy of talented artists to his label and raked in tens of millions of dollars.

Now, 20 years later, most of the laundry list of artists that were signed to the pioneering label — Da Brat, Jagged Edge, Bow Wow, Bonecrusher, Anthony Hamilton, J-Kwon, Dem Franchise Boyz and more — appeared at Atlanta City Hall to announce their forthcoming 20th anniversary concert.

In honor of the game-changing J.D. and the label that once ruled over the charts, let’s take a quick look back at the life of Jermaine Dupri.