Jermaine Dupri appeared to have a change of heart after initially denying a rapper’s request to commission some of his time in order to present his music.
The So So Def Recordings label boss is no stranger to eager artists vying for a moment of his time. However, a recent encounter at Lenox Square Mall left the seasoned producer both intrigued and taken aback based on his exchange with an artist. In a tweet that has since gone viral, Dupri recounted a striking interaction with rapper EHeard from Alabama, whom he claims initially approached him ready to spend real money straight from his pocket in order to align with the producer.
“I just met a new rapper at Lenox and he asked what he had to do to get beside people like myself,” Dupri wrote. “He offered me 10k to listen to his music and right then and there I knew he wasn’t from Atlanta.”
He continued, revealing that at this point, the conversation took a morbid turn.
“I asked him where he was from, he said Alabama,” he said. “I said you gotta go turn your city up, he said in these lil small towns they’ll kill you if you look like we look, and that kinda f##### me up.”
I just met a new rapper at Lenox and he asked what he had to do to get beside people like my self,he offered me 10k to listen to his music and right then and there I knew he wasn’t from Atlanta,I asked him where he was from he said Alabama, I said you gotta go turn your city up,…
— Jermaine Dupri (@jermainedupri) June 18, 2024
This isn’t the first time Dupri has encountered talent in unexpected places. In fact, Dupri says a chance meeting in a shopping mall led to the creation of Kriss Kross’ hit single, “Jump.” Speaking at the Grammy Museum, he said the duo caught his attention with their unique style while peddling their music in a hand-to-hand marketing operation.
“You gotta understand people out there, Kris Kross weren’t rappers,” he said in part. “They weren’t kids walking around with demos. They weren’t trying to be rappers. They weren’t trying to be singers. When I met them I said, ‘What do y’all do?’ [they said] ‘We just cool.’ I was like, ‘Damn. Get these guys a record fast.'”
Though Dupri maintains he didn’t and would never take money from an artist simply to listen to their music, it appears as though EHeard’s harrowing testimony got through to him. Dupri actually ended up sharing a clip of the Alabama rapper’s recent live performance on Twitter (X) hours after tweeting about the encounter.
Check out the tweet featuring Dupri’s plug of the artist below.
This is the rapper I met at Lenox, his name is EHeard pic.twitter.com/ARuJ5Ue2Ps
— Jermaine Dupri (@jermainedupri) June 19, 2024
