The Best Of: Jermaine Dupri by Tomisin Akins

This week on Rap Joint Lagos we have been discussing the discography of super producer and executive, Jermaine Dupri a.k.a JD. The son of former Columbia Records President, Michael Mauldin, his writing skills, foresight and ear for music have helped him to establish many iconic acts and led him to produce some of the biggest records across hip-hop's timeline. JD himself also had an incredible solo rap career, releasing two albums featuring some of hip hop and R&B's finest artists. 

In this post I list some iconic JD-produced hip-hop tracks that I have been bumping all week:

• "Jump" – Kris Kross - You can't talk about Dupri's beginnings as a writer/producer without mentioning Kris Kross, the duo of 12 year olds he discovered at the mall and signed to his new label. The first song that he wrote and produced for them, "Jump," gave them almost instant fame as it shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was nominated for Best Rap Performance By a Duo Or Group at the 35th GRAMMY Awards.

• "Funkdafied" - Da Brat - Produced and written by JD, to date, it remains Da Brat's most successful single and is her only single to have been certified platinum for shipments exceeding one million copies, earning the certification on August 16, 1994. By the end of the year, it had sold 800,000 copies. It reached No. 37 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1994 as one of the year's most successful singles. 

• "Ghetto Girls" - Bow Wow - It is the fourth and final single from his debut album Beware of Dog (2000). It features background vocals by Jermaine Dupri and Jagged Edge. 

• "Grillz" - Nelly Featuring Paul Wall, Ali and Gipp 
  - The song was written by Nelly, Jermaine Dupri, Paul Wall, Ali, Gipp and James Phillips. Its production was handled by Dupri. Following its release, it topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 20 in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.

• "Money Ain't a Thang" - Jermaine Dupri Featuring Jay Z 
  - The second single from rapper Jermaine Dupri's 1998 album Life in 1472. It features rapper Jay-Z and appears as a bonus track on his album Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. It can be found on two of Jay-Z's greatest hits compilations: Chapter One: Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits.

• "Everytime Tha Beat Drop" - Monica Featuring Dem Franchize Boyz 
  - "Everytime tha Beat Drop" is one out of three tracks Jermaine Dupri contributed to The Makings of Me and among the last songs on the album Dupri and co-producer LRoc worked on in the SouthSide Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Initially recorded for a shelved So So Def mixtape, Monica has described the snap inspired song as a pure fun record without any special lyrical message but with the attempt to show "something that appears on the outside to be different from" her and that is "a real good representation" of where she's from and what she's listening and dancing to in private.

• "I've Got to Have It" - Jermaine Dupri Featuring Nas and Monica 
  - Written by Jermaine Dupri, Nas, and American R&B singer Monica for the soundtrack of the comedy film Big Momma's House. The song was released as the lead single from the soundtrack in June 2000. In the US, it peaked at number 67 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.

• "Where the Party At (Remix)" - Jagged Edge Featuring Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, R.O.C., Lil Bow Wow and Tigah 
  - This song is actually a 2001 R&B song by American R&B group Jagged Edge, with guest vocals by American hip-hop artist Nelly. The remix listed here appears on the 'Hardball' movie soundtrack.

• "Welcome to Atlanta" – Jermaine Dupri ft. Ludacris - Dupri has also released his own music as a rapper, including the early-2000s classic "Welcome to Atlanta" with Ludacris. The song was featured on both artists' sophomore albums, on Dupri's Instructions and on Ludacris' Word of Mouf as a hidden track.

• "It's Like That" - Mariah Carey Featuring Jermaine Dupri and Fatman Scoop 
  - "It's Like That" is a R&B song with hip hop instrumentation that features ad-libs by Fatman Scoop and the song's producer Jermaine Dupri, while its lyrics (and Carey's vocals) discuss celebration and freedom, with Carey's alter-ego "Mimi" being emancipated. Commercially, the song charted well worldwide, becoming a top twenty hit in several countries, including the United States, while peaking inside the top-ten in over five other countries.

• "Let Me Hold You" - Bow Wow ft Omarion -  It was the first single off Bow Wow's fourth album, Wanted (2005). Released on March 11, 2005, the song features American R&B singer Omarion (the first collaboration they did together). It was co-written and co-produced by frequent producer Jermaine Dupri and No I.D. and uses a sample of Luther Vandross' 1985 version of Brenda Russell's "If Only for One Night".

You can find all these songs on our Youtube Channel included in our "Best of Jermaine Dupri" playlist.